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Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-08-05Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PASOK leader Papandreou to visit Finland on MondayMain opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) leader and President of Socialist International (SI) George Papandreou will visit Finland on Monday, following an invitation by Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. He will meet with Tuomioja, whose country currently holds the EU rotating presidency, on Monday afternoon and later attend a dinner hosted by the Finnish minister, with the participation of politicians and foreign ministers from the Scandinavian countries. Papandreou will also meet Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who is co-president of SI's Committee for the Middle East. Talks at the dinner and at the meetings, will focuse on the Middle East and Iran as well as on Turkey's EU accession course, given that during the Finnish EU presidency crucial decisions are expected, and the Cyprus issue.During the contacts in Finland, the future of Europe will also be discussed. [02] Bill on combatting corruptionJustice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras is drafting a bill for the cracking down of corruption in the private sector, it was announced on Saturday. With the new bill, a level of protection of transparency in all transactions is established in Greece, similar with that of the countries of the Council of Europe.The bill ratifies the Council of Europe's Penal Law Treaty on corruption, as well as the added to this protocol, and foresees the taking of measures for the combatting of the exertion of influence, money laundering of income from corruption offences and of balance sheet offences or the covering up of other illegal acts. Thus, any one who attempts with intent to exert influence or offer any exchange to any person (director, private individual in a position) so as to benefit illegally, will be punished with imprisonment ranging from one to five years. [03] Interior minister visits RhodesInterior, Public Administration and Decentralisation Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos is visiting Rhodes on Saturday and Sunday. As announced by by the Southern Aegean Region, Pavlopoulos was due to arrive in Rhodes on Saturday afternoon.He will meet Dodecanese Prefect Yiannis Maheridis and the board of the Local Union of Municipalities and Communities to discuss matters concerning the local government of the Dodecanese. On Sunday, accompanied by Southern Aeagean Region secretary-general Haralambos Kokkinos, the minister will inaugurate the municipal stadium of Kamiros and the new town hall of Atavyros municipality. [04] Proposal for a 'nuclear-free Middle East'Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (Synaspismos) Political Burea member Panos Trigazis, who is responsible for the party's foreign policy, will announce a Synaspismos proposal for a "nuclear-free Middle East" on Sunday afternoon. A Synaspismos announcement on Saturday said:"The anti-nuclear and anti-war outcry of Hiroshima which the American militarists turned into a vast graveyard on August 6, 1945, is much stronger this year where Israel's war against Lebanon is raging.""On the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the first nuclear holocaust, SYN believes that within the framework of the struggle for a nuclear-free world, the proposal for a nuclear-free Middle East acquires particular importance. On the importance and the content of this proposal, Panos Trigazis, member of the Political Bureau and responsible for SYN's foreign policy, will make statements on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the party's offices," the announcement added. Meanwhile, Synaspismos candidate for the Athens-Piraeus supra-prefecture, Yiannis Panousis, in a statement on Saturday on the occasion of the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, said:"The dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima did not simply seal the end of the war, but at the same time opened the door for mass exterminations, of blind strikes with thousands of innocent dead. Neither humanitarian law, neither the law of war, neither any international treaties can any more intercept the perception and practices for a 'a total eradication of the enemy'." Panousis added:"It is not simply an issue of nuclear danger and devastation. It is that since then, humanity does not manage to bury in time its dead (in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon)." Concluding, he said that "the person who so easily kills his fellow-person, is neither an imperialist nor a revolutionary. He is simply the enemy of his children, that is, the future of humanity." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |