Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-29

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece to host event at UN on SC sanctions implementation

[02] Poll: Short vacations this summer

[03] KKE leader visits Lebanon

[01] Greece to host event at UN on SC sanctions implementation

The symposium, which will be attended and addressed by UN secretary general Bank Ki-Moon, is organised by the Permanent Mission of Greece, in cooperation with Notre Dame University's "The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies", and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

Guest speakers will include diplomats, academics, and personalities known for their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the Security Council sanctions, including George Lopez, David Cortright and Peter Wallensteen, while the presence of the UN chief and many diplomats of UN member countries, gives the symposium a special weight.

The purpose of the symposium is to promote improvement of the effectiveness of Security Council sanctions on the basis of just and balanced principles which, inter alia, take into consideration the humanitarian repercussions of the sanctions and the principles of just trial in the listing of names on the sanctions lists.

During its two-year stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council (2005-2006), Greece acquired immense experience on issues of UN economic sanctions, due to its presidency of two Sanctions Committees (Sudan, Ivory Coast) and the Security Council's Informal Working Group on Sanctions Issues, and one of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee's three sub-committees.

In addition, as chair of the Informal Working Group, Greece advanced the adoption of new recommendations to the Security Council on issues of sanctions efficiency, which were incorporated in Security Council decision 1732 (2006).

Greece's initiative to organise the symposium is in continuation of similar initiatives undertaken since 1999 by Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, which organised conferences -- outside the UN framework -- on this issue. Some of the conclusions and principles of those conferences have been adopted by the Security Council.

Founded in 1986 through a gift from Mrs. Joan B. Kroc, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame conducts research, education, and outreach programs on the causes of violence and the conditions for sustainable peace, aiming at understanding the causes of conflicts internationally and promoting conditions for achieving sustainable peace.

Caption: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during a visit to Athens in mid-April 2006 in his then capacity of foreign minister of Korea. (ANA-MPA/O. Panagiotou).

[02] Poll: Short vacations this summer

More specifically, to the question of which month they would select for their summer holiday, 55.1 percent of the respondents replied August, against 33 percent who said they would opt for July, 6.7 percent for September, and 2.2 percent for June, while 3.0 percent did not reply.

Regarding the duration of the vacation, 31.2 percent of the respondents said they would go away on holiday for only one week, while 22.2 percent said 10 days, and 15.8 percent said one month.

In addition, the most popular holiday destination was Chalkidiki, preferred by 33.3 percent of the respondents, followed by Crete with 8.2 percent.

The nationwide opinion poll was conducted from April 16 to 18 on a sampling of 900 men and women, of which 300 were in Thessaloniki.

Caption: Aerial view of Chalkidiki Peninsula, Northern Greece. (ANA-MPA).

[03] KKE leader visits Lebanon

During the visit, the KKE delegation had meetings with Berri, all the Lebanese political parties, various political organisations and movements, and also visited areas in southern Lebanon which were hit during the Israeli army's military raids in July 2006.

Papariga, heading a KKE delegation, had visited Lebanon during the Israeli military raids in the summer of 2006.

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