Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-05-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou on revision of the Constitution

[02] Measures for high prices

[03] Intāl conference on climate

[04] "Acropolis Museum"at AIA

[01] Papandreou on revision of the Constitution

He described as "incomprehensible to every democratic progressive citizen, the joining of forces by the other parties of the Left in this unacceptable planning."

PASOK did not participate in the process of the revision of the Constitution.

"Today, the parody revision of the (ruling) New Democracy party led to the worst outcome for the Constitution. The government, attempting to salvage the image of the prime minister, restricted itself to unworthy, pretentious revision of minor importance provisions. Its only target is to obstruct a real, substantial revision with a progressive direction," Papandreou said.

Caption: Main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou.ANA-MPA

[02] Measures for high prices

Relevant announcements are expected to be made in the coming days, while the new package of measures will include a register for fresh fruit producers, the listing of prices in triplicate on the sale of fresh fruit and vegetables and the creation of a "black list" for firms selling their products at unjustifiably high prices.

Other measures will be the collection of invoice data on multinational brands, or a comparison of prices in Greece and abroad, the reinforcement of excessive profit checks and the establishment of the compulsory listing of prices in super markets to curb the phenomenon of double pricing.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Development Minister Christos Folias

[03] Intāl conference on climate

The sessions of the conference will be opened on Thursday morning by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister George Souflias.

The Foreign Ministry placed main priority on the issue of "climate change and human security," during its annual presidency of the DAA, focusing its developmental initiatives for the relief of the most vulnerable groups of the population from the repercussions of climate changes, who are mainly women, children and populations changing residence, in the developing countries.

In a briefing on Tuesday, International Economic Relations Secretary General Theodoros Skylakakis said that the ministry's actions, with Developmental Cooperation and Aid as a tool, centred in the promotion of aid to Africa and the Small Island Countries, in order for them to adjust to the new climate conditions and to the transfer of technical know-how in the Balkans, in cooperation with USAID.

The DAA, which has been around for a decade, is a human-centred forum, with starting point the position that people today are exposed to threats which go beyond national borders. It has also dealt with such issues such as the eradication of mines against personnel, the inspection of small and light weapons and the protection of women and children in armed clashes.

Taking part in this, apart from Greece, are Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Jordan, Mali, Chile, Costa Rica, Thailand and Ireland, which takes over the presidency.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Foreign Ministry International Economic Relations Secretary Theodoros Skylakakis.

[04] "Acropolis Museum"at AIA

Entitled "The New Museum of the Acropolis - Soon a new destination" the exhibition gives visitors from every country a foretaste of the new museum that is expected to open its doors to the public in the autumn.

It is housed within the airport departures area and will run until February 2009, providing information on the work underway for preparing the museum, as well as on the museum exhibits and services. This will be updated on a regular basis as the opening date for the new Acropolis Museum approaches.

In his address during the inauguration ceremony for the exhibition on Tuesday, Liapis stressed that the new Acropolis Museum will be a rare landmark in the map of world museums, being a thematic museum built within the Acropolis archaeological area and on the remains of ancient Athens itself, which will be visible and accessible to visitors.

The minister said the museum would provide an additional point of attraction for visitors in Athens itself, which the government wanted to be more than a transit destination for tourists heading for the islands but a city offering culture in its broader sense, that included both its cultural heritage and modern artistic endeavour.

Through photographs and a four-minute audiovisual display, the exhibition presents the history of the museum's construction from the start until the present day, some of the exhibits that will be on display, the transfer of antiquities from the old museum to the new museum. It will also feature a life-size copy of part of the western frieze of the Parthenon and a copy of a marble statue of a girl, both of which are among the new museum's exhibits.

It is open on a 24-hour basis, next to the permanent exhibition of archaeological finds unearthed during the construction of the airport itself, and accessible to everyone in the airport.

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