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The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 03-09-28The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>CONTENTS[01] Weather ForecastMostly cloudy in Greece, with possible rain showers in the west, centre and north. Winds variable, light to strong. Temperatures in Athens between 16C and 27C; and in Thessaloniki from 15C to 24C(28/9/2003 8:15:00 μμ) [02] Labor ministry's pension proposals near finalizationSignificant changes are expected in the area of successive insurance coverage with the bill being promoted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance. As the deputy minister of labor Rovertos Spiropoulos stated to our station the bill to be finalized next week foresees a reduction in the age limit for auxiliary pensions, pension issuance after 37 years with no age limit for the self-employed and simultaneous issuance of auxiliary and main pensions. In addition, widow's benefits will be issued to divorcees under the precondition that were married for a period of fifteen years to their former spouses.(28/9/2003 8:17:00 μμ) [03] Professors to meet economy ministry officials, strike conitnuesUniversity professors and technological school instructors are continuing their mobilizations while a meeting is scheduled tomorrow with the leadership of the economy ministry for a new round of talks. At the same time, hospital doctors in Athens and Piraeus are conducting a 3-hour work stoppage tomorrow between 11 a.m.-2 p.m.(28/9/2003 8:18:00 μμ) [04] Ministerial council to examine state budget on ThursdayThe special salary demands being made by large labor groups such as teachers and doctors will be examined during the ministerial council on Thursday during its meeting for the new state budget. The minister of the economy, Nikos Christodoulakis underlined to Net Radio that the new budget will be clearly developmental clarifying it would not be a budget of benefits.(28/9/2003 8:19:00 μμ) [05] Privatization developmentsDevelopments are taking place in the privatization of the public power supply, public gas company and the Greek Tourist properties. Offers will be submitted tomorrow by strategic investors for the public Gas Company and according to sources, procedures for the departure of extra personnel at Olympic Airlines will commence during the week. According to the deputy minister of development, Alekos Kalafatis who spoke to our program, the privatization funds will be allocated towards the government's announced social package and the national debt.(28/9/2003 8:21:00 μμ) [06] Italy grinds to halt in nationwide blackoutA nationwide power blackout in Italy hit virtually the whole population in the dead of night today, unleashing chaos, stalling lifts and stranding travellers. Only one death was unofficially attributed to the outage, however: a man killed in a traffic accident at an intersection where the lights had failed. Almost all of the country's 57 million people were affected. Large power outages were also reported in Geneva Switzerland today.(28/9/2003 8:24:00 μμ) [07] Bush and Blair say no regrets over Iraq warBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair, echoing his comrade in arms U.S. President George W. Bush, said today he had no regrets about launching the war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, despite plummeting popularity and trust ratings due to the war. Blair, like Bush in a radio address on Saturday, said he had no doubt Saddam had been "a serious threat to his region and to the wider world".Both leaders said the world was a safer place without Saddam and Bush again accused the ousted leader of cultivating "ties to terror" and building weapons of mass destruction. Bush sought to reassure Americans the invasion of Iraq was appropriate, despite the failure so far to find banned weapons and with U.S. occupation troops under daily guerrilla attack. (28/9/2003 8:28:00 μμ) [08] Bomb kills 10, wounds 48 in ColombiaSuspected leftist rebels today detonated a remote-control bomb attached to a motorcycle, killing 10 people and wounding 48 in a crowded street lined with restaurants and discos in southern Colombia. The device, packed with 6 to 10 pounds of explosives, exploded at about 3 a.m. in the Zona Rosa district in the city of Florencia, 210 miles south of the capital.Two police officers who were patrolling the area were among the dead. The blast also killed a 12-year-old boy and a girl had a leg amputated in hospital, officials said. (28/9/2003 8:32:00 μμ) [09] Taliban kill seven bodyguards of Afghan governorTaliban guerrillas killed seven bodyguards of the governor of the volatile southern province of Helmand at the weekend in the latest of a series of violent strikes by the resurgent movement. Five soldiers died instantly and two within a few hours. It was the latest of a series of strikes blamed on a resurgent Taliban movement ousted by U.S.-led forces late in 2001 and the second in Helmand in less than a week, after an attack in which two aid workers died on Wednesday.The period since early August has been the bloodiest since the Taliban fell, with around 290 people killed, among them civilians, aid workers, police and militiamen, three U.S. soldiers and guerrillas. U.N. spokesman David Singh told a briefing on Sunday the attack on the aid workers was a war crime that showed "the critical necessity" to boost provincial security. (28/9/2003 8:39:00 μμ) The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |