The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 05-04-24

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] In Baghdad Bloody Attack Near Mosque

By Betty Savourdou

At least 15 people lost their lives and 57 were injured by a bomb blast and a suicide attack near the Shia Ahl al-Beit mosque in Baghdad. An eye-witness reported to have seen many ambulances rushing on site, which is near a frequented market place.

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

[02] Day of Contemplation Exodus Anniversary

By Betty Savourdou

The President of the Hellenic Republic, who attended the 179th Anniversary since the Exodus of Missolonghi, described this day as a day of contemplation. "Missolonghi lies in the hearts and souls of the Greeks and sets an example for all of us," stressed Karolos Papoulias. During the lunch held by the towns mayor in his honour, Mr Papoulias referred to the national targets that need to be achieved. In particular, he asked for a fair and viable solution to the Cypriot issue, a solution to FYROMs name and the normalization of the Greek-Turkish relations. What is more, Mr Papoulias said there should be a climate of stability and security in the wider Balkan area.

Wreath Laid

On Sunday morning, the Te Deum was celebrated in the Agios Spyridonas Metropolitan Church and then people marched towards the Garden of Heroes.

There, the President of the Republic laid a wreath and awarded prizes to the winners of the sacrifice run.

After thanking the mayor, Mr Papoulias said a Souliot was in Missolonghi today and this is a sign, while he promised to visit the city again.

The events were attended by government and other political party representatives, parliamentarians of the prefecture, military officials, diplomatic delegations from 13 countries and a great number of people.

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

[03] European Arrest Warrant Expected The Vavilis Case

By Anna Kourti

Italian Destrict Attorney Lucia Mutsi, who is handling the matter, announced in an interview that Apostolos Vavilis will be transferred to Venices prison within the next 2-3 weeks. Furthermore, Bolognas DA stressed that Vavilis is also charged with possession of false passport, which carries a penalty of one to six months. She further added that Vavilis friend, Lucia Tadei, will be indicted for harbouring a fugitive from the law. With regard to the Greek prosecutors that wish to question Vavilis, they can do so after having received permission forom the Italian Justice Ministry. As per Ms Mutsi, Vavilis may serve his sentence in Greece, if he so wishes. Within the following days, the Greek Appeals Prosecutor responsible for extradition matters is expected to send a European arrest warrant to the Italian authorities, in order to have Vavilis extradited to Greece. The matter, however, could be stalled, as Vavilis is facing to 7-year sentence in Italy for drug trafficking.

Tracking Vavilis

Italian police kept monitoring Vavilis through the Internet, until they eventually located and arrested him in Bologna.

In his first photos following his arrest, he looks tired, while he is wearing a habit and sports a tattoo on his right arm.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis

Related News:

Satisfaction Over Vavilis' Arrest

Apostolos Vavilis Arrested

[04] Confiscated in Promachonas Lambs without Certification

Sources: NET

During checks by border vets, more than 500 lambs were confiscated at the Promachonas customs house, since they had no certificates of origin. The lambs were to be distributed in the Greek market, after being stamped as Greek. In the meantime, another fraudulent case was uncovered in Kalymnos, when coastguard employees performed a spot check on a ship and discovered a truck full of lambs that had no stamps and which had not been inspected. As it turned out, the lambs were unfit for consumption and therefore had to be put down.

Scam Uncovered

The culprits were hoping that the customs officers in Promachonas would not be that scrupulous on a Saturday night.

So, they tried to smuggle 540 live lambs from Romania, without having declared the country of origin.

The lambs were then going to be transferred to slaughterhouses in Athens and Lamia, where they would have been stamped as Greek.

The vets discovered the 540 lambs in 4 trucks, among another 2500 declared animals, which had certificates noting Romania as the country of origin

Over the last four days, spot checks in Greece have uncovered scams involving a total of 1200 illegal lambs and kids.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis

Related News:

Three Hundred Newly Baptised Lambs

Tonnes of Rotten Meat Confiscated

[05] Events of Remembrance

By Betty Savourdou

Ninety years today, Sunday, since the genocide of Armenians living within the borders of the then Ottoman Empire, and on Sunday night 10,000 people took to the streets of Yerevan holding lit candles and calling Turkey to recognize the massacres as genocide. Wreaths will be laid at the monument of the fallen men on Sunday afternoon, while at the end of the day Mass will be held in Yerevan and a one-minute silence will be observed around the country. In a televised interview, Armenian President Robert Kocharian excluded the possibility of asking Ankara for financial compensation in exchange to recognize the killings as genocide. He also added: "Today Armenians marched not only in commemoration and in mourning. They also marched to voice their demand for the restoration of human rights infringed by Turkey too many years ago, and are calling this country to admit the mass killings amounted to genocide."

Turkey: "Merely WWI Casualties"

Ninety years after the massacres, the anniversary unites the Armenians of the Diaspora, who exceed 9,000,000, that is three times more than the actual population of Armenia.

On this day in 1915 Ottoman Turkey started executing Armenians. Over the next two years nearly 1.5 million Armenians were reportedly killed or died during deportations from Turkey and now Armenia urges the European Union to take the past into consideration, before opening negotiation talks with Turkey.

Ankara continues to refer to the 1915 victims as mere casualties of WWI. The only indication of retreat is the suggestion to form a common Armenian-Turkish committee to look into the past.

Events in Athens Too

Events to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide were held in Athens too.

A central cinema of the Greek capital showed archive material issued by the Armenian national committee, while government and other political representatives addressed salutations.

After the event, there was a march towards Syntagma Square and wreaths were laid at the monument of the unknown soldier.

Minister for the Interior Prokopis Pavlopoulos represented the government and underlined in his speech that "the matter in the troubled world we are living in, is that we cannot be certain there will never be such incidents again, if we don't decide not to ever tolerate those who actually triggered them, since they haven't taken their responsibilities and haven't evaluated relevant experiences based on the past."

"Such anniversaries concern us all. They concern all counties, they concern all nations. Because the establishment of human value, the implementation of International Law in its total, the establishment of the principles that correspond to our times, are lessons that we all need to always remember," stressed the minister.

Regarding the recognition of the Genocide, which is the main demand of this year's events, all speakers referred to the fact that an increasing number of governments are already doing so, most recent among them being Poland and Germany.

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

Related Links:

Republic of Armenia

[06] "Substantial Evidence" Rumsfeld Responsible for Tortures?

By Betty Savourdou

Sources: NET Radio 105.8

The Human Rights Watch has asked for the appointment of an independent special prosecutor to look at US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet's role in the abuse and torture of military prisoners by US army and police officers. However, tortures and monstrosities around the world do not only occur in prisons or solely by army officers. On Saturday, a 29-year-old woman was stoned to death in Afghanistan, in the post-Taliban era, for committing adultery. Local officers dragged the unfortunate woman outside her parents home, where her husband stoned her to death in public. As for her lover, the sentence was milder. He was whipped 100 times and was then released.

Around the World

The Human Rights Watch said it has "substantial evidence warranting criminal investigations" into Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Tenet, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez and Gen Geoffrey Miller, former commander of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The Watch also supported that it has substantial evidence the abuse and torture against Muslim prisoners did not only happen in Abu Ghraib, but in Afghan, Iraqi and Guantanamo prisons, as well as in "secret locations" around the world.

And all that by violating the Geneva Convention and the laws against tortures.

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

[07] Ribo Did it Again!

By Stathis Petropoulos

In one of the strangest rounds of the Championship, Olympiacos did what they had to do with the least possible problems. The final score of 3-1 was a relief and was signed by Rivaldo, who scored twice. Although Egaleo had the chance to tie the score, Giovanni formulated the final 3-1 with an amazing goal, which however he did not celebrate. Olympiacos started the match with clear signs they were after fast goals, but the pressure of the first minutes stumbled over Egaleo's defenders, who managed to keep Olympiacos away from Sidibe's post, although showing they had holes in their defense. Rivaldo's free kick in the 23' was a warning shot for the guests' goalkeeper and two minutes later he opened the score with a goal which seemed like the most normal thing that could have happened at the moment. Rivaldo was right in place and without giving the ball a hard time marked the first goal of the match. In the 38' Olympiacos had a good chance of doubling their goals, but Okkas missed and Sidibe saved Georgatos' kick. Naturally, what concerned red fans in the half time was not Olympiacos' lead, but Panathinaikos' trip in Leoforos against Chalkidona!

All Settled in the End

In the rerun, the home team entered the pitch with the same mood, but this time things happened faster. In the 48' Rivaldo took advantage of Psomas' poor defense and scored his second goal, thus formulating 2-0. From then onwards, the pace cooled down, although Egaleo were trying hard to penetrate Olympiacos' defensive line. In the 61' Psomas scored Egaleo's first and last goal in the match, but the home team did not seem to be bothered by it. Six minutes later, Agritis' strong kick hit on Nikopolidis' bar, but in the 78' Giovanni sealed victory with an excellent goal, which he did not celebrate.

Referee: Dabosis (Pieria)

Yellow Cards: Stoltidis, Christou

LINEUPS

Olympiacos: Nikopolidis, Mavrogenidis, Pantos, Kostoulas, Anatolakis, Stoltidis, Maric (77' Giovanni), Georgatos, Rivaldo, Okkas (53' Castillo), Djordjevic (90' Taralidis)

Egaleo: Sidibe, Papoutsis, Aggos, Agritis, Barkoglou (81' Simic), Christou, Nikolopoulos (68' Makris), Psomas, Liapakis (53' Manousakis), Tsatsos, Edusei

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

[08] Thriller Victory for AEK

By Dimitris Alexopoulos

Those who had described it as the match of the 27 round were proved more than right. AEK and OFI thrilled us in "Theodoros Vardinogiannis" stadium with a final score of 2-3, which has formulated literally in the last seconds of the extra time. The match was heartbreaking since AEK had taken the lead with 0-2, OFI turned the match by tying the score in the 89' and Fernando Santos' team finally managed to claim victory in the 93' with Lymberopoulos' goal literally at the last second of the extra time. Just imagine that the referee signaled the end of the match at the same time. Even in this thriller way, AEK is still in the race of the Championship, while the Cretan team probably faces relegation.

Grand Guignol Finale

Without punished Alves, Assunsao and Malbasa who was injured while training, AEK entered the pitch with decisiveness. Georgeas who was substituting Malbasa returned to the lineup after three months.

Fernando Santos replaced the two dragons with Moras and Petkov, as was expected.

Following the scenario to the letter, both teams were after the three points and played to the delight of spectators.

Tight defense, pressure at the centre to block scoring ways, many fouls and hard markings.

The results of such tactics were few opportunities for both teams.

Slightly superior, AEK came close to scoring with Soares in the 8', at what was his first return to "Theodoros Varinogiannis", who claimed possession of the ball outside Sifakis' area but his kick went wide. OFI answered back in the 35', when Machlas passed to Kounenakis, who in his turn performed a strong kick outside the area, but the ball went wide. A while later, in the 38', the Cretans had one more chance with a foul kick by Belevonis, which however landed on Chiotis' arms.

At the end of the first half, AEK lost two good chances to open the score in the 41' and the 45' with Krassas and Lymberopoulos respectively.

In the second half, AEK changed tactics and started applying pressure at the centre, which translated into easier offensive opportunities by controlling the pace at the same time.

Pressure bore fruit. After missing out on a good chance with Soares in the 55', AEK opened the score in the 59' with Ivic, who had just entered the pitch. The Serb, taking advantage of Petkov's pass from the left, took the ball and sent it right into Sifakis' nets with a header.

AEK continued controlling the pace and the second goal was not very far. In the 70' Soares claimed the ball at the centre and passed it to Cesar at the right time, who increased to score to 0-2.

One minute later, Machlas found a hole in AEK's defence, which were caught napping, passed the ball to Kostenoglou and the later kicked it right under Chiotis' feet to score the first goal for OFI (1-2).

AEK's bad luck did not end there, as in the 73' Katsouranis was injured and was forced to give his place to Kyriakidis.

The match's pace slowed down and it seemed that nothing would change from then onwards. However, the end proved everyone wrong, since it looked like it had most probably stepped out from a Hitchcock movie.

In the 89' OFI tied the score. Chiotis poorly saved Dejanov's kick, Kazantis claimed the "rebound" and sent the ball back into Chiotis' nets for the second time.

Everyone though the match had ended then and there. Wrong again. In the last offensive attempt in the 93' AEK scored their third goal with Lymberopoulos. The offender took advantage of Kontis' pass in the best possible way and with a strong kick outside the area ended the match in favour of the guests.

Referee: Terovitsas

Yellow Cards: Arvanitis, Pitsos

LINEUPS

OFI: Sifakis, Adamos (86' Kazantzis), Arvanitis, Kounenakis (63' Triantafyllou), Koutsoures, Davidson, Belevonis, Pitsos (69' Dejanov), Hadjadrian, Nwafor, Machlas

มลส: Chiotis, Kontis, Moras, Kostenoglou, Georgeas, Katsouranis (73' Kyriakidis), Krassas (56' Ivic), Petkov, Soares, Cesar, Lymberopoulos

Translated by Sofia Soulioti

[09] As a Show of Contempt Incidents at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

By Anna Kourti

Sources: ANA

Incidents were recorded during Palm Sunday celebrations at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, when Patriarch Eirinaios of Jerusalem was departing the church. The day was initially marred by the absence of six clerics from Mass, as a show of protest for everything that has been happening in the Patriarchate, but mainly because they wanted to demonstrate their contempt towards the Patriarch. Upon departing the Church of the Holy Resurrection, Mr Eirinaios, who was being accompanied by a strong police force, was harshly criticised by a group of Greek worshippers, who arrived in the area to participate in the Holy Week ceremonies.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis

[10] "Sorry"

By Anna Kourti

The Turkish armys leadership announced that Greece officially apologised for the burning of a Turkish flag in an Athens Military Academy. The chief of Turkish General Staff, General Hilmi Ozkiok, told newspaper Milliyet that they received an apology in writing, which they have accepted. Furthermore, General Staff Deputy Chief General Yasar Buyukanit clarified on newspaper Hurriyet that he received a message from his Greek counterpart, in which he officially apologised for the incident. The General described this as a positive move, but voiced his dissatisfaction for the fact that no investigation has been conducted yet to locate those responsible.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis

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