The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-06-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] DEH Mobilizations

DEH administration board todays meeting with GENOP was fruitless as they did not reach an agreement on a new collective labor contract. Following this development, GENOP- DEH called an extraordinary meeting for Thursday, June, 4 while its announcement says that it is considering to stage mobilizations.

In its announcement GENOP-DEH calls the president of the company P. Athanassopoulos and the members of the administration board to improve their proposal so consumers will not face problems during a season when needs for power are particularly high.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[02] US Primaries Come to an End

Sources: REUTERS

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton end their historic Democratic presidential battle on Tuesday with two nominating contests that could help Obama clinch the nomination and push Clinton from the race. Democrats in South Dakota and Montana cast the final votes in a gruelling battle for the right to face Republican John McCain in Novembers presidential election, with 31 delegates to the August convention in Denver at stake.

Obama is within about 40 delegates of the 2,118 he needs to capture the nomination and become the first black nominee of a major U.S. political party. "There are a lot of superdelegates who are waiting for the last couple of contests but I think that they are going to be making decisions fairly quickly after that," Obama told reporters in Michigan on Monday.

Clinton and her campaign sent mixed signals on Monday about how long she would stay in a presidential race that she began as a heavy favourite but now has little chance of winning. Campaigning in South Dakota, Clinton said the end of the voting on Tuesday marked "the beginning of a new phase of the campaign" in which she will plead her case to superdelegates that she would be the strongest candidate against McCain in November.

"The decision will fall to the delegates empowered to vote at the Democratic convention. I will be spending the coming days making my case to those delegates," she told supporters in Yankton, South Dakota.

[03] The Day After Is Harsh

02 Ιουν 2008 20:32:0

Sources: ΝΕΤ, ΝΕΤ 105.8, ANA, AFP

The irregularities reported in the Sunday elections in FYROM have forced authorities to repeat election in about 22 polling stations. Although garnering 48.3%, the coalition lead by Nikola Gruevski has to wait for the partial elections to get a clearer picture of the situation. The ethnic violence that marred the Sunday parliamentary elections in the neighbouring country claimed one life and, injured several, while 28 people were seized. A senior police officer said at a press conference that those who sustained injures have escaped danger. He also added that clashes and irregularities were reported in 30 polling stations, namely 1.5% of the total number of the countrys polling stations, and that the bulk of the incidents occurred in Albanian areas.

In the meantime, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn voiced the EUs concerns and frustration over the violent incidents to Nikola Gruevski over the phone. NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer sent a letter to FYROM claiming that effective measures have to be stepped up to cover security gaps, mostly in the areas where elections will be held anew, for this is where irregularities and vote rigging took place. Nations wishing to join NATO should do their best to respect the alliances democratic values, added Scheffer.

Greek Reactions

In Athens, Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos stressed that Greece expects the UN-sponsored talks with the representative of the government that will be formed in Skopje to continue. "We share the international communitys conclusions over the incidents, the irregularities and the democratic deficit that marked yesterdays elections," commented Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos.

Socialist deputy Andreas Loverdos told NET state-run radio station that if stability is cemented in the neighbouring country, then the two sides will embark on a course to strike a solution.

SYN (Coalition of the Radical Left) highlighted the need to solve the name dispute straining Greek-FYROM ties as soon as possible.

The circumstances being created encourage Greece to impose its position, LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) head Giorgos Karatzaferis said.

Translated by Areti Christou

Related News:

Gruevski Wins in FYROM

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