The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-09-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] NAT President Steps Down

Sources: ΝΕΤ, ΝΕΤ 105.8

Close associate of minister of Mercantile Marine, Mr. Voulgarakis, and president of Mariners Retirement Fund Mr. P. Panayiotopoulos resigned for reasons of personal offence. Mr. Panayiotopoulos was accused that after his appointment in NAT was also assigned administrator and corporate treasurer in Mr. Voulgarakis company. On his side Mr. Panayiotopoulos-who had been assigned president of NAT in June 12, 2008 replacing former president Adonis Grigorakis who had resigned- states that his appointment is legal and not incompatible with the Greek laws. Meantime, the case has triggered tension after PASOK charging minister of Mercantile Marine of maintaining business activity. Mr Voulgarakis said in NET state TV station that all his activities are legal and accused his decriers of attempting to eliminate him politically.

Translated by Sofia Gartziou

[02] On Financial Issues

05 Σεπ 2008 15:29:00

By

Sources: ΝΕΤ-105,8

PASOK president had a meeting with the governor of the bank of Greece Mr. Giorgos Provopoulos on financial and of national interest issues. More specifically, discussion focused on bank over bank debts of Greek households. Mr. Papandreou briefed Mr. Provopoulos on the proposals of the opposition party regarding their relief. On his side, Mr. Provopoulos stated that despite the unfavorable international circumstances, Greek economy can still bear these difficult times.

Translated by Sofia Gartziou

[03] M. Liapis Ruled out Early Elections

Sources: NET, ΑNA-ΜPA

Culture Minister, Mihalis Liapis inaugurated today a new permanent exhibition on the history of Thessaloniki at the White Tower. He will later visit the Vergina archaeological site to be personally briefed on the recent finding of an ancient golden wreath similar to King Philip B wreath found in 1979 by archaeology professor, Manolis Andronikos.

In response to relevant reporters questions, he ruled out possibility of early elections but he spoke positively about government reshuffle, underlining that renewal of persons and ideas has rather positive results in our lives and further more to politics.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[04] EU Foreign Ministers Meet in Avignon

By Tina Valaoura

Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyianni will attend Informal Summit of EU Foreign Ministers to be held in Avignon, France today and tomorrow. During the first day talks will focus on trans-Atlantic relations, situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan and European Security Strategy while focus will lie on developments in Caucasus and ME peace procedures during the second day.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[05] Confiscation of Drugs in Barkiza

Sources: ΑNA-ΜPA

Port police confiscated 26 kg of hash and 15.8gr of cocaine in Barkiza last night. Initially they spotted a man driving his car in Barkiza port. When he realized that he was being monitored and risked being arrested, he accelerated the car and drove away. During the chase at Barkiza Av, he struck on a bus and managed to escape abandoning the car. Drug combat squad have confiscated 54.810kg of cannabis and 83kg of heroine from 1987 to 2007.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[06] CERN Focus of Scientific Interest

05 Σεπ 2008 11:52:00

Sources: ΑNA-ΜPA

It is a fact. After of at least 10 years preparations and an investment mounting to 6 billion euros, the first stage of Large Hadron Collider LHC of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the worlds largest particle accelerator complex, will start operating on September 10. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 50m to175 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionize our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe. Twenty countries, among them Greece since 1954 as a founding member, are participating in the project, which can be described as historic. It will be aired by CERN (webcast.cern.ch) while the picture will be also distributed through Eurovision network. The first test to synchronize the different parts of the Accelerator was carried out on August, 9, 2008 while many other tests followed. Two beams of subatomic particles called hadrons either protons or lead ions will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC. Before the year is out, the LHC is projected to begin pumping out a tsunami of raw data equivalent to one DVD (five gigabytes) every five seconds. Its annual output of 15 petabytes (15 million gigabytes) will soon dwarf that of any other scientific experiment in history. The challenge is making that data accessible to a scientist anywhere in the world at the execution of a few commands on her laptop. The solution is a global computer network called the LHC Computing Grid and with any luck, it may be giving us a glimpse of the Internet of the future.

According to Economist, it is the greater and most expected step by the scientific community to particle Physics in the fourth quarter of the century.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[07] Demonstrations in Thessaloniki

Trade unions are staging demonstrations in Thessaloniki on Saturday, day of the International Thessaloniki Fair opening, in protest against unemployment and reforms in social security and taxation. Two thousand policemen have been mobilized to protect the site of the exhibition and the Thessaloniki university. GSEE and ADEDY are staging a demonstration in front of Benizelos monument at 18:00 on Saturday in view of the Prime-ministers arrival in the ITF. The unfair policy can no longer be corrected but only reversed, said GSEE president, Yiannis Panagopoulos.

Thessaloniki Employers Center also participates in mobilizations, pointing out particular problems in tobacco and cloth factories, BIAMYL and Siemens. Hospital doctors, who state 10% unemployment rate among young doctors and the same percentage in non-insured low pay jobs of 700 euros, are joining mobilizations.They have announced a 5-day strike of hospital doctors from September, 15 and demonstration in front of the Health Ministry, on September, 18.

In a separate demonstration SYRIZA unionists call for lower salary of 1.300 euros, renegotiation of national collective contract and halt in privatizations. PAME stages a demonstration one hour later demanding full time jobs, salary increases, reduction of working hours and recall of bill on unhealthy and hazardous professions.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[08] McCain: "Change Is Coming"

Sources: ΑNA-ΜPA

Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin kicked off a two-month battle for the White House on Friday with a promise that "change is coming," a theme co-opted from their Democratic rivals. McCain touted his credentials as a reformer and portrayed himself as the real agent of change in the race against Barack Obama as he accepted his partys presidential nomination in an arena filled with supporters. "I dont work for a party. I dont work for a special interest. I dont work for myself. I work for you," McCain said in a speech that included only passing criticisms of Obama after a four-day convention marked by scathing attacks on the Democrat. "Ive fought corruption, and it didnt matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans," McCain said. "Ive worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed," he said. "I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record of working across party lines on issues. Senator Obama does not."McCain said he recognized that many families had been left behind by the faltering U.S. economy. "All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way. And thats just what I intend to do: stand on your side and fight for your future," he said.

Outside, police arrested 250 anti-war protesters marching to the venue after using flash grenades and teargas. Inside, McCain was interrupted several times by anti-war protesters. Police hauled two women out of the arena.

McCain was trailing Obama slightly in most national opinion polls, however, CBS gallop indicates that both rivals gather 42% after the Republicans convention.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[09] For Talks with Qaddafi

05 Σεπ 2008 09:51:00

Sources: ΑNA-ΜPA

Η Αμερικανίδα ΥΠΕΞ Κοντολίζα Ράις, αναμένεται σήμερα το απόγεμα στην Τρίπολη για μια ιστορική συνάντηση με τον Λίβυο ηγέτη Μουάμαρ Καντάφι.

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice is to visit Tripolis, capital of Libya this afternoon for what is described as a historic meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. This is the first visit of a high ranking US official in 55 years during which Rice wants to point out a rare diplomatic success of Bush administration, hoping that Iran and North Korea will realize the benefits of abandoning weapons of mass destruction ambitions. The American Secretary of State will spend the night in Lisbon and arrive in Tripolis in the afternoon where she will first meet with her Libyan counterpart, Abdulrahman Shalgamand and next attend a dinner celebrating the end of Ramazan, hosted by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.

"Libya is an example that, if countries make a different set of choices than they are making currently, they can have a different kind of relationship with the United States and the rest of the world, that we will follow through on our commitments," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said ahead of Rices trip.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[10] Self-made Explosive

Sources: ΑNA-ΜPA

A self-made explosive device, planted at the entrance of industrialist, George Mylonas office on the 7th floor of an apartment complex in Thessaloniki, caused material damage. Four fire-engines and 8 firemen sped to the site of the incident and put the fire out. Nobody was in the office at the time of the explosion.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

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