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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-11-26
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, November 26, 1998
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THESSALONIKI AT THE EPICENTER OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BALKANS
[02] PREMIER TO SPEAK BEFORE THE FOREIGN PRESS IN ATHENS TODAY
[03] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT CLERIDES TO MEET WITH PREMIER SIMITIS
TOMORROW
[04] NORTHERN GREECE'S PHYSICIANS TO CONDUCT ANOTHER ROUND OF
STRIKES
[05] RAILWAY WORKERS TO CONDUCT FIVE-DAY STRIKE AS OF MONDAY
[06] PREMIER: UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS WILL BE DEPORTED
[07] SOUTH KOREA'S SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES SELLS 4 CRUISE SHIPS
TO GREECE
[08] GREEK STUDENTS TAKE TO THE STREETS TODAY FOR PROTEST RALLIES
[09] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS' INTERVIEW COVERING ALL ISSUES
[10] STEFANOS MANOS WILL HEAD A NEW POLITICAL PARTY IN THE NEXT
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
[11] BUSINESSMEN FROM NORTHERN GREECE MET WITH VISITING CROAT
COLLEAGUES
[12] FOUR GREEK WOMEN VISITED THE KALASH HEIGHTS
[13] 22% OF THE UNEMPLOYED IN GREECE ARE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] TURKEY IN SEARCH OF A PREMIER AFTER MESUT YILMAZ RESIGNS
[15] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN FYROM TODAY, AS WELL AS WESLEY
CLARK
[16] CHILE'S PINOCHET LOSES IMMUNITY BID IN GREAT BRITAIN
[17] BELARUS GOVERNMENT INSTITUTES FOOD RATIONING
[18] FOREST FIRES IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
[19] EUROPEAN COMMISSION: HALF A MILLION HIGH-TECH JOBS GO BEGGING
[20] THE CYPRIOT FOREIGN MINISTER COMMENTED ON THE SIMITIS-
CLERIDES MEETING
[21] A TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY BOOK PRESENTS THE ISLANDS OF
RHODES, SAMOS AND KOS AS TURKISH TERRITORY
[22] CONSULTATIONS FOR A NEW GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THESSALONIKI AT THE EPICENTER OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BALKANS
Thessaloniki's, and overall northern Greece's, dynamic role
in the Balkan trade and economic developments constitutes the
government's main target, to be achieved through the construction
of new highways and their incorporation into trans-European
transportation networks.
As such, an agreement signed between Prime Minister Kostas Simitis
and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman concerns the construction
of a new highway along the Dalmatian coast.
[02] PREMIER TO SPEAK BEFORE THE FOREIGN PRESS IN ATHENS TODAY
The Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will be the guest speaker
at a Foreign Press Association (FPA) luncheon to be this afternoon
at the Caravel Hotel in Athens.
The Premier will speak about government policy, and reply to
questions from the floor.
[03] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT CLERIDES TO MEET WITH PREMIER SIMITIS
TOMORROW
Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides, who is arriving in
Athens today, is to be received by Greece's Prime Minister Kostas
Simitis tomorrow.
On the agenda for the meeting are Cyprus' EU accession
process and all aspects of the Cyprus issue.
During his visit to Athens, the Cypriot President will be
accompanied by Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides.
The talks between Mgrs. Clerides and Simitis will be attended
by Greece's Foreign and Defense Ministers, Mgrs. Theodoros
Pangalos and Akis Tsochatzopoulos, respectively.
[04] NORTHERN GREECE'S PHYSICIANS TO CONDUCT ANOTHER ROUND OF
STRIKES
Northern Greece's hospital physicians are to embark on
another 48-hour strike, December 1-2, protesting the on-duty
scheduling programs proposed by the Ministry of Health.
The striking doctors are to conduct sit-ins in offices of the
hospitals' presidents and will gather in front of the Macedonia-
Thrace Ministry.
[05] RAILWAY WORKERS TO CONDUCT FIVE-DAY STRIKE AS OF MONDAY
Workers at the Greek Railways Organization, (OSE) are to
conduct a five-day strike starting on Monday, November 30,
protesting a recent bill tabled in Parliament concerning their
sector.
The only trains that will operate will be those serving
social needs, one for each route.
[06] PREMIER: UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS WILL BE DEPORTED
Prime Minster Kostas Simitis, responding to a deputy's
question posed in Parliament yesterday, stated that all the
migrant workers who are undocumented will be deported from the
country.
The Premier conceded that Greek citizens feel insecure due to
the increased crime rate which, he stated, is a result of the
migrants who enter Greece with no economic means to survive.
Nevertheless, he stated that the country's crime rate is low
when compared to other EU member-states.
He stated that the government will considered enlarging the
forces at the country's police stations by assigning 4,000 desk-
bound police officers to active service units, and will intensify
its efforts to deport all foreign undocumented workers.
[07] SOUTH KOREA'S SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES SELLS 4 CRUISE SHIPS
TO GREECE
The South Korean company Samsung Heavy Industries Company
Limited has won a contract to sell four cruise ships to Greece's
Minoan Lines Shipping, which are to be delivered by July 2002.
The ships, weighing 28 thousand metric tons, will each have a
one-thousand passenger capacity and will also be able to carry 400
cars.
Each ship will also have a pool, gym, and movie theater.
[08] GREEK STUDENTS TAKE TO THE STREETS TODAY FOR PROTEST RALLIES
Greek high school students are to take to the streets of
Thessaloniki, Athens and other major cities today in order to
rally against a number of issues, including teacher shortages,
education ministry changes to grading and examinations at the
primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and the introduction of
open university type programs.
High school teachers are also to refrain from conducting part
of their classes today, while many schools are being occupied by
student sit-ins.
[09] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS' INTERVIEW COVERING ALL ISSUES
Prime minister Kostas Simitis, in an interview he gave in the
Foreign Press Correspondents' Association luncheon today, referred
to a number of domestic and foreign policy issues.
Mr. Simitis underlined the firm Greek positions on national
issues. He appeared optimistic that the country will be able to
join the EMU and reiterated the government's will to follow
closely the economic policy it has drawn up, while he pointed out
its sensitivity on issues that have to do, among others, with
social policy and employment. He said that among the goals of the
government are a course of economic development, the country's
participation in the European process on equal terms, the
reinforcement of social justice and cohesion and the safety of all
the Greek citizens as well as, Greece's increased presence in the
international scene.
The prime minister also referred to the governing socialist
party of PASOK course toward its 5th party congress that will be
held in March 1999, saying that he believes that the party
president and the prime minister posts should be held by the same
person.
[10] STEFANOS MANOS WILL HEAD A NEW POLITICAL PARTY IN THE NEXT
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Independent parliament deputy Stefanos Manos will run in the
next parliamentary elections as head of a new political party and
has tabled a proposal for a bill requesting the change of the
election system for the Euro-deputies.
Mr. Manos stated that he will not return to the party of New
Democracy and did not rule out the likelihood to form a new
political party and participate in the 1999 European parliament
elections.
[11] BUSINESSMEN FROM NORTHERN GREECE MET WITH VISITING CROAT
COLLEAGUES
Eleven Croat businessmen, who are on a visit to Greece, had
contacts in Thessaloniki today with 24 local businessmen active in
the northern part of the country.
In total were held 33 meetings with local personalities,
mainly businessmen. Within the framework of the contacts it was
examined both the potential for the establishment of trade
agreements and the further strengthening of bilateral cooperation.
However, the volume of the Greek-Croat trade transactions
remains limited in spite of the fact that last year the value of
the Greek products exported to the Croat market had increased by
4.1 billion drachmas.
[12] FOUR GREEK WOMEN VISITED THE KALASH HEIGHTS
Four women from the northern Greek city of Katerini, namely,
Katerina Chrisargiri, Stella Kontoyianni, Anna Papachatzi and Anna
Kagasidou went on a mountain climbing mission to the heights of
north-western Pakistan, home of the Kalash tribe, who are
descendants of Alexander the Great, worship the same gods with the
ancient Greeks and use words that sound Greek.
The bridges with those forgotten descendants of Alexander the
Great were built for the first time by the organization "Friends
of the Kalash" which organizes missions to the western Caucasus
heights on a regular basis offering voluntary work and essential
assistance to the Kalash. The organization has also managed to
build a school for the education of the young Kalash.
[13] 22% OF THE UNEMPLOYED IN GREECE ARE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
Greek General Confederation of Labor scientific director
Savas Robolis stated in a conference on "University and
Employment" held in Thessaloniki today, that 22% of the unemployed
in Greece are either university or technical institute graduates
which shows that higher education should change direction toward
vocational training to cover short-term needs of the job market.
Mr. Robolis predicted gradual increase of unemployment until
the year 2000 and presented OECD figures according to which, in a
country with a 10% unemployment, 6% is due to the structural
crisis, 2% to the changes in professions and 2% to the relation of
the education system with the job market.
Sociologists and researcher of the National Employment
Observatory Ms. Olympia Kaminioti stated that based on the
available statistics the categories mostly hit by unemployment are
women and the young.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] TURKEY IN SEARCH OF A PREMIER AFTER MESUT YILMAZ RESIGNS
Turkey is in search of a new Premier following yesterday's
resignation of Mesut Yilmaz, whose coalition government collapsed
in a Parliamentary censure vote held last evening. The censure
vote was initiated by the True Path and Republican People's
parties. President Suleiman Demirel has asked Mr. Yilmaz to stay
on as caretaker prime minister until a new government can be
formed.
[15] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN FYROM TODAY, AS WELL AS WESLEY
CLARK
NATO's secretary-general Javier Solana and the Alliance's
military chief Wesley Clark are to travel to FYROM today where
they will be received by President Kiro Gligorov, the outgoing
Prime Minister Branco Cervenkovski and the Premier by proxy Lupco
Georgievski.
Mr.Gligorov stated that his country is ready to allow the
deployment of a NATO rapid intervention force in FYROM.
[16] CHILE'S PINOCHET LOSES IMMUNITY BID IN GREAT BRITAIN
Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet has lost a court bid
for immunity from arrest, leaving the British government a week to
decide whether Spain can extradite the former Chilean dictator to
face charges of genocide and torture.
A House of Lords tribunal ruled yesterday in a 3-2 vote that
Mr. Pinochet's alleged crimes were no more part of a head of
state's functions than, as it announced, "murdering his gardener
or arranging the torture of his opponents for the sheer spectacle
of it."
Mr. Pinochet, who is presently under police guard at a north
London hospital, was arrested on October 16 while in a London
clinic recovering from back surgery.
An extradition order issued by a Spanish Judge accused Mr.
Pinochet of atrocities committed by his security forces in the
deaths and disappearances of Spanish citizens in Chile during his
1973-90 rule.
Two weeks later, a British court quashed the arrest warrants,
saying he had immunity from prosecution as a foreign head of
state. Wednesday's ruling overturned that decision.
[17] BELARUS GOVERNMENT INSTITUTES FOOD RATIONING
The government of Belarus is to impose food rationing in
order to deal with severe food shortages that have resulted from
the country's economic crisis.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has also told the
government to cap the salaries at the country's few private
companies.
The food rationing will apply to milk, meat and other goods,
even matches. Specifically, customers have been limited to two
cartons of milk, 4.4 pounds of meat or poultry, 11 ounces of
cheese, 10.5 ounces of chocolate and 10 boxes of matches.
[18] FOREST FIRES IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
The international ecological organization Greenpeace has
announced that the forest fires that scorched Russia's Far East
for five months have caused an "ecological and social
catastrophe."
Approximately two million acres, including 1,500,000 of
forest, in the Ulch region have been destroyed by the fires,
Greenpeace representatives stated.
The Ulch region is located some 500 miles north of Khabarovsk
and neighbors the Sakhalin island. Its 30,000 residents have for
centuries lived from hunting, fishing, and mushroom and berry
picking.
"Now an ecological and social catastrophe is threatening the
population, deprived of its last source of existence, the forest,"
Greenpeace said.
The fires burned from mid-May until mid-October, after an
unusually dry period. They were extinguished by the first
snowfalls.
Animals normally living in the forest either perished or
fled, and the vegetation was reduced to ashes. Smoke also
destroyed the harvest.
[19] EUROPEAN COMMISSION: HALF A MILLION HIGH-TECH JOBS GO BEGGING
Over half a million jobs in Europe's information technology
sector are currently unfilled because of skill shortages,
according to a European Commission report released yesterday.
A failure to address these shortages urgently will "carry a
heavy price" for the growth and competitiveness of EU member-
states, as well as for employment levels, the report warned.
To address the crisis, the Commission said the European Union
had to do more to encourage start-up firms in the sector and boost
IT training in schools and colleges as well as for people already
in work.
Underlining the potential of information-related industries,
the report said the EU audiovisual market would grow by 70 percent
by 2005, creating up to 300,000 new jobs. Another 150,000 jobs
would be created if other EU countries matched Finland's mobile
phone density.
A report published in September by Microsoft said that the
number of unfilled IT jobs in Europe will have grown to 1.6
million by 2002, seriously undermining the capacity of Europe's
businesses to embrace new technologies like the Internet.
[20] THE CYPRIOT FOREIGN MINISTER COMMENTED ON THE SIMITIS-
CLERIDES MEETING
All aspects of the Cyprus issue will be discussed in
tomorrow's meeting of Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis with
Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides in Athens. The above were
stated by Cypriot foreign minister Yiannakis Kasoulides just
before his departure for the Greek capital. Mr. Kasoulides stated
characteristically that there will be a regular exchange of views
between the prime minister of Greece and the president of Cyprus.
Referring to the political instability in Turkey after the
fall of the Yilmaz government, Mr. Kasoulides stated that it makes
things more difficult as far as the efforts and initiatives for
the solution of the Cyprus problem are concerned. Mr. Kasoulides
also speculated that there will be no stable and strong Turkish
governments after the new elections.
[21] A TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY BOOK PRESENTS THE ISLANDS OF
RHODES, SAMOS AND KOS AS TURKISH TERRITORY
The Greek islands of Rhodes, Samos and Kos in south-eastern
Aegean belong to Turkey and Cyprus is united and undivided. This
is not a tale of imagination but Turkey's fervent wish that
"materialized" through an official publication of the Turkish
foreign ministry.
The Turkish newspapers characterize the contents of the book
"Golden Turkey" as a huge blunder of the Turkish foreign ministry
officials. The book was printed and distributed to foreign
0000000000diplomatic missions on the occasion of the 75th
anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The book creates a new
situation in the Aegean as it presents the islands of Rhodes,
Samos and Kos and other smaller ones as Turkish territory, while
Cyprus appears united and not divided as nothing marks the Turkish
occupied northern part of the island.
The issue came to light by the English-speaking newspaper
"Turkish Daily News" and later by the whole of the Turkish press.
The Turkish newspapers accused the Turkish foreign ministry wise
men of lacking seriousness and of absent-mindedness.
[22] CONSULTATIONS FOR A NEW GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY
In Turkey, president Suleiman Demirel had contacts with
political party leaders within the framework of the efforts to
form a new government after the resignation of prime minister
Mesut Yilmaz's government which was unable to get a vote of
confidence in the Turkish parliament yesterday.
Mr. Yilmaz will remain as caretaker prime minister until the
Turkish president reaches final decisions.
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