Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2000-07-04
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, July 4, 2000
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREEK PRESIDENT IN IRELAND TODAY
[02] TOURISM DATA BY NATIONAL STATISTIC SERVICE
[03] THASSOS HOSTS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT
[04] TEMPERATURES REACH SCORCHING LEVELS
[05] SANCTIONS ON GREECE FOR BREACH OF EU LAW
[06] DEMARCHE FOR TURKISH ADVANCE IN BUFFERZONE
[07] GREEK RED CROSS CHAPTER VISITS FYROM
[08] WIDOW OF BRIGADIER SAUNDERS MEETS WITH PM
[09] PM CHAIRS MEETING ON WAR REPARATIONS
[10] TEN GREEK COMPANIES IN THE "BUSINESS WEEK" MAGAZINE LIST
[11] MEETINGS ON OTE, OLYMPIC AIRWAYS AND THE FREEING OF THE
MARKETS
[12] LOSSES OF 1.03% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[13] JULIA MIGENES WILL GIVE A CONCERT IN THESSALONIKI TOMORROW
[14] GOVERNMENT MEETING ON THE GERMAN WAR REPARATIONS
[15] COMMENTS BY MR. REPPAS ON THE NEW PROVOCATION IN CYPRUS
[16] TERRORISM SCENARIOS BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
[17] JOSE CARERAS IN ATHENS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[18] STROVILIA: MILITARY CHECKPOINT STILL IN PLACE
[19] ARTICLE IN "LA NACION" IN FAVOR OF THE RETURN OF THE
PARTHENON MARBLES
[20] CYPRUS PROTESTED TO THE UN ON THE STATUS QUO VIOLATIONS
[21] A GREEK-AUSTRALIAN LAWYER INVENTED A NEW HYDRO-ELECTRIC
GENERATOR
[22] BRITISH PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES CRITICIZED THE FOREIGN OFFICE FOR
THE INSUFFICIENT SECURITY MEASURES IN THE BRITISH EMBASSIES
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREEK PRESIDENT IN IRELAND TODAY
The President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos
is presently on an official visit to Ireland, the first such visit
by a Greek head of state.
President Stephanopoulos will hold talks with Irish President
Mary McAllise and Prime Minister Berty Ahern in Dublin today,
while he will also address a Greek-Irish economic forum.
He is accompanied by Alternate Foreign Minister Elizabeth
Papazoi and Deputy National Economy Minister Yiannis
Zapheiropoulos.
President Stephanopoulos' visit aims at strengthening
business ties between the two countries.
Upon his arrival yesterday, Mr. Stephanopoulos met with the
Archbishop of Great Britain Grigorios who traveled from London to
Dublin expressly for this purpose.
[02] TOURISM DATA BY NATIONAL STATISTIC SERVICE
Charter flight tourist arrivals in Greece have undergone a
decline of 4.4 percent this year, according to the National
Statistic Service which reported that they totaled 685,671 in May
from 717,553 the same month last year.
In a report issued yesterday, the NSS said that overnight
stays also fell by 2.95 percent to 1,865,418 in May from 1,922,145
the corresponding month in 1999.
Figures were based on tourist arrivals in Greece's main
airports (Athens, Corfu, Crete and Thessaloniki) which account for
60 percent of tourist traffic in the country.
[03] THASSOS HOSTS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT
Four hundred scientists are presently at the island of
Thassos, northern Greece, where an international conference on the
protection and restoration of the environment is being held.
In addition to the 290 Greek scientists who are present,
other participants have arrived from US, Canada, Germany, England,
Spain, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Morocco,
and other countries.
During the course of the conference, the scientists will
present their work, giving detailed presentations of their
research and applications studies on matters concerning the
environment.
The scientists will exchange information and experiences,
present new ideas and achievements in the area of environmental
protection and discuss educational, political, legislative and
research needs to promote these.
The event is organized by the Environmental Mechanics
department of the University of Thrace and the Environmental
Mechanics Center of Stevens University in the US, in collaboration
with Hellenic Link.
It is funded by the Greek Parliament as part of events
celebrating the 80th anniversary since the liberation of Thrace.
[04] TEMPERATURES REACH SCORCHING LEVELS
Temperatures are expected to reach scorching levels this
week, exceeding 40 degrees Celsius tomorrow and Thursday in
mainland Greece.
It is one of the hottest summers of recent years, when the
highest temperature recorded in the first week of July has been no
higher than 36 degrees.
As the Xenokrates plan for addressing natural disasters comes
into effect today, ambulance services will be on standby while
large, air-conditioned halls will be made available for people
suffering from the heat.
The Ministry of Health has issued advisories, especially
for the young and elderly, with pointers on how to stay cool,
such as staying in the shade, wearing light clothing, eating
lightly, avoiding the consumption of alcohol and refraining from
exerting themselves.
[05] SANCTIONS ON GREECE FOR BREACH OF EU LAW
In an unprecedented move against a European Union member-
state, the European Court of Justice has imposed a fine on Greece
for a breach of European Union law, finding that the e Greek
government had failed to comply with an eight-year-old court order
to close a waste tip on the island of Crete.
The court ruled that Greece should pay about twenty-thousand
dollars a day from now until it closes the waste tip.
According to the BBC, the ruling could bring some relief to
local inhabitants who say the stench and the smoke from burning
refuse is almost intolerable. A local scientist has also found
that pollution has been leaking into a stream that leads down the
sea.
In 1989 the European Commission complained that the tip at
the of Chania, on the northern coast of Crete, was contravening EU
rules on the disposal of toxic waste. Three years later, the Court
of Justice in Luxembourg ordered the Greek government to close it
down. Greece failed to comply, so in 1997 the Commission went back
to the judges and asked for the fine to be imposed.
[06] DEMARCHE FOR TURKISH ADVANCE IN BUFFERZONE
Athens is to file a protest demarche with the United Nations
Security Council over the Turkish forces' advance into Cyprus's
buffer zone, while Foreign Minister George Papandreou is to also
forward a letter to the UN Secretary General and the European
Union.
Concurrently, Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides is to
provide the UN with photographs documenting the barricades set up
by the Turk-Cypriot forces.
Following talks with Mr. Clerides in Athens yesterday, Greek
Prime Minister Costas Simitis stated that normalization in Greek-
Turkish relations cannot be achieved without progress in the
Cyprus issue.
[07] GREEK RED CROSS CHAPTER VISITS FYROM
A delegation of Red Cross volunteers from Greece is presently
conducting a visit to FYROM, in an effort to strengthen ties and
exchange information with the neighboring country's Red Cross.
The president of Greece's Greek Red Cross chapter Andreas
Martines, met with his counterpart from FYROM Elias Sfekanovski
and discussed matters pertaining to organization, training, blood
drives, and volunteerism.
Mr. Martines invited Mr. Sfekanovski to reciprocate the
visit.
[08] WIDOW OF BRIGADIER SAUNDERS MEETS WITH PM
Prime Minister Costas Simitis met with Heather Saunders, the
widow of the British military attache who was murdered by November
17 terrorists on June 8.
Following their talks, Mrs. Saunders, who was accompanied by
British Ambassador David Madden, reiterated her appeal for anyone
who has any information regarding the killing to come forward. She
further added that the Premier assured her that anyone who
testifies on the murder will be granted full protection.
[09] PM CHAIRS MEETING ON WAR REPARATIONS
A discussion on the state's policy on war reparations to be
paid by Germany to the relatives of civilians executed by Nazis
in 1944, will be held by Prime Minister Costas Simitis with the
Minister of Justice Michalis Stathopoulos and Foreign Affairs
George Papandreou today.
Although the Greek state has characterized the matter as a
"political not legal one", the lawyer for the descendants of the
214 civilians who were executed in the village of Distomo in
central Greece, has moved to confiscate properties owned by the
German state in Greece, in an effort to partially satisfy a
ruling issued recently by the Greek Supreme Court which called on
Germany to pay about 15 billion drachmas in compensation. Berlin
has yet to comply with the ruling. The said properties house the
German School, the German Archaeological Society and the Goethe
Institute and are estimated at eight billion drachmas.
The state has apparent reservations on the matter, as
government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas hinted yesterday that the
government will not condone, at least for now, such as a move.
Specifically, he stated that the government is handling the
matter "in accordance with national interest" and asserted that
the prior permission of the justice minister is necessary to seize
the property of a foreign state, quoting article 923 of the code
of civil procedure.
Not so, the plaintiffs' attorney Ioannis Stamoulis
challenged, citing cited article 2 of the UN's 1976 International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires states to
enforce legal remedies when granted. Moreover, Mr. Stamoulis cited
a 1997 European Court of Human Rights decision requiring Athens to
execute a decision against Greece, based on the Council of
Europe's Convention on Human Rights (article 6).
Over 63,000 such claims have been filed in First Instance
Curt throughout the country, collectively amounting to more than
two trillion drachmas.
[10] TEN GREEK COMPANIES IN THE "BUSINESS WEEK" MAGAZINE LIST
Ten Greek companies are included in the list with the 200
leading companies in the emerging markets which will be published
on the July 10 issue of the weekly financial magazine "Business
Week".
The Greek Telecommunications Organization, OTE, is at the
16th place, at the 22nd place is the National Bank of Greece,
Alpha Bank is at the 51st, the Panafon mobile phones company is
61st, the Commercial Bank is 82nd, Intracom is 93rd, the Hellenic
Petroleum is 134th, Ergo Bank is 162nd, Viochalko is 173rd and the
Greek Bottling Company (3E) ranks 186th.
[11] MEETINGS ON OTE, OLYMPIC AIRWAYS AND THE FREEING OF THE
MARKETS
The adviser responsible for the privatization of the Greek
Telecommunications Organization, OTE, will present tomorrow his
proposals on the issue of the strategic investor to minister of
national economy Yiannos Papantoniou and transportation and
telecommunications minister Christos Verelis. The course of the
privatization of Olympic Airways will also be discussed.
In tomorrow's meeting decisions are expected to be reached on
the privatization percentage and the specifications that must be
met by the prospective investors.
The economic and social committee will meet on Friday to
discussed the freeing of the telecommunications market starting on
December 31, 2000 and the freeing of the electricity market
starting on February 19, 2001.
[12] LOSSES OF 1.03% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The losses continued today in the Athens Stock Exchange and
the general index dropped to
-1.03% at 3.978,98 points, while the volume of transactions was
low at 66.7 billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today 53 recorded gains, while 278 had
losses.
[13] JULIA MIGENES WILL GIVE A CONCERT IN THESSALONIKI TOMORROW
The daughter of an immigrant from the Aegean island of Chios
and a Spanish woman the diva of the opera, Julia Migenes, will
give a concert in Thessaloniki tomorrow the content of which will
be a surprise. Ms. Migenes will not sing songs that demand a lot
of energy because she is afraid that she will have problems
because of the heatwave in Greece as it will be an open-air
concert.
Speaking about her family in a press conference she gave
today, Ms. Migenes revealed that her mother had 5 children, two
with her husband and three with her next-door neighbor, Kostas
Mouzianakis, who was her real father. Her mother married her
father when she was 10 years old. She said that her parents are
Europeans but she is an American and when she comes to Greece she
feels her roots.
Referring to the opera, she said that this kind of music is
not very popular, adding that the American students do not learn
anything about music in school.
Ms. Migenes stated that she had her first experience with the
opera at the age of three when her mother woke her up one night to
replace the little girl that was playing Madame Butterfly's little
girl.
Ms. Migenes concluded that she continues to work hard and
that she tries not to take herself seriously.
[14] GOVERNMENT MEETING ON THE GERMAN WAR REPARATIONS
The issue of the war reparations the families of the victims
of the Nazi atrocities in Distomo, central Greece, demand to be
paid by Germany, dominated in a government meeting that was held
today under prime minister Kostas Simitis with the participation
of foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou and justice minister
Michalis Stathopoulos.
As it was made known, Mr. Stathopoulos will meet with his
German counterpart and with the German ambassador to Athens to
discuss the issue of war reparations, while Mr. Papandreou will
have a meeting with the German foreign minister. The reparations
the German state must pay to the Greek Jews who worked in forced
labor camps and the cases of private citizens who brought the
German state to justice will also be examined.
Undersecretary of press Tilemachos Hitiris stated that the
issue is very sensitive and wide and announced that it will be
considered in a future meeting.
[15] COMMENTS BY MR. REPPAS ON THE NEW PROVOCATION IN CYPRUS
The international community must attribute responsibility to
Turkey for the provocative advance of the Turkish occupation
forces to the demilitarized zone in Cyprus, stated Greek
government spokesman Dimitris Reppas. He characterized this move
as unacceptable and called on Turkey to realize that its course
toward Europe passes through specific terms and preconditions to
which it must comply.
Mr. Reppas referred to the protest moves made by the Greek
government, pointing out that those initiatives will continue
until the previous status is reestablished in Cyprus.
The Greek government has sent a letter to UN secretary-
general Kofi Annan asking him to deal with the issue personally
and give the right solution, while it briefed the EU member-states
in order to be sensitized and react in the appropriate way.
On Monday, foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou will raise the
issue in the EU general affairs council.
[16] TERRORISM SCENARIOS BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The newspaper "Wall Street Journal" in an attempt to preserve
the scenarios that came to light after the recent assassination of
brigadier Stephen Saunders by the terrorist organization "17
November" writes in a front-page article that the 2004 Olympic
Games are at risk of possible terrorist attacks.
The newspaper correspondent in Athens maintains that the June
8th terrorist attack has made the sponsors of the games skeptical
and are reexamining the correctness of the decision to have the
Olympic Games hosted by Greece.
Former CIA director James Woolsey stated to the newspaper
that there is no doubt that the US businesses that will sponsor
the Olympic Games in Athens put their people at risk as there is a
big likelihood for someone to get killed in the event. Among the
sponsors are companies like IBM and McDonald's Corp. that have
been hit in the past by the terrorist organization.
[17] JOSE CARERAS IN ATHENS
World famous tenor Jose Careras will give a concert in Athens
tomorrow at the invitation of the American Community Schools in
the Greek capital.
In a press conference today he expressed satisfaction for
being in Greece, adding that he is even more pleased by the fact
that the concert is held to raise money that will be used to build
the American Community Schools Music and Theater Events Center in
Athens.
He expressed his admiration for the great Greek music
composers Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis and Vangelis
Papathanasiou and stressed that Mikis Theodorakis in particular is
very famous in Spain.
Present in the press conference was the US ambassador to
Athens who thanked the artist for accepting the invitation as well
as culture minister Theodoros Pangalos, the Central Archaeological
Council and the Greek Festival.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[18] STROVILIA: MILITARY CHECKPOINT STILL IN PLACE
The Turkish occupation forces in Cyprus continue to violate
the island's UNFICYP status quo through the construction of an
illegal Turkish military check point in Strovilia in the south
eastern part of Cyprus.
The military check point, which restricts the movement of
UNFICYP soldiers, "reiterates the intransigence of the Turkish
side", Greece's Prime Minister Costas Simitis stated yesterday
after meeting with the President of Cyprus Glafcos Clerides.
Meanwhile, the military chiefs of the Cyprus Republic's armed
forces, the National Guard, and UNFICYP will probably meet in the
next 48 hours to discuss the issue, while UN officials are trying
to arrange a meeting with the Commander of the Turkish forces in
occupied Cyprus as soon as possible and they are having contacts
at all levels on the issue.
[19] ARTICLE IN "LA NACION" IN FAVOR OF THE RETURN OF THE
PARTHENON MARBLES
An extensive article under the title "At the traces of the
past" which is referred to the issue of the return of the
Parthenon Marbles from Britain to Greece was published on the
Argentine newspaper "La Nacion".
The article presents the history of the marbles and the views
of National Anthropology Institute president Rafael Gofii, who
stated that the Parthenon Marbles must be returned to Greece
immediately, stressing that all the antiquities that were taken
out of their countries in unacceptable ways must be returned to
their places of origin.
[20] CYPRUS PROTESTED TO THE UN ON THE STATUS QUO VIOLATIONS
The Cypriot foreign ministry delivered a letter to the United
Nations expressing the strong reaction of the Cypriot government
to the Turkish violations of the status quo in Cyprus demanding
the return to its previous state.
The letter was delivered to deputy special envoy of the UN
secretary-general in Cyprus Mr. Vlosovic by Cypriot foreign
ministry general director Michalis Attalidis. Mr. Vlosovic stated
that the United Nations do not accept the situation as it has
developed and called on the Turkish Cypriot leader to take under
serious consideration the international organization's stance on
the issue.
[21] A GREEK-AUSTRALIAN LAWYER INVENTED A NEW HYDRO-ELECTRIC
GENERATOR
Greek-Australian lawyer from Melbourne Pavlos Kouris
maintains that he has made a very important invention. According
to him, he managed to invent a way to produce cheap electricity
without hurting the environment.
Mr. Kouris invented a new hydro-electric generator, a
turbine, which will be able to produce energy from small or large
quantities of water. A patent has already been taken out in the
United States and Australia to protect his invention.
[22] BRITISH PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES CRITICIZED THE FOREIGN OFFICE FOR
THE INSUFFICIENT SECURITY MEASURES IN THE BRITISH EMBASSIES
The British foreign office is criticized strongly over the
insufficient measures taken for the safety of the British
diplomats abroad in a report drawn up by the foreign affairs
parliament committee on the occasion of the assassination of
British military attache in Athens brigadier Stephen Saunders.
The British parliament deputies participating in the
committee maintain in their report that in spite of the increased
tension in Greece due to the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia
no increased security measures were taken and Athens was regarded
to be at the same level with the rest European capitals of the
NATO member-states in terms of personnel safety.
The British foreign office admits in a letter to the
committee that it had suspicions that the "17 November" terrorist
group would look for easier targets than the Americans due to the
increased security measures in the US side.
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