Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-02-09
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, February 9, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE DEPARTMENT: MERRY IS A "FORMER" OFFICIAL
[02] BALKAN CONFERENCE BEGINS AT HARVARD TODAY
[03] LAST GOOBYE BID TO XENAKIS IN SOMBER CEREMONY
[04] BULGARIAN FM MEETS WITH GREEK COUNTERPART
[05] ALPHA BANK ONE OF 2004 SPONSORS WITH HIGHEST BID
[06] ATHOC EX-CHIEF SPECULATES ON 17N's NEXT TARGET
[07] GREEK "CASINO KING" KILLED MAFIA-STYLE IN MIAMI
[08] APPELLATE COURT OKs PRUDENTINO'S EXTRADITION
[09] PAPANDREOU: GREECE AND THE UNITED STATES COOPERATE IN THE EFFORT TO
COUNTER TERRORISM
[10] RECORD SUNLIGHT HOURS THIS WINTER
[11] THE BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONTINUES HER CONTACTS IN ATHENS
[12] TWO HOTELS, TWO TAVERNS AND HUNDREDS OF COPPER COINS WERE UNEARTHED AT
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF DION
[13] SMALL GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[14] SEPTEMBER 14 IS DECLARED MEMORIAL DAY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE GREEK
GENOCIDE IN ASIA MINOR
[15] THE ACTING GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DENIED THE RUMORS ON AN IMMINENT
AGREEMENT ON THE ISSUE OF FYROM'S NAME
[16] GREECE TAKES ALL NECESSARY SECURITY MEASURES FOR THE 2004 OLYMPIC
GAMES
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[17] THE PRIME MINISTER COMPLETED HIS VISIT TO INDIA
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE DEPARTMENT: MERRY IS A "FORMER" OFFICIAL
The U.S. State Department clearly distanced itself from the
heavy-worded article penned by former State Department official
Wayne Merry who frets of "a potential bloody disaster" at the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens.
Emphasizing that Mr. Merry is a "former" official, State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that he was not in a
position to comment on the content of the "Los Angeles Times"
article, since he had not read it in its entirety.
"Not having read the entire article, I can't parse through
them (the accusations). But generally, no, we don't share the
accusations. And this is our view of the situation," he said.
Mr. Boucher also stressed that "as in all such events, the
possibility exists that terrorists will attempt to use the venue
to advance their agenda. And that was evident, I think, in the CIA
threat assessment testimony yesterday. But at this time we have no
specific information that would indicate a particular threat to
the Games."
The State Department spokesman also stated that "the U.S.,
along with several other countries, has formed an Olympic
security advisory group for the 2004 Olympics. The group has
traveled to Athens to meet with Greek officials late last year,
and they will return this spring for further consultations.
"As we've said many times, it is very important for the Greek
government to continue to take concrete steps towards the arrest
and prosecution of terrorists. But in terms of the Olympics and
this project, there's this international group that will be
meeting with the Greeks and will be working with them to ensure
that we have a safe Olympics."
[02] BALKAN CONFERENCE BEGINS AT HARVARD TODAY
A scientific conference on the Balkans, is to be held at
Harvard's Center of European Studies on February 9-10, organized
by the Kokkalis Program for Southeastern and Central-eastern
Europe.
The aim of the conference, which is held for the third
consecutive year, is to bring together new researchers dealing in
the field of social and political sciences in the Balkans. The
conference will deal with issues related to economic
reconstruction, public administration and democratization, the
society of citizens and human rights, mass media and democracy,
traditional and new matters concerning security, criminality and
corruption.
The selection of the 22 participants was conducted following
an international competition that drew more than 200 applications.
[03] LAST GOOBYE BID TO XENAKIS IN SOMBER CEREMONY
Family and friends of noted Greek composer Iannis Xenakis bid
their last goodbye yesterday during a somber ceremony in Paris.
Xenakis died in Paris on Sunday, at the age of 78, followng a
lengthy illness. He is survived by his wife, Francoise, and their
daughter Mache.
The world-famous composer was born in 1922 into a Greek
family residing at Braila, Romania. The sense of being an
"ousider" remained integral to his identity, signaled by the
title of a recently published book of interviews "il faut etre
constamment un immigre."
Having lost his mother when he was five years old, he was
sent off to boarding school on the Greek island of Spetses at the
age of ten. He studied civil engineering at the Athens
Polytechnic, but the German invasion followed by the British
occupation drew him into the Resistance, activities from which he
would end up near fatally wounded, losing one eye, then later
condemned to death. Forced to escape Greece, Xenakis ended up in
Paris in 1947, wanting to study music, but earning a living
working as an engineering assistant for Le Corbusier.
His creative and intellectual intensity attracted the
attention of both the renowned architect, who delegated
architectural projects to him in spite of his lack of professional
training, and the composer and pedagogue Olivier Messiaen, who saw
in the music he was struggling to produce in isolation an
originality deserving of encouragement. Xenakis had his first
major success with the premiere of Metastasis in 1955, and by 1960
he was able to devote himself entirely to composition.
Along with his acoustic works, he has produced a number of
important electroacoustic pieces, and a series of multimedia
creations involving sound, light, movement, and architecture
(polytopes).
Xenakis was a pioneer in the area of algorithmic composition,
and also developed an approach to digital synthesis based on
random generation and variation of the waveform itself.
[04] BULGARIAN FM MEETS WITH GREEK COUNTERPART
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mikhailova, presently on
her first official visit to Greece, met with her Greek counterpart
George Papandreou yesterday, with whom she discussed bilateral
political and economic relations, the situation in Yugoslavia and
the Balkans in general, the course of Bulgaria's accession to NATO
and the European Union and the Alexandroupolis-Burgas oil
pipeline.
In a joint press conference following the talks, Mr.
Papandreou underlined the excellent cooperation enjoyed by Greece
and Bulgaria on bilateral issues and on regional ones as well, on
which there is an identity of views.
The Greek FM characteristically stated that friendship
between the two countries "is not only historical, but timely as
well."
Regarding issues concerning the European Union's and NATO's
enlargement, Mr. Papandreou hailed the progress achieved by
Bulgaria regarding its accession to Euro-Atlantic institutions and
added that Greece "will always be at its side."
Mr. Papandreou stated that his discussion with Ms.
Mikhailova, also focused on the crisis in southern Serbia, where
the two officials agreed to include the matter among top priority
issues tob e discussed at the Interbalkan summit on February 22-23
in Skopje.
Moreover, the two foreign ministers also discussed the Burgas-
Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, the course of economic cooperation
and cooperation in the transport sector.
In turn, Ms. Mikhailova said that her official visit to
Greece "constitutes a message for the cooperation of a strategic
nature between the two countries".
She further stressed that her talks with Mr. Papandreou have
always been very fruitful and comprehensive, adding that "at
present we have the possibility of exceeding the narrow nucleus of
our bilateral relations and including our cooperation in a
European perspective."
The Bulgarian FM was also received by the President of the
Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos during a courtesy call
yesterday afternoon at the presidential mansion.
[05] ALPHA BANK ONE OF 2004 SPONSORS WITH HIGHEST BID
By providing the highest bid so far in the overall
sponsorship program, privately-owned financial institution Alpha
Bank Group has been chosen as the national sponsor in the banking
sector for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
According to the President of the Athens Organizing Committee
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Alpha's bid amounted to 25.2
billion drachmas.
Winning the breweries sponsorship section was Athenian
Brewery SA, with a bid of six billion drachmas.
[06] ATHOC EX-CHIEF SPECULATES ON 17N's NEXT TARGET
The chief of the Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC) Gianna
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki may be the next target in line for the
terrorist group known as "17 November", according to ATHOC's
former president Stratos Stratigis.
In an interview with the ABC television channel, which is to
be broadcast next week, Mr. Stratigis reportedly revealed that he
himself has been threatened by the impervious organization.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department clearly distanced
itself from the heavy-worded article penned by former State
Department official Wayne Merry who foretells of "a potential
bloody disaster" at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stated that "at
this time we have no specific information that would indicate a
particular threat to the Games."
[07] GREEK "CASINO KING" KILLED MAFIA-STYLE IN MIAMI
A Greek immigrant who personified the "American dream" by
founding a 150-restaurant chain and a gambling-cruise operation,
was shot and killed on Tuesday as he was driving on a Miami
isolated road, apparently by a hitman hired over business
disputes.
According to Miami police, Gus Boulis, a 51-year-old
restaurateur from northern Greece's city of Kavala, was driving
along a quiet road when a car suddenly pulled up and intercepted
him. Another car came from the opposite direction and its driver
fired three or four shots at Boulis, police said. Both cars sped
off.
Although he had been shot several times, Boulis managed to
drive onto a busy street before crashing into a tree in front of
one of his restaurants. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the
hospital.
In recent weeks, Boulis had been embroiled in a series of
legal entanglements after selling his $147.5-million casino boat
operation (Sun Cruz) to a group headed by Adam Kidan, a lawyer
from Washington, DC.
Boulis, who emigrated to the United States at the age of
eighteen, founded Sun Cruz in 1994 with one boat. Today it
operates casino boats in 12 states.
Federal prosecutors forced Boulis to sell the company and
fined him $2 million because he owned it without being a US
citizen, which is illegal.
The Mayor of Kavala Stathis Erifyllides said that Boulis was
an active businessman who never forsook his birthplace. As a
matter of fact, according to the mayor, Boulis was in Athens on
Tuesday, one day before his murder, in order to scope out
investment opportunities.
[08] APPELLATE COURT OKs PRUDENTINO'S EXTRADITION
The Thessaloniki Court of Appeals has approved Italy's
extradition request for Francesco Prudentino, an Italian national
believed to be a senior member of the biggest cigarette smuggling
racket in Greece, Italy and the Balkans.
Acting on an international arrest warrant, Thessaloniki
police arrested the 52-year-old Prudentino on December 22. After
the local court sentenced him to 19 months in jail for possessing
forged documents, Prudentino posted bail for his release.
[09] PAPANDREOU: GREECE AND THE UNITED STATES COOPERATE IN THE
EFFORT TO COUNTER TERRORISM
Greece and the United States cooperate closely in the effort
to counter terrorism which is not just a Greek phenomenon but an
international one. This cooperation displays the mutual political
will and the good intentions of both sides toward this direction.
The above were stressed by Greek foreign minister Giorgos
Papandreou when he was called to comment on the US State
Department statement on terrorism in Greece. He also condemned the
repeated press reports on the Athens 2004 Olympic Games saying
that they not only hurt Greece but the Olympic Games institution
itself.
[10] RECORD SUNLIGHT HOURS THIS WINTER
Record sunlight hours and high temperatures were recorded
this winter by meteorologists in Greece.
A similar phenomenon had been recorded in 1990, while it
should be mentioned that this year there was no break in the so-
called, halcyon days.
However, according to the Greek Weather Bureau, the weather
will change starting tomorrow with rain, strong winds and low
temperatures.
[11] THE BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONTINUES HER CONTACTS IN
ATHENS
Bulgarian foreign minister Ms. Nadezda Michailova, who is on
a formal visit to Greece, had separate meetings in Athens today
with Greek parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis, right-wing
main opposition party of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis and
Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos.
In the meetings were discussed the developments in the Balkan
region and Bulgaria's European course.
Mr. Kaklamanis expressed Greece's support to Bulgaria's
European course and stressed the need for the two countries to
cooperate in the effort to safeguard peace and stability in the
Balkans.
From her side, Ms. Michailova expressed the view that the
confidence in bilateral relations has reached high levels.
[12] TWO HOTELS, TWO TAVERNS AND HUNDREDS OF COPPER COINS WERE
UNEARTHED AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF DION
A luxury hotel for state officials and next to it, two
taverns and a less expensive hotel were housed in two 2nd century
AD buildings that were unearthed during excavations at the ancient
city of Dion in the archaeological site of Vergina, northern
Greece. Archaeologists reached this conclusion based on a 2nd
century AD inscription that was found nearby.
Also, based on another inscription dated back to the 3rd
century BC it appears that in the ancient times certain women,
like the wives of distinguished men, had increased political
rights.
In the same area, hundreds of 2nd century AD copper coins
were also discovered which is an indication that the treasury of
the temple of Zeus was in the specific region.
The above were mentioned in the 14th scientific meeting on
the archaeological work in Macedonia and Thrace that was held in
Thessaloniki.
[13] SMALL GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
Small gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today.
The general index was increased by 0.39% at 3.169,71 points, while
the volume of transactions was 128.2 million Euro or 43.6 billion
drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 265 recorded gains and 54 had
losses, while the value of 55 stocks remained stable.
[14] SEPTEMBER 14 IS DECLARED MEMORIAL DAY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE
GREEK GENOCIDE IN ASIA MINOR
September 14 was declared to be annual Memorial Day for the
victims of the Greek genocide in Asia Minor committed by the
Turkish state in 1922.
The decision is included in a presidential decree that was
prepared by culture minister Evangelos Venizelos and has been
forwarded to the president of the republic to be signed.
[15] THE ACTING GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DENIED THE RUMORS ON AN
IMMINENT AGREEMENT ON THE ISSUE OF FYROM'S NAME
Undersecretary of press and acting Greek government spokesman
Tilemachos Hitiris in statements he made to the Skopje newspaper
"Vetser", denied the rumors that circulated in Skopje on an
imminent agreement on the pending issue of the FYROM name
involving the adoption of a proposal tabled by the Greek side. Mr.
Hitiris stated that the talks for the solution of the problem
continue and the Greek government is making efforts to reach a
solution that will be to the interest of both states.
Regarding the recognition of the Christian Orthodox Church in
FYROM, which is allegedly included in a "package of offers" made
by Greece in exchange for the solution of the problem, Mr. Hitiris
stated that this is an issue of negotiations between the Churches.
In the briefing of reporters in Athens today, Mr. Hitiris
stated when he was asked to comment on the rumors concerning an
imminent meeting of the prime ministers of Greece and FYROM, that
if such a meeting is held it will be announced.
Mr. Hitiris, responding to a question on whether the Greek
government has made a proposal to FYROM suggesting the names "Nova
Makedonija" or "Dolna Makedonija", stated that proposals on the
issue of the FYROM name are being tabled by the Greek and the
FYROM side.
Mr. Hitiris also added that the circle of negotiations on the
FYROM name continues and expressed the hope that the issue will be
settled soon with the adoption of a mutually acceptable name
because this will contribute to the stability in the region and
the upgrading of bilateral cooperation.
[16] GREECE TAKES ALL NECESSARY SECURITY MEASURES FOR THE 2004
OLYMPIC GAMES
Acting Greek government spokesman Tilemachos Hitiris stated
that Greece takes all necessary security measures for the 2004
Olympic Games.
The statement was made when he was asked to comment on the
interview of former "Athens 2004" organization head, Stratis
Stratigis, with Australia's ABC television channel. According to
Mr. Stratigis, the next "17 November" terrorist organization
target could be "Athens 2004" organizing committee president Ms.
Yianna Angelopoulou-Daskalakis.
Mr. Hitiris stated that it is not helpful to continue the
talk on terrorism, while responding to the question if measures
are being taken for the protection of Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalakis,
he stated that the responsible agencies are doing their job.
Finally, when he was called to comment on the statement made
by the US State Department spokesman concerning the statements on
terrorism in Greece that were made by Wayne Merry, a former US
State Department and Pentagon official, Mr. Hitiris responded that
the statement in question keeps a clear distance from the
statements made by the former US official, adding that the issue
has ended for Greece.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[17] THE PRIME MINISTER COMPLETED HIS VISIT TO INDIA
Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis completed his formal
visit to India today and speaking to reporters while flying over
Dubai on his way back to Athens he stated that the talks he had
with the government and business representatives in the country
were very friendly and positive, adding that they want Greece's
help to expand their contacts with the European Union.
Mr. Simitis also confirmed the information that the president
of India will visit Athens on April 23.
The prime minister stated that India plays a very big role in
the region and until now it had not enjoyed the attention it
should have on behalf of the European Union. On the contacts the
Greek businessmen had during the visit to the country, he said
that they were good and added that the market is wide covering
sectors from ship-building material to computers. He also said
that the businessmen in India are interested in forging good
relations with the Balkans and eastern and central Europe.
He referred to the good relations formed between Greece and
India during the time of Andreas Papandreou and Indira Gandhi,
saying that Andreas Papandreou has left very good memories to the
people of India and this is something we can capitalize on.
He also said that India can assist in the solution of the
Cyprus problem and regional issues based on international law.
Mr. Simitis also speaking to reporters, ruled out the
likelihood of a government reshuffle at least for a long time.
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