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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2002-07-03
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY
Thessaloniki, July 3, 2002
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] MITSOTAKIS ON TERRORISM
[02] US AMBASSADOR MILLER IS SATISFIED WITH THE INVESTIGATIONS ON TERRORISM
[03] LOSSES IN THE ASE
[04] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE INVESTIGATIONS ON TERRORISM
[05] THE AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER WILL VISIT GREECE
[06] FYROM: THE THESSALONIKI-SKOPJE ROAD AXIS IS A PRIORITY
[07] POLICE RAIDED A "17 NOVEMBER" TERRORIST ORGANIZATION HIDEOUT
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[08] BAUCHER: THE GREEK-US COOPERATION AGAINST TERRORISM IS EXCELLENT
[09] SIMITIS IS ON A VISIT TO UKRAINE
NEWS IN DETAILS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] MITSOTAKIS ON TERRORISM
Has the government of PASOK made the decision to use all means in
order to break up the "17 November" terrorist organization regardless
of the cost, wondered Konstantinos Mitsotakis, honorary president
of the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, in an
interview with the Athens television station ANT1.
Mr. Mitsotakis expressed the hope that what happened in the past
will not happen again and underlined that the cooperation of the
Greek police authorities with the US and the British authorities
is very good.
He stressed that the efforts against terrorism in Greece are linked
with the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens which could be at risk in
case of an increase in terrorism.
[02] US AMBASSADOR MILLER IS SATISFIED WITH THE INVESTIGATIONS ON
TERRORISM
US ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller appeared satisfied with the
course of the investigations regarding the terrorist activities in
Greece in statements he made today.
Mr. Miller pointed out that he watches the developments closely,
stressing that it is too early to assess the situation. He also
stressed that authorities in Greece did a very good job but there
is still a long way to go, while the US and British specialists do
everything they can to help the Greek authorities.
The US ambassador suggested that comments, rumors and speculations
on cases that are still in progress should be avoided and information
coming from people who are not well-informed should not be adopted.
When asked to comment on whether he believes he is the target of
a terrorist attack, he responded negatively and added that the
issue of terrorism concerns the whole world and must be dealt
jointly.
[03] LOSSES IN THE ASE
Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general
index dropped to -0.75% at 2.164,41 points, while the volume of
transactions was at 75.6 million Euro or 25.7 billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 88 recorded gains and 222 had losses,
while the value of 63 stocks remained unchanged.
[04] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE INVESTIGATIONS ON TERRORISM
Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas stated that the
scenarios and especially, the "information" on arrests and questionings
of people within the framework of the investigations on terrorism
should stop. The statement was made when he was called to comment
on relevant press reports.
Mr. Protopapas denied that during the Prime Minister's visit to
the US a discussion was held on specific names of terrorists and
that special security measures have been taken for the protection
of mass media owners. He also denied that there is a risk for a
terrorist attack or that a member of "17 November" has been arrested,
as it was mentioned in a press report on the Athens newspaper " TO
VIMA" which was allegedly based on information coming from a
government source.
[05] THE AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER WILL VISIT GREECE
Australian Prime Minister John Howard will have a number of contacts
with the state and political leadership during his visit to Greece
scheduled to take place on July 4-7.
Mr. Howard will meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis to discuss
bilateral issues, Australia's relations with the EU and issues
concerning the Greeks living in Australia, like the signing of a
bilateral pension agreement.
Mr. Howard's visit to Greece is placed within the framework of his
tour of European countries namely, Germany Italy, Belgium and the
Vatican scheduled to take place on July 1-13. His talks with the
European leaders will focus on issues concerning trade, investments,
bilateral relations, illegal immigration and political refugees.
The Australian Prime Minister will visit the capital of Athens as
well as the cities of Chania and Iraklion in the island of Crete
to honor the Australians killed there during WWII.
[06] FYROM: THE THESSALONIKI-SKOPJE ROAD AXIS IS A PRIORITY
The improvement of road axis No10 linking Thessaloniki with Skopje
is a priority for the government of FYROM, as well as the coordinated
actions aimed at limiting the pollution of the shared water resources,
stated to MPA FYROM Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications
Ljube Balkovski.
Mr. Balkovski stated that it is a big success for the region's
energy and transportation sector referring to yesterday's double
inauguration of the Thessaloniki-Skopje crude oil pipeline. The
inauguration was done simultaneously at the Hellenic Petroleum
plant in Thessaloniki and the OKTA oil refineries in Skopje.
He stressed that the cooperation plans between Greece and FYROM
will continue with the European road transportation network -axis
10- and specifically, the part that links Thessaloniki with Skopje.
The signing of the cooperation memorandum for the reopening of axis
10 took place last year in Thessaloniki and concerns eight countries
Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, FYROM
and Greece.
[07] POLICE RAIDED A "17 NOVEMBER" TERRORIST ORGANIZATION HIDEOUT
A hideout of the terrorist organization "17 November" was raided
by police in downtown Athens. The hideout was in a basement apartment
in an area called Kato Patisia.
The large-scale police operation was launched in cooperation with
the anti-terrorist agency. It began in early afternoon and it is
still underway. According to information, the findings appear to
be very significant and the search continues.
Based on mass media reports, the anti-terrorist agency officers
discovered anti-tank rockets stolen from the army camp in Sikourion
Larisa, central Greece, a large number of guns, explosives, disguise
material and printed material.
The police operation continues, the area has been cordoned off and
three ambulances have arrived for precautionary reasons. No arrests
have been reported.
Earlier, police had evacuated the apartment building at 84 Patmos
Street and explosives specialists with trained dogs searched the
apartment to establish if it was booby-trapped.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[08] BAUCHER: THE GREEK-US COOPERATION AGAINST TERRORISM IS EXCELLENT
Washington is ready to help in any way in the efforts to break up
the terrorist organization "17 November", stated US State Department
spokesman Richard Baucher, characterizing as excellent the cooperation
between the US and the Greek authorities.
The US State Department spokesman gave an emphasis on the cooperation
of the two governments in the effort to combat terrorism and stressed
that details on the arrest of Savvas Xiros can be given only by
the Greek authorities.
[09] SIMITIS IS ON A VISIT TO UKRAINE
Greece's belief that the countries of Eastern Europe should have
steady relations with the European Union was expressed by Prime
Minister Kostas Simitis in statements he made after the meeting he
had today with the Ukrainian President in Kiev.
Mr. Simitis referred especially to the summit meeting the Ukrainian
side will have tomorrow in Copenhagen and to the Euro-zone Summit
meeting with the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization
scheduled to take place during the Greek EU Presidency.
The Prime Minister stated, regarding the progress in the macroeconomic
indexes recorded in Ukraine, that bilateral economic relations must
be improved, while the same stance was adopted by the Ukrainian
President as well.
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