Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 97-12-23

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY

Thessaloniki, December 23, 1997

TITLES

[01] THE BLACK BOX OF THE YAKOVLEV PLANE FORWARDED TO GERMANY

[02] FOUR WOMEN MISS YAK-42 DOOMED FLIGHT BY THE SKIN OF THEIR TEETH...

[03] GREEKS TO BE GIVEN TAX BREAKS FOR EACH ADDITIONAL CHILD

[04] U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL IN THESSALONIKI WILL MOVE TO NEW HOME

[05] KEEPING ITS PROMISE, GREECE GIVES 14 CARS TO GREEKS LIVING IN ALBANIA

[06] EUROPEAN COMMISSION POLLS RACISM IN THE EU, RESULTS ARE SURPRISING

[07] MILUTINOVIC IS SERBIA’S NEW PRESIDENT

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] THE BLACK BOX OF THE YAKOVLEV PLANE FORWARDED TO GERMANY

Thessaloniki, December 23 (MPA)

Meanwhile, at Thessaloniki’s Papageorgiou hospital the gruesome process of recognising the bodies is currently underway. The medical coroners are looking into the possibility that there were 73 instead of 71 passengers aboard the doomed plane.

The country’s main opposition party New Democracy has demanded that the transportation minister resign, along with the administrators of the country’s civil aviation authority. A.F.

[02] FOUR WOMEN MISS YAK-42 DOOMED FLIGHT BY THE SKIN OF THEIR TEETH...

Thessaloniki, December 23 (MPA)

They booked their tickets to Thessaloniki with the Aerosweet charter airline and they were to travel on December 17 with the Yakovlev-42 Flight 241. A stroke of bad weather was actually a stroke of good luck, since they opted to travel via Moscow in order to avoid the storm of Kiev.

Having embarked on their holiday travel from the Ukrainian city of Donietsk, where their parents live, Natalia Paschalidou and Nadia Ouspekidou, accompanied by two other women, re-routed their itinerary to Moscow instead of Kiev, even though this meant they had to take a train and cover a distance of over 1,000 kilometres. From Moscow they boarded Aeroflot’s flight to Thessaloniki on the morning of December 18, unaware of the catastrophe that had occurred the previous night with the flight they had just cancelled.

This minor change of plans had a major impact on their lives. “God saved us,” Ms. Paschalidou told the Macedonian Press Agency. Somehow she felt that she had to re-route her flight and convinced her friends to do so, even though that meant a loss of money since they didn’t have the time to get a refund on Aerosweet’s flight.

Their relatives in Ukraine didn’t know of the women’s changed itinerary. When news of the crash broke, they mourned their own until Sunday, when the women called home.

Stunned at the news of last week’s tragedy, the two attended a Holy Unction on Sunday and, through the Association of Greek Re- Patriots from the former Soviet Union, will provide financial assistance to four poor families. In the spirit of Christmas... A.F.

[03] GREEKS TO BE GIVEN TAX BREAKS FOR EACH ADDITIONAL CHILD

Athens, December 23 (MPA)

According to the report, the adjustment will be included in the new tax legislation which will be tabled in Parliament in the beginning of next month. A.F.

[04] U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL IN THESSALONIKI WILL MOVE TO NEW HOME

Thessaloniki, December 23 (MPA)

The US Embassy had been seeking a new site for the Consulate for some time now and is pleased with the new location in the center of town.

Us Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns presided over the signing of the lease and warmly toasted this major and necessary step in the United States’ efforts to maintain a visible and accessible presence of the Embassy and Consulate in northern Greece. A.F.

[05] KEEPING ITS PROMISE, GREECE GIVES 14 CARS TO GREEKS LIVING IN ALBANIA

Athens, December 23 (MPA)

The turning-over was conducted at the border station of Kakavia and the cars will be used for the needs of the police stations in Albania’s southern region.

Mr. Ceka thanked Mr. Glaros for his offer and expressed his wish that this co-operation be extended in other activities in which the Foundation is involved. A.F.

[06] EUROPEAN COMMISSION POLLS RACISM IN THE EU, RESULTS ARE SURPRISING

Brussels, December 23 (MPA)

Using a sample of 16,000 Europeans from the Community’s 15 member-states, the poll revealed that Belgians, French and Austrians hold first place in racist sentiments, while not far behind are Greeks too. The nationalities which show the fewest signs of racism are Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish and Irish.

As far as Greece is concerned, 58% of those asked stated that he or she is little, somewhat or quite a bit racist. Specifically, the rate of those asked who said that they are “very racist” amounted to 6%, while 31% said they are “somewhat racist”, and 21% said they are “quite a bit to very racist”.

According to sociologists, this phenomenon in Greece, a paradoxical one since Greeks are often victims of racism elsewhere, can be attributed to the incoming flood of immigrants from the former eastern bloc, the Balkans and third world countries. A.F.

[07] MILUTINOVIC IS SERBIA’S NEW PRESIDENT

Belgrade, December 23 (MPA)

With 95.06% of the votes counted, Mr. Milutinovic has amassed 58.66%, that is 2,049,900 votes, while the second contender Voislav Seseli gathered 50.53%, that is 1,332,646 votes. A.F.

Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/

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