Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 01-04-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] LEAP OF DEATH CUT SHORT BY BALCONY AND LUCK

[02] PREMIER TO CHAIR MEETING ON DROUGHT THREAT

[03] HOUSE PASSES 78 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

[04] DM ADDRESSES ROUND TABLE TALKS OVER BALKANS

[05] GREEK JOURNALISTS ON 24-HOUR STRIKE TOMORROW

[06] GREECE LAST AMONG EU IN RESEARCH EXPENDITURES

[07] ELIAMEP TO HOLD SEMINARS ON EUROPEAN SECURITY

[08] 10-DAY EXTENSION GIVEN TO DEADLINE OF O.A. BIDS

[09] MODERATE QUAKES JOLT GREECE, NO INJURIES

[10] US SECRETARY OF STATE TO MEET WITH BALKAN DMs

[01] LEAP OF DEATH CUT SHORT BY BALCONY AND LUCK

A Thessaloniki woman who attempted suicide by leaping out of a sixth floor, was miraculously saved when she slipped out of the hands of the policeman rescuing her, hit on the railing below and, after bouncing on a tent, fell into a lower balcony.

According to the police report, passers-by saw the 35-year-old woman hanging from the sixth-floor balcony of an apartment building on Saturday morning in Thessaloniki's bustling central street.

Once the police's rescue team was notified, an officer entered the balcony from upstairs, urging the woman who was suspended from the balcony's parapet to get a hold of his hand so that he could hoist her up.

The would-be victim clutched on to her rescuer's hand but slipped and embarked on a free fall that was intercepted when she hit on the tent of a lower floor and fell inside its balcony. She was subsequently transported to the hospital by ambulance.

According to medical reports, the unidentified woman has suffered only minor scratches, but will be kept in the hospital for a psychological evaluation.

A.F.

[02] PREMIER TO CHAIR MEETING ON DROUGHT THREAT

Prime Minister Costas Simitis is to chair a meeting to forge a national water policy with the Ministers of Agriculture George Anomeritis and Aegean Nikos Sifounakis tomorrow, in light of the threat of drought that looms ahead this summer.

The lack of rainfall, coupled with a dwindling water supply, has rendered 2001 as the century's driest year and forecasters warn of prospective water shortages as early as this summer.

Last summer brought Greece its worst fire season in decades. Successive heatwaves and strong winds contributed to blazes which razed up to 370,500 acres of forest - more than 10 times the amount of damage recorded in 1999. At the height of the destruction, the fires killed seven people and destroyed dozens of homes in one week.

Scrambling to avoid a repeat of the damage, the interior ministry has earmarked 10.3 billion drachmas for fire preventin measures at the local government level.

According to a United Nations world climate report released in January, the 1990s were the world's hottest decade in 1,000 years, with the Mediterranean countries being on the front line of global warming.

Italy, Portugal, Spain and southern France are also losing farmland because of dry soil, while Turkey is at odds with neighbors Iraq and Syria over water rights from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Drought is a major cause of migration from north Africa, and one of the reasons European countries are assisting with environmental aid programs.

A.F.

[03] HOUSE PASSES 78 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Greece's 300-member Parliament ratified 78 amendments to the Constitution of 1975, thereby passing all but five of the 83 revisions that were tabled originally.

In his address before the House, Prime Minister Costas Simitis stated that our priority was to broaden and strengthen the protection of basic rights.

We have paid special attention to rights, the protection of which was made necessary by the explosive development of technology," he said, adding we have also reinforced the credibility of the State. Because credibility determines the relations of the citizen with the State but also the quality of democracy. And credibility depends on transparency, on the citizens' ability to know, to follow and to judge. We tried to make this transparency a stable reference point in every adjustment to our economic and political life."

The reforms call for :

Banning mass media owners from being involved in deals with the State.

Prohibiting members of Parliament from holding another job.

Adjustments to the judiciary.

Abolishing the Fifth Department of the Council of State Changes parliamentary procedures.

Increasing the power of the opposition to check the government.

Establishing the privacy of personal data;

Setting up the State hiring agency, ASEP, the National Broadcast Council and the Ombudsman Agency as independent authorities.

Forbidding sudden changes of the electoral law and introduces stricter monitoring of electoral spending;

Forbidding the State's permanent hiring of contract workers; and obliges the State to pay compensation to citizens when courts so rule.

The revised constitution also puts a formal end to the death sentence.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Coaliton of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) abstained from the voting, in a protest over procedures, leaving the ruling PASOK party and he main opposition of New Democracy to vote on the amendments.

The revisions will be in effect for at least the following ten years, until the next constitutional reform is permitted.

A.F.

[04] DM ADDRESSES ROUND TABLE TALKS OVER BALKANS

Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos addressed a round table discussion, on the effects of stabilization of the Balkans on regional economic and social development of the people.

The discussion, held on Saturday, was organized by the European Socialist Party, the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity, the foundations FES, Westminster, Renner and the Institute of Strategic and Development Studies Andreas Papandreou (ISTAME).

A.F.

[05] GREEK JOURNALISTS ON 24-HOUR STRIKE TOMORROW

Greece's journalists' unions have declared a 24-hour warning strike for Monday, April 9, over payment of various subsidies and bonuses.

Other media unions are also participating in the strike, while a protest rally will be conducted on Monday morning in front of the Parliament.

A.F.

[06] GREECE LAST AMONG EU IN RESEARCH EXPENDITURES

Greece appears to spend the lowest rate of funds for research and technology in the European Union, although the increase in employment in this sector is the highest in the Union, according to Eurostat.

In a report entitled "Research and Technology in Europe", Eurostat found that . Greece spends just 0.51 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for research and technology at a time when the EU average is 1.86 per cent.

Greece is followed by Portugal with 0.63 percent, Spain with 0.90 per cent and Italy with 1.02 per cent. Sweden is highest on the list with 3.77 per cent, followed by Finland with 2.89 per cent and Germany with 2.29 per cent.

 A.F.

[07] ELIAMEP TO HOLD SEMINARS ON EUROPEAN SECURITY

The Hellenic Foundation for Foreign and Defense Policy (ELIAMEP) is organizing the 2001 Halki International Seminars for the 12th consecutive year at the small southeastern Aegean island of Halki.

These summer seminars aim to promote critical thinking and intercultural understanding on European security and cooperation issues.

Participants will include diplomats, researchers, journalists, government and political officials, educators and representatives from governmental and non-governmental organizations from European Union, Eastern and central European, Black and Caspian Sea regions, the CIS Republics, the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and North America.

These younger generation, up to forty years of age, individuals will come together to examine problems and prospects of security and cooperation of our region.

A.F.

[08] 10-DAY EXTENSION GIVEN TO DEADLINE OF O.A. BIDS

The deadline for bids in an international tender to privatize the national air carrier Olympic Airways has been extended by ten days, to April 30.

According to reports, the move was deemed necessary to grant the four bidders more time to study the airline's dossier and prepare their offers.

Cyprus Airways chairman Haris Loizides has stated that the deadline was moved after a request from us, and possibly from others. We had asked for an extension of about a month and we were given 10 days.

Greece is offering 51-65 percent of Olympic, which the government says it must sell to ensure the airline's survival now that the European Union bans it from receiving state financial assistance. The state plans to retain much of the airline's debt.

Groups which have expressed an interest in Olympic also include Axon Airlines, a fledging Greek carrier, Australia's Integrated Airline Solutions and a group headed by Greek shipowner Stamatis Restis.

A.F.

[09] MODERATE QUAKES JOLT GREECE, NO INJURIES

Three moderate earthquakes shook west-central Greece early this morning, alarming locals but causing no injuries or damages.

The first quake was recorded at 9:10 a.m. local time and measured 3.4 on the Richter scale, only to be followed two minutes later by a stronger tremor that measured 4.6 on the Richter scale. A third earthquake of 3.7 Richter was recorded at 9:37 a.m.

The quakes' epicenter was pinpointed in the Corinthian Gulf separating mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, approximately 10 kilometers south of the coastal town of Aigio, 120 kilometers west of Athens.

A.F.

[10] US SECRETARY OF STATE TO MEET WITH BALKAN DMs

US Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with his Balkan counterparts this week in FYROM, in order to discuss the developments in the country and review the prospects of close cooperation among the region's countries for resolving the situation effectively.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher announced that the meeting will take place on April 12 at FYROM's initiative. According to Mr. Boucher, the meeting will provide the participants with the opportunity to express their support for the FYROM government's policy of easing tension and embarking on a dialogue with the country's Albanian minority.

On April 11, Mr. Powell will be participating in a Paris-held meeting of Contact Group foreign ministers (US, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Italy) in Paris for an examination of developments in the Balkans and the situation in Kosovo. The Secretary of State will also be visiting Bosnia, while he might also be going to Kosovo.

Discussions during both meetings will also include the issue of the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the potential referral thereof to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

A.F.

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