Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-07-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] UNEMPLOYMENT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR THE GREEKS

[02] LUFTHANSA SUBMITTED A NON BINDING OFFER FOR OLYMPIC CATERING

[03] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[04] PICTURES OF THE "17 NOVEMBER" HIDEOUTS WERE GIVEN TO PUBLICITY

[05] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT EXPRESSED REGRET FOR THE ACCIDENT IN CYPRUS

[06] BLAIR CONGRATULATED SIMITIS ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM

[07] THE TRIAL OF PASSARIS STARTS TOMORROW

[08] RECORD SPEED FOR THE GDP GROWTH RATE IN GREECE

[01] UNEMPLOYMENT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR THE GREEKS

Unemployment, social exclusion and poverty are the problems that concern 97% of the Greeks ages 15-24.

Also, the young Greeks are concerned with the protection of the environment (86%), food safety (97%), the security of the European citizens (96%), immigration and the European Union borders. The conclusions on the views of the young Greeks mentioned above were presented by the Eurobarometer and were given to publicity in Brussels.

[02] LUFTHANSA SUBMITTED A NON BINDING OFFER FOR OLYMPIC CATERING

The German airline Lufthansa submitted a non binding offer for the buyout of the majority package and management of Olympic Catering.

For the record, the deadline for the non binding offers by those interested ends tomorrow. The offers that will be approved in this phase of the bid will be included in a short list and the interested companies will be called to submit binding offers by August 2.

[03] LOSSES IN THE ASE

The losses continue in the Athens Stock Exchange. The general index dropped to -1.06% at 2.162,29 points, while the volume of transactions was at 65 million Euro or 22.1 billion drachmas.

Of the stocks trading today, 103 recorded gains and 201 had losses, while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.

[04] PICTURES OF THE "17 NOVEMBER" HIDEOUTS WERE GIVEN TO PUBLICITY

Greek Police Headquarters press spokesman Lefteris Economou confirmed today that the genetic print of the blood found on the scene of the explosion at the Port of Piraeus on June 29 matches the genetic print of the blood stains found on May 16, 1999. The match was made with the blood stains found during the investigation on the rocket attack targeting the residence of the German ambassador to Athens.

Mr. Economou gave to publicity pictures of the objects found in the two 17 November terrorist organization hideouts at 84 Patmos Street in Kato Patisia and 73 Damareos Street in Pangrati in Athens. He said that all the findings are now at the Greek Police laboratories and are being examined, stressing that the briefings on the outcome of the investigation will continue.

Mr. Economou also referred to last night's explosion of a bomb that was placed in a garbage bin in Piraeus. He said that it was a small explosion and did not cause injuries or significant damage. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas reacted strongly to the attempts made to turn a major national issue into a spectacle of the worst kind. He made the statement referring to the broadcast by a television station of a picture of the injured Savvas Xiros while at the intensive care unit. Mr. Protopapas stated that an inquiry is underway to determine when was the picture taken.

Meanwhile, Xiros left the intensive care unit today and was transferred to a high security room in the Evangelismos Hospital.

[05] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT EXPRESSED REGRET FOR THE ACCIDENT IN CYPRUS

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas expressed the government's deep regret for the death of the five senior officers, who were on board a helicopter that crashed near Paphos in Cyprus in the early morning hours today.

Mr. Protopapas stated that Greece will assist in the investigation to determine the causes of the accident and two specialists will depart this afternoon for Cyprus to participate in the investigation.

National Guard Chief Lieutenant-General Evangelos Florakis, Air Force Commander Vasilios Demenagas, aide-de-camp Nikolaos Georgiou and two more people were killed in the early morning hours today when their helicopter crashed at 4:45am in the region of the village of Kouklia in Paphos. The Augusta helicopter was on its way from Nicosia to the Andreas Papandreou Military Base when it crashed at river Diarizos and burst into flames.

[06] BLAIR CONGRATULATED SIMITIS ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a congratulatory letter to Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simtis for the progress made in the investigation on terrorism and asked to be briefed on the developments. He said that the British authorities are at the disposal of the Greek authorities and ready to assist them in their work.

Congratulations were sent by the French government as well through the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

[07] THE TRIAL OF PASSARIS STARTS TOMORROW

The trial of Greek criminal Kostas Passaris starts in Bucharest, Romania tomorrow where he is held accused of a double murder in a currency exchange office in the Romanian capital. Passaris is accused of two murders, illegal entry to the country and smuggling, while his girlfriend Mioara Badila will be tried because she did not turn him in to the authorities.

According to the DNA test results, the blood on Passaris' pants matches the blood of the victims. The authorities believe that this is strong evidence proving that Passaris committed the double murder at the currency exchange office in Bucharest on November 26, 2001.

[08] RECORD SPEED FOR THE GDP GROWTH RATE IN GREECE

Record speed in the GDP growth rate, among the European Union states, was recorded by Greece in the first trimester of the current year.

According to figures provided yesterday by EUROSTAT, all the EU states, except Finland, showed an increase in their GDP in the first trimester of 2002. Greece comes first with a GDP growth rate of 4.3% compared to the same period last year.

The growth rate recorded is 12-14 times higher than the Euro-zone average, while it is three times higher than the United States' and two times higher than the GDP growth rate recorded in Canada.

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