Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-11-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] SIMITIS-CLERIDES MEETING ON THE ANNAN PLAN

[02] ERDOGAN WILL BE IN ATHENS ON MONDAY

[03] KONSTANTOPOULOS: MIXED FEELINGS ON ANNAN PROPOSAL

[04] PARTY LEADERS ON N17 ANNIVERSARY

[05] YOUNG PEOPLE UNAWARE OF THE DANGER OF AIDS AT 50%

[06] THE MAN WITH THE HIGHEST IQ IN THE WORLD IS GREEK

[07] INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON THE EU SUMMIT MOBILIZATIONS IN JUNE 2003

[08] OVER HALF A MILLION GREEKS HAVE TWO JOBS

[09] THE GREEK CHILDREN ARE OBESE

[10] CLERIDES-STEPHANOPOULOS MEETING

[11] THE MAJORITY OF THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS WANT CYPRUS' EU ACCESSION

[12] THE MAJORITY OF THE GREEK CYPRIOTS ARE IN FAVOR OF THE ANNAN PLAN

[01] SIMITIS-CLERIDES MEETING ON THE ANNAN PLAN

Decisions will be made after taking under consideration the overall outcome of the negotiations. The goal will be to reach an agreement without delays but this will depend on the will of the other side as well. However, everything not regarded as satisfactory will be rejected. The above were stated by Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis after the meeting he had in Athens with Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides on the Annan plan for the solution of the Cyprus issue.

The final response on the plan will be given by the National Council of Cyprus on Monday, stressed Mr. Simitis, adding that according to Mr. Clerides, most of the Cypriot political parties are in favor of the opening of the negotiations.

The Greek Prime Minister stated that they examined the Annan plan in detail and dealt with the points which, according to both sides, need either intensive negotiations or clarifications.

The Prime Minister stated that the decisions concern the Greek Cypriot side and expressed Greece's total support to the efforts made for the solution of the Cyprus problem and the country's accession into the EU.

From his side, Cypriot President Glafkos Cleriodes stated that if the solution is not operational new tensions will be created. Responding to a question on whether there will be developments before the Copenhagen Summit meeting, Mr. Clerides stated that this will be seen when negotiations get underway and will depend on the political will displayed by the other side.

[02] ERDOGAN WILL BE IN ATHENS ON MONDAY

The winner of the recent Turkish elections Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to be in Athens on Monday and today he will be in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus where his scheduled meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash will not take place. Mr. Denktash has postponed his return to the occupied territories of northern Cyprus from New York because of his health condition.

When asked to comment on the plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem that was submitted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr. Erdogan stated that we want peace in Cyprus but our national interests come first.

[03] KONSTANTOPOULOS: MIXED FEELINGS ON ANNAN PROPOSAL

Greece's political powers should place our national interests above all else and move very cautiously, pointed out the President of the Coalition of the Left, Nikos Konstantopoulos, speaking to his party's Central Committee today, which discussed the latest developments on the Cyprus issue.

Now as a country and as a nation we are at a crucial crossroads and it is time for the utmost sobriety and caution. We are at the brink of a historic moment, he underlined.

The President of the Coalition stressed that the plan of the UN Secretary General on resolving the political problem of Cyprus did not fall out of the sky, and added that the pressuring and extortionate time schedules it includes are not a coincidence.

This plan is the product of the international juncture as it has been formed today and the correlation of the powers that characterize it, he said.

Mr. Konstantopoulos underlined that the Annan proposal is one of compromising a number of problems and a whole network of relations, however he noted that it would be unprecedented and uncritical of us to beautify the plan.

The plan, he said, contains positive and negative points, which must definitely be dealt with. He also noted that we must not underestimate the danger there is of the strict time schedules working at the expense of an agreement and a solution. All this means that during the negotiations to take place, the Greek and Greek Cypriot sides must be very well prepared, since our goal is a national strategy and understanding.

Mr. Konstantopoulos also stressed that he was greatly surprised by the statements of the Secretary General of the Greek Communist Party, Aleka Papariga, who stressed that they rejected the proposal as a base for negotiations and proposed the internationalization of Cyprus problem.

[04] PARTY LEADERS ON N17 ANNIVERSARY

Ceaseless resistance to everything outdated, oppressive, anachronistic, and the continuing search for another political culture, is the enduring message of the Polytechnic School uprising, mentioned Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, drawing on the anniversary of the N17 University student uprising. He also pointed out that today, Democracy is not threatened by tanks but by the scorning of politics and the parties.

The President of New Democracy,Kostas Karamanlis, characterized the day of the Polytechnic School as a day of honor, rememberence and reflection, in his message on its 29th anniversary. At the same time he pointed out how crucial running events are to the course of Greece's national affairs, and he underlined the need for the consilidation of all Greeks in Greece and Cyprus in claiming our national rights. He noted that the guide in these efforts is the message of the Polytechnic School, while he stressed that the struggle for our national rights and quality of life concerns us all.

Today, 29 years after the uprising of the Polytechnic School, we honor the spirit of resistance, the collective and the thousands of individual testimonies of heroic actions that made an unprecedented contribution to the formation of Democracy and the political culture of the post-political changeover in Greece, stressed the Thessaloniki Political Committee of the Coalition of the Left.

The Polytechnic School uprising is the pinnacle of the people's struggles for national independence, freedom and social justice. It was, is and will be the enduring identity of our people and our youth for a society of solidarity, for a country of national dignity and a youth with goals and vision, stressed the President of DIKKI, in his message on the N17 anniversary.

[05] YOUNG PEOPLE UNAWARE OF THE DANGER OF AIDS AT 50%

Young people, at a percentage nearing 50%, are unaware of the dangers of STDs, and specifically, AIDS, and are even unaware of the basic information concerning the structure and functioning of their own gennital systems, although they seek to be seriously and completely informed, while there is a lack of sex education in all levels of education.

This evidence was presented at the 14th Panhellenic AIDS Conference being held in Thessaloniki, based on the results of research carried out the Eginio High School, during 2001-2002.

The research sample consisted of 150 students and aimed at exploring the knowledge of students between the ages of 15 and 17, concerning the transmission, symptoms and prevention of STDs.

The research showed that approximately 50% of the sample did not have a clear image of the dangers, while their knowledge and information was fragmented and inadequate.

Evidence also included that girls are more well informed than boys, a fact attributed to magazines, while both sexes lack the seriousness required concerning the issue.

Meanwhile, the number of AIDS patients in Greece is increaseing annually, while it has been obsered that the disease no longer only concerns men and high risk groups, but includes women, a fact that points out the heterosexual extension of the disease, according to statements made to the Macedonian Press Agency by Dr. Dimitris Karapiperis, in charge of the Special Diseases Unit (MEL) of the I Pathology Clinic of AUTH, and the general Thessaloniki Hospital, AHEPA.

Mr. Karapiperis mentioned that in 1998, for every 9 men diagnosed with AIDS there was 1 woman, while that number changed to 3 to 1. In 1998 the average age of the paitents was 35, and has increased to 40. Finally, he mentioned that during the 1998-2001 four year period, 219 HIV patients appeared at the AHEPA MEL, 169 of whom were men.

[06] THE MAN WITH THE HIGHEST IQ IN THE WORLD IS GREEK

A 35yearold Greek, who is a math and computer science professor in the University of Lyon, France is the man with the highest IQ in the world. He is Nikos Ligeros, with an IQ of 189, the highest ever recorded in the world, a superior intellect organizations MENSA member.

He was born in Volos, central Greece, but lives in France, even though he states that he is always in Greece. All the elements I am made of are Greek. It doesn't matter where I live. When I am abroad, my friends call me the Greek consulate. The Greeks are not Greeks because they live in Greece. They are Greeks regardless of where they live, stated in an interview with the Athens newspaper Ethnos.

He said that his goal is to create thought, overturn ideas and heal society. He loves people very much and wants to help them, while he feels absolutely normal compared to the rest of the people. He does not characterize anybody as stupid because everyone is somebody else's fool. On the education system, he points out that each country should create the right conditions, however, education is a matter of individual initiative.

On his future targets, he maintains that the journey is the goal and stresses that what is important is not where we are going to but the fact that we are keep going.

[07] INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON THE EU SUMMIT MOBILIZATIONS IN JUNE 2003

The mobilizations in Thessaloniki in June 2003 will be more massive than those in Barcelona, according to the members of the movement Action: Thessaloniki 2003.

Action: Thessaloniki 2003 welcomed today representatives and members of organizations, movements and political parties from Europe and the Balkans, who attended the International Meeting that took place in Thessaloniki's University of Macedonia. The goal of the meeting was to coordinate action in the events that will take place during the Greek EU Presidency in the first half of 2003 and will culminate in the June 2003 Summit meeting.

Also, in today's meeting participated representatives of the Communist Parties in Denmark, Slovenia and Turkey and the Labor Parties in Belgium, Turkey and Ireland.

[08] OVER HALF A MILLION GREEKS HAVE TWO JOBS

Over half a million Greeks have a second job in the effort to increase their income and defeat the fear of unemployment and poverty, while over the past 10 years their percentage has increased by 17%.

Based on the Greek National Statistics Agency figures published on the Athens newspaper TA NEA, a total of 506.732 people stated in the last population census that they have more than one job.

One in three workers is characterized as poor, according to the Greek Private Employees Federation, stressing that even though the monthly wage of 1.174 Euro should be enough for a four-member family it does not cover its needs. Also, it is stressed that a second occupation increases income and productivity but at the same time, it preserves unemployment.

[09] THE GREEK CHILDREN ARE OBESE

Increased cholesterol levels, a major factor for cardiovascular disease, are traced in 1 out of 3 children, ages 3-16, while the children, ages between 7-12, are overweight and obese at 38.2%.

The above are included in a research conducted by child specialists in Thessaloniki's Papageorgiou Hospital on a sample of 171 children ages 3-16.

Responsible for the picture of the children in Greece are, according to the research conclusions, the bad eating habits, the lack of exercise and play, the long hours in front of a television set and electronic home games.

[10] CLERIDES-STEPHANOPOULOS MEETING

A half-hour meeting of Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides with Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere at the Presidential Building in Athens this morning.

The two men did not make any comments after their meeting and Mr. Clerides left immediately to meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis.

[11] THE MAJORITY OF THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS WANT CYPRUS' EU ACCESSION

The majority of the Turkish Cypriots are in favor of Cyprus' EU accession, based on an opinion poll conducted in the Turkish occupied northern part of Cyprus by the European Commission.

Nine in ten Turkish Cypriots (adults and teenagers) stated that Cyprus' accession into the EU will be a good thing, while 19% responded negatively. Also, 91% believe that they will benefit at a personal level by Cyprus' accession into the EU. In addition, 60% of the Turkish Cypriots state that they have confidence in the EU.

[12] THE MAJORITY OF THE GREEK CYPRIOTS ARE IN FAVOR OF THE ANNAN PLAN

The majority of the Greek Cypriots believe that the Annan plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem must be accepted.

According to an opinion poll broadcast by television channel Antenna Cyprus yesterday, 54% of those asked responded in favor of the Annan plan, 41% said no, while 5% did not respond.

Regarding the priority of the issues that the Greek Cypriot side will have to negotiate, the responses were: security 58%, Turkish settlers 21%, constitution 12% and territorial issue 9%.

Also, the majority (60%) believes that the solution to the Cyprus problem will be eventually associated with Cyprus' accession into the EU, 32% responded negatively and 8% did not respond.

According to another opinion poll broadcast by Mega television channel in Nicosia, 40% expressed optimism regarding the developments, 24% are pessimistic and 30% expressed reservations.

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