Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-02-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] VRANOPOULOS WIDOW TESTIFIES IN BLACKMAIL CASE

[02] THE GREEK ARMED FORCES DO NOT USE RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS

[03] "NO TO WAR" BY 38 EURO-DEPUTIES

[04] IMF REPORT ON THE GREEK ECONOMY

[05] PAPANDREOU'S VISIT TO NORTH KOREA IS POSTPONED

[06] PAPANTONIOU-MILLER MEETING

[07] FREEZING TEMPERATURES IN GREECE

[01] VRANOPOULOS WIDOW TESTIFIES IN BLACKMAIL CASE

Sophia Daskalaki, widow of N17 victim and former Director of the National Bank Michalis Vranopoulos, testified for three hours today, before DA Dimitris Papaggelopoulos, who is in charge of the blackmails in the name of N17 case.

It has not been clarified if Mrs. Daskalaki asked to testify or if she was called by Mr. Papaggelopoulos, after information about her husband was discovered in the course of the investigations.

[02] THE GREEK ARMED FORCES DO NOT USE RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS

The Greek armed forces do not use radioactive weapons, while there are no such weapons in shooting ranges, underlined in Parliament yesterday Undersecretary of Defense Loukas Apostolidis responding to a question by Communist Party deputy Mrs. Liana Kanelli.

Mr. Apostolidis stated that the Atomic Energy Committee has conducted inspections and no radiation was recorded in the following areas: the Naval Yard in Salamina, the Greek army camp in Kosovo and Bosnia, the Air Force and land forces shooting ranges and in the island of Samos.

He said that the Greek army does not use neither depleted uranium missiles nor any kind of missiles with radioactive elements. He clarified that the only case is a number of missiles that are in storage in a special Navy depot since 1990 and added that based on the existing figures the number of cancer cases among the military personnel have dropped.

[03] "NO TO WAR" BY 38 EURO-DEPUTIES

The message No to war was conveyed to Baghdad by 38 Euro-deputies from five political groups and 14 EU member states, calling the Iraqi authorities to comply fully with the UN Security Council resolutions.

The European Parliament deputies delegation, in which participated Greek governing Socialist Party of PASOK Euro-deputy Mirsini Zorba, returned from Baghdad yesterday after meeting with UN weapons inspectors and general Saadi, responsible for the relations with the UN inspectors. They also visited the non governmental organizations operating within the framework of the EU activities, UNICEF, Care International, hospitals, neighborhoods in Baghdad and Vasora and the UN Refugee Center.

Mrs. Zorba pointed out that in spite of the fact that the United States have expressed their decision to proceed unilaterally to a catastrophic war, Europe should intensify its efforts because no war is unavoidable when reason and international law prevail. She also underlined that the visit of the 38 Euro-deputies contributes to the efforts made by the Greek EU Presidency for a common EU stance in the issue of Iraq.

Mrs. Zorba stated that the people of Iraq live in dramatic economic conditions for the past decade as a result of the embargo, while the Iraqi regime remains in place. She said that the people should not pay again an even higher price for the political choices made by the dictatorial regime, while she also pointed out that a war will kill thousands of people and lead those who will survive to despair.

[04] IMF REPORT ON THE GREEK ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, report on the Greek economy will be made public on Monday, February 10. The report was drawn up based on the results of the ten-day contacts the organization's analysts had with the economic staff of the government.

The IMF analysts are expected to express skepticism on certain economic policy disfunctions such as, the delay in the implementation of structural changes. On the other hand, they are expected to point out that the government predictions on the 2003 and 2004 growth rates (3.8% and 4% respectively) are realistic, not to say conservative.

In the report it will be pointed out that the growth rates mentioned above will be achieved under the precondition that the bleakest scenarios on the crisis in Iraq will not be confirmed. According to those scenarios, a likely war will be a long one and the possibility to spread to other regions in the Middle East is not ruled out.

[05] PAPANDREOU'S VISIT TO NORTH KOREA IS POSTPONED

The EU announced that the scheduled visit of Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou and a high level EU delegation to North Korea was postponed.

The scheduled visits by Mr. Papandreou to Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, that were to take place on February 11-14, will also be postponed. EU Common Foreign and Security Policy High Representative Javier Solana will visit Seoul and Tokyo.

According to Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis, the scheduled visit to China by the EU Troika, headed by Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou, will take place as planned on February 14.

[06] PAPANTONIOU-MILLER MEETING

Minister of Defense Yiannos Papantoniou met in Athens yesterday with US ambassador Thomas Miller. They discussed the situation in Iraq, the Cyprus issue and the replacement of the NATO force in FYROM by the European Rapid Reaction Force.

According to information, Mr. Papantoniou reiterated to Mr. Miller that Greece will offer its seaports but it will not have an active participation in the case of military operations in Iraq.

Based on the same information, Mr. Miller delivered a text to the Greek Defense Minister with the views expressed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the February 5th UN Security Council meeting.

[07] FREEZING TEMPERATURES IN GREECE

Temperature in the northwestern city of Florina dropped to 8 degrees Celsius, while throughout northern Greece temperatures today are below zero in spite of the sunny conditions.

In Nevrokopi, Dramas, where temperature is usually the lowest in the country, it was 8 Celsius this morning, while in Kozani and Kastoria the temperature was at 6, in Kavala 2, in Thessaloniki 1 and in Alexandroupolis 0 degrees.

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