Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-09-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] THE PARALYMPIC GAMES BEGIN TODAY

[02] THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY

[03] THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDING BOARD OF THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL MEETS

[04] THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES

[05] GAINS IN THE ASE

[06] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE "ATHENS 2004" FINANCIAL AFFAIRS

[07] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE PARALYMPIC GAMES

[08] ROMANIAN MAYORS VISITED THE MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE

[09] THE MINISTER OF DEFENSE IN THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE EU DEFENSE

[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY ON THE RIGHTS OF THE GREEKS IN IMVROS

[01] THE PARALYMPIC GAMES BEGIN TODAY

The second great celebration of sports opens in Athens today. The 12th Paralympic Games cauldron will be lit this evening and the flame will keep burning until September 28.

In the 19 sports will compete over 4,000 athletes from 141 countries, while 44 radio and television networks from 40 countries will broadcast the games.

Konstantinos Fikas, a Paralympic gold medallist in Sydney in the 50 meters and 100 meters freestyle in swimming will be the color bearer for the Greek team in the opening ceremony.

A total of 300,000 tickets have already been sold, while the target set is at 400,000.

International Paralympic Committee President Phil Craven is in Athens.

[02] THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY

The search inside the fuselage of the Chinook helicopter that crashed in the sea last Saturday off the Peninsula of Sithonia in Chalkidiki northern Greece killing 17 people, among them the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, was completed early today and three more bodies were pulled up from the bottom of the sea with the help of special robotic equipment.

A part of the helicopter fuselage was found off the coasts of Larisa, south of the scene of the accident.

The biggest part of the fuselage is at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 866 meters, 8 miles east of Sithonia, and the rescue teams believe that it will be impossible to pull it up.

The findings of the investigation concerning the delay in the time the political leadership was briefed about the accident will be out by the end of next week.

[03] THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDING BOARD OF THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL MEETS TOMORROW

The Executive Presiding Board of the Socialist International meets in Athens tomorrow.

Among the issues to be discussed will be international developments with an emphasis on the Middle East. They will also discuss the activities of the Socialist International and the preparations for its next meeting to be held in Johannesburg on November 15 and 16, 2004.

The Members of the Socialist International Presiding Board will watch the opening ceremony for the 12th Paralympic Games that will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Athens this evening at the invitation of opposition party of PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou.

[04] THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES

Greek Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis departs next Sunday for the United States where he will have a number of bilateral contacts and meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Mr. Moliviatis will have meetings with his counterparts from the United States, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Romania, FYROM, Croatia, Tunisia, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Palestinian Authority, Mozambique and Morocco.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos announced that more bilateral meetings are likely to take place in New York.

Mr. Koumoutsakos pointed out that among the goals of the Greek Foreign Minister is to continue the efforts for the promotion of the Greek bid for a seat in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for the period of 2005-2006.

[05] GAINS IN THE ASE

Gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +0.48% at 2344.36 points, while the volume of transactions was 95,4 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 126 had gains and 150 had losses, while the value of 127 stocks remained unchanged.

[06] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE "ATHENS 2004" FINANCIAL AFFAIRS

The Athens 2004 Organizing Committee finances are being inspected by an auditing committee the composition of which is determined by a 1998 law, stated government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos on the occasion of a news report referring to the findings of an investigation.

The auditing committee will submit its findings to the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister, the Justice Ministry, the Ministry of Environment, Land Planning and Public Works and the Auditing Council.

The latest findings received by the Prime Minister, also being the Culture Minister, refer to the 2001-2002 period and were submitted on April 29, 2004. The findings mention that the overall management of the company was in accordance with the law. Mr. Rousopoulos said that the inspection is still in progress and will be completed by the end of 2005.

[07] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE PARALYMPIC GAMES

The Paralympic Games promote the effort to break the human limits and reward the human will, stressed government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos referring to the opening of the games in Athens this evening.

In the 12th Paralympic Games will compete 3,850 athletes from 140 countries in a total of 19 sports.

The Paralympic Games cauldron will be lit this evening in the presence of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.

[08] ROMANIAN MAYORS VISITED THE MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE

More than 40 mayors, presidents of organizations and representatives of local administration from Romania visited Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Nikos Tsiartsionis today within the framework of their visit to Thessaloniki as the guests of the Inter-Balkan Relations Institute.

The Romanian visitors were briefed on the efforts made by Thessaloniki to host EXPO 2008, which according to Mr. Tsiartsionis will place the wider region and the quality of its farm products at the center of the international attention.

Referring to Romania's EU accession course, it was pointed out that Greece supports the efforts toward this direction.

[09] THE MINISTER OF DEFENSE IN THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE EU DEFENSE MINISTERS

Greek Minister of Defense Spilios Spiliotopoulos attended the informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers held in Noordwijk, Holland.

In the meeting they discussed issues concerning the common defense policy, the ALTHEA operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, security issues and ways to deal with international terrorism within the EU framework, as well as issues concerning the EU Battle groups, the Global Deployability Approach (GDA) and the European Military Police Force.

[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY ON THE RIGHTS OF THE GREEKS IN IMVROS

Greek Euro-deputy Dimitris Papadimoulis, elected with the Coalition of the Left party, raised the issue of discriminations on behalf of the Turkish state against the Greeks living in the northern Aegean island of Imvros. Mr. Papadimoulis raised the issue to the European Commission and asked to be informed if there is a reference on the situation of human rights in Imvros in the annual EU report on Turkey.

A delegation of Greeks from Imvros will be in Brussels next week for new meetings with European Commission officials and Euro-deputies.

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