Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-01-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] THREE MINUTES OF SILENCE AND UNPRECEDENTED SOLIDARITY

[02] MEASURES TO IMPROVE EVERYDAY LIFE

[03] HUMANITARIAN AID AND FLOATING HOSPITAL BY THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY TO

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[05] PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS ON THE SOLIDARITY TELETHON

[06] CLOSE TO 15 MILLION EUROS THE GREEK DONATIONS

[07] THE BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS OIL PIPELINE WILL MATERIALIZE

[08] BLIND VIOLENCE

[01] THREE MINUTES OF SILENCE AND UNPRECEDENTED SOLIDARITY

People across Europe observed three minutes of silence at noon today in memory of the over 150,000 victims of the tsunami that hit the countries of southeast Asia after the earthquake of December 26.

Donations in Greece are estimated to correspond approximately to 1 euro per person.

Over 11 million euros have been collected so far in the solidarity telethon organized by state-run radio-television network NET, while the effort continues today with an auction of personal items offered by celebrities from the sectors of politics, sports and arts.

In addition to the donations by the Greek people and the auction, the Greek Foreign Ministry has offered 300,000 euros while the Ministry of Finance announced that it offers 1 million euros to aid the people hit by the tsunami.

[02] MEASURES TO IMPROVE EVERYDAY LIFE

The improvement of everyday life for the Greek people, measures to limit bureaucracy and also, measures aimed at improving the productivity of public sector employees are among the goals set by the Ministry of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, according to statements made by minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos after the meeting he had yesterday with Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.

The Prime Minister will meet today with the political leaderships of the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Environment, Land Planning and Public Works and the governor of the Bank of Greece.

[03] HUMANITARIAN AID AND FLOATING HOSPITAL BY THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY TO SRI LANKA

The Greek Foreign Ministry will send a cruise ship to the region of Sri Lanka with 800 tons of humanitarian aid for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit southeast Asia. The cruise ship, which is an offer by the shipping company Majestic International Cruises, will be used as a floating hospital with specialized medical personnel by Greek non-governmental organizations.

The aid collected so far in Greece both in cash and in kind is estimated at over 20 million euros.

The state offered aid is over 4 million euros, while the donations collected through the telethon organized by the Greek state-run radio-television network NET exceeds the 15 million euros mark.

The humanitarian aid in tents, clothing, medicines, food, etc, has reached a total of 800 tons.

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.67% at 2818.33 points, while the volume of transactions was at 264,6 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 83 had gains and 196 had losses, while the value of 142 stocks remained unchanged.

[05] PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS ON THE SOLIDARITY TELETHON

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis expressed satisfaction for the warm response of the Greek people to the telethon held to offer assistance to the victims of the disaster in southeast Asia.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that Greece once again is dynamically present and thanked each Greek citizen, each family and each institution both public and private for their donations offering hope to the people who lived through this unprecedented tragedy and struggle to survive under very adverse conditions.

[06] CLOSE TO 15 MILLION EUROS THE GREEK DONATIONS

The telethon organized by the Greek state-run radio-television network NET continues and the donations offered by the Greek people to assist the people in southeast Asia reached 14,698,312 euros at 2:30 pm today.

Next week, the humanitarian effort will continue in the Greek schools when money will be collected by school children next Tuesday and Wednesday. A moment of silence will be observed on Monday, first day of school in 2005, in memory of the thousands of tsunami victims.

[07] THE BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS OIL PIPELINE WILL MATERIALIZE

Developments in the Cyprus issue, the Greek-Turkish relations and issues concerning the Greeks living abroad dominated in the meeting Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis had today with Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis.

In the meeting held under the Prime Minister with the participation of Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis and Deputy Foreign Ministers Yiannis Valinakis, Evripidis Stilianidis and Takis Skandalakis a decision was reached on the way the financial assistance for the people in southeast Asia will be managed.

Mr. Moliviatis congratulated the Greek people for their response and expressed gratitude for the great solidarity to the people in southeast Asia.

To the question by a reporter on whether the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline will be cancelled in view of the construction of the Burgas-Vlore oil pipeline, linking the Bulgarian city of Burgas with the Albanian port of Vlore in the Adriatic Sea, the Foreign Minister responded negatively stressing that nothing is being constructed and only a protocol has been signed in the case of the Burgas-Vlore pipeline. He added that there is a great distance to be covered from the signing of a protocol until the construction of the project.

[08] BLIND VIOLENCE

"If we are talking about a terrorist attack, we are talking about a new form of crime characterized by blind violence, is very savage, and its ideological foundation is unclear, stated Minister of Public Order Giorgos Voulgarakis referring to the killing of special guard Charalambos Amanatidis outside the residence of the British military attaché in Kifisia, Athens on New Year's Eve.

Mr. Voulgarakis stated that it is a very complex case with many unanswered questions adding that all likely scenarios are being examined very carefully and nothing is being ruled out.

The stolen Nissan Micra used by the assailants in the attack was found near the scene of the crime and traces of blood found inside the car were matched with the blood type of the murdered special guard.

Based on the way the bullets, fired against the special guard, spread in the scene of the crime, the assassins were two males and it is believed that they were caught by surprise when the first round of fire did not kill their victim because he was wearing a bulletproof vest and tried to react by pulling his gun.

According to police sources, the likelihood of a terrorist attack becomes stronger by the hour.

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