Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 04-07-05

Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece wins Euro 2004 soccer championship after beating Portugal 1-0

[02] Greeks celebrate conquest of 'impossible dream' in nationwide street party - Heroes welcome planned for national team bringing home

[03] Australian PM Howard: Greece's 'fantastic' victory at Euro 2004 a 'harbinger of fantastic Olympic Games in Athens'

[04] PM Karamanlis in Lisbon to root on Greek team at Euro 2004 final - Meeting with Portuguese PM Barroso

[05] Greece doing everything humanly possible to ensure maximum security conditions for Athens 2004 Olympics

[06] Athens 2004 Moscow welcomes Olympic Flame

[07] Greece amasses 5 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze medals in first day of Balkan Games,

[08] Athens police disrupt network trafficking eastern European women

[09] Brando 'was the man of my life', actress Pappas says

[10] Renowned Greek painter Nikos Kessanlis dies at 74

[11] Papadopoulos: Cyprus not an obstacle for Turkey's EU bid, if 24 agree

[01] Greece wins Euro 2004 soccer championship after beating Portugal 1-0

Forward Angelos Haristeas scored with a header in the 57th minute following a corner kick by midfielder Angelos Basinas.

It is the first time in its history that the Greek national team wins a final in an international soccer championship.

Underdog Greece, who few believed would even qualify for the quarter finals, had also beaten Portugal 2-1 in the opening match of the competition on June 12.

Greece's stunning and impassioned performance is also greatly attributed to the team's German coach Otto Rehhagel.

Rehhagel, speaking at a press conference after the match, said that "it was an unusual achievement for Greek football and particularly for European football. The team played fantastic football. We took a lead in opportunities. Our opponents were technically better than us, but we prevailed. We could have won 2-0. The Greeks wrote history."

Immediately after the end of the match, the prime minister, political leaders, government officials and personalities warmly congratulated the Greek team.

Greeks took to the streets in all cities and towns throughout the country to celebrate the victory as did Greeks and Greek Cypriots in Cyprus and all over the world.

[02] Greeks celebrate conquest of 'impossible dream' in nationwide street party - Heroes welcome planned for national team bringing home European Cup

Greeks reveled all night in a nationwide street party Sunday after its national soccer team's deja vu defeat of leading contenders Portugal in the Euro 2004 final in Lisbon, with national pride soaring as the "impossible dream" came true.

In a stunning 1-0 defeat of hosts Portugal at Lisbon's Da Luz stadium, the championship's underdog team managed a repeat of the Euro 2004's opening match in which Greece prevailed 2-1 over Portugal, to be crowned champions of Europe for the first time in their soccer history.

Team captain Thodoris Zagorakis was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final, but the hero of the day was indisputably Angelos Haristeas, who scored the winning goal with a header in the 57th minute, thrilling Greeks the world over that the dream could come true and bringing some 15,000 Greeks who had traveled to Lisbon for the match, including Greece's prime minister Costas Karamanlis, to their feet in ecstasy.

Da Luz stadium reverberated as the Greek fans roared with delight when coach Otto Rehhagel's "lions" lifted up the Cup. Greeks all over the world took to the streets as the night sky was lit up by fireworks, waving Greek flags and congregating in central squares for what turned into a border-to-border street party that lasted into the early morning hours.

A heroes' welcome has been planned for the national team upon their return home, with the Cup, during a special ceremony at Athens' ancient Kallimarmaro (Panathinaiko) stadium, at 8:30 p.m. Monday, organized by the Municipality of Athens, host city of the 2004 Olympic Games next month.

A smiling Karamanlis, speaking to TV camera crews in Lisbon after the final, expressed great pride in the players' achievement, saying they had glorified Greece's colors and given great joy to the Greeks all over the world. Main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou, also in Lisbon for the final, echoed the sentiments, expressing pride at the team's accomplishment.

Similar messages were issued in Athens by parliament president Anna Psarouda-Benaki, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga, Coalition of the Left (SYN) leader Nikos Constantopoulos, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and Patriarch Irineos of Jerusalem, while former prime minister Costas Simitis, in a congratulatory cable, said the national team players ad "set an example on how distinctions are won", and congratulated them on the "strength of spirit, collective effort and ethos" they displayed throughout the entire tournament.

Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis said "this is a unique moment for all of Greece, it is indescribable".

"We all prayed, but did not believe that the time would come, for us to lift this Cup. It is a very good sign, as this is Greece's Olympics summer," she said, and thanked the players and their coach from the bottom of her heart.

"We will all be awaiting them tomorrow (Monday) at the Panathinaiko Stadium to welcome them as they deserve and to say a big thank you," she said.

Karamanlis, too, said that "this is the best passport, the best invitation, for the Olympic Games".

"This magnificent Greek summer continues on six weeks' time with the Olympic Games, and I believe that after this immense success of the national team, we expect significant performances from the Greek athletes in the Olympic Games as well," Karamanlis said, adding that the national team's players had, throughout the tournament, given "a lesson on what we Greeks can achieve when we truly believe in something, are united, and have self-confidence, dynamism and method in aspiring to it".

Australian prime minister John Howard, whose country hosted the Sydney 2000 Olympics that have been hailed as the best ever Olympic Games, said the Greek team's victory in the final against Portugal was "fantastic", and the harbinger of "fantastic Olympic Games in Athens".

"We anticipate surprises also at the Athens Olympics. We are so happy over their success," Howard said.

[03] Australian PM Howard: Greece's 'fantastic' victory at Euro 2004 a 'harbinger of fantastic Olympic Games in Athens'

Melbourne 5/7/2004 (ANA/S. Hatzimanolis)

"It is a victory rewarding the Greeks in the sector of sport, too, and a victory that I had predicted and which gives joy not only to the Greeks all over the world and our Greek Australian citizens, but also all of Australia. We consider it our victory, too," Howard said.

Victoria state premier Steve Bracks said that "Greece, with its victory in the final, proved that which everyone ones. that when it wanted to it could, when it wants to it can, and that it will always manage to surprise", adding that "we anticipate surprises, too, at the Athens Olympics...We are so happy with their success".

Bracks and Melbourne mayor John Shaw joined tens of thousands of viewers who watched the Euro 2004 final between Greece and Portugal on giant screens that had been set up in the "Greek quarter" in the city centre.

A congratulatory note was sent by New South Whales premier Bob Carr, together with a reminder that he, too, had predicted Greece's victory, and expressing his conviction that "this year, together with the Olympics, is Greece's year, and Australia cannot but be happy and celebrate with the Greeks".

Commemorative stamps to honor Greece national team's European Cup victory Athens, 5/7/2004

A commemorative series of stamps dedicated to the Greek national soccer team after winning the European Cup in the Euro 2004 tournament will be issues soon by the Hellenic Postal Bureau (ELTA), the ELTA announced on Monday.

A statement by the ELTA administration congratulated the Greek team for climbing to the "top of Europe" in the "biggest feat in the history of Greek soccer".

The series of commemorative stamps will be circulated in a gesture of honor to the national team players and all those who contributed to the historic achievement "in order to project, at international level, this great achievement of our national team, which has made all Greeks throughout the world proud", the announcement said.

[04] PM Karamanlis in Lisbon to root on Greek team at Euro 2004 final - Meeting with Portuguese PM Barroso

LISBON, 4/7/2004 (ANA/Y. Dimitroglou)

Karamanlis arrived in Lisbon on Saturday, and later went to the hotel where the Greek team was staying to congratulate the players and their German coach, Otto Rehhagel, for their stunning performance in the championship thus far that has brought Greece just one step away from the much-coveted European Cup.

Earlier, he met with Barroso, a long-time friend, and told reporters after the meeting that he extended his best wishes and every success to the Portuguese prime minister in the new, important task he would undertake as the new Commission president.

Karamanlis said Barroso was deeply knowledgeable on European issues and issues concerning the European south in particular, and expressed certainty that Barroso would make a significant contribution and that there would be a very good and beneficial, for Europe, cooperation between the two countries.

The two prime ministers also discussed Sunday night's Euro 2004 final, Karamanlis said, adding that congratulations were due to the host country Portugal for its excellent organization of the Championship "which opened and is closing with the national teams of Greece and Portugal pitted against each other".

Anticipating that a very good and exciting match was ahead, Karamanlis added, however, that "Portugal can't win every-thing".

"It got the European Commission presidency, and I think you all get the hint," he said.

Karamanlis said the Greek team's performance throughout the championship "has made us all proud".

"And this great summer, this wonderful Greek summer, continues, since the Olympic Games of Athens will begin in approximately a month's time. The performance of our national team here in Portugal has predisposed us for significant achievements by our athletes -- the Greek athletes -- in the Olympic Games," the premier added.

[05] Greece doing everything humanly possible to ensure maximum security conditions for Athens 2004 Olympics

Athens, 5/7/2004 (ANA/Y. Dimitroglou)

"As is well-known, Greece has spent 1.2 billion dollars for the preparation and smooth holding of the Olympic Games. The size of the expenditure, as well as the top standard preparation of the entire staff involved in the security issues, prove that Greece is doing everything humanly possible to ensure that the Olympic Games will be held under conditions of maximum security," Roussopoulos said.

"This is acknowledged by experts, as well as in articles appearing throughout the world," he said, adding that countries with experience, expertise and know-how, and also NATO, were participating in the Athens Olympic Games security network.

The spokesman said that generalized and vague "charges", which lacked any element of substance and emanating from anonymous sources, only served to "rehash imaginary scenarios".

[06] Athens 2004 Moscow welcomes Olympic Flame

Moscow, 5/7/2004 (ANA)

The Olympic Flame reached Moscow early Saturday morning, for the first time after 24 years and was welcomed by the authorities with state honors. One hundred and twenty one torch bearers covered 38 kilometers in the streets of Moscow, while the Flame made two temporary stops at Moscow University and at Luzhniky Stadium where cultural events were held.

The president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Leonid Tyagachev, was the first torch bearer.

The Flame is traveling to 27 countries and 34 cities.

[07] Greece amasses 5 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze medals in first day of Balkan Games,

ISTANBUL 5/7/2004 (ANA/Y. Hatzidopavlakis)

Platon Gavelas took the gold in the men's 400 meter hurdle event with a time of 50.58, nearing his personal record of 50.13, while Aphrodite Skafida placed first in the women's pole vault with 4.25m, Constantinos Vassiliadis placed first in the men's long jump with 50.58m, Areti Abatzi took the gold in the women's discus with 58.15m, and the Greek women's 4x100m relay.

Maria Karastamati took the silver in the women's 100m dash with a time of 11.48, improving her personal record of 11.51, Alexandros Papadimitriou came in second in the men's hammer throw with 73.27m, Yannis Paraschopoulos placed second in the men's 100m dash with a time of 1040, and the men's 4x100m team took the silver with a time of 40.59.

At the end of the first day, the Romanian men's team was leading with 76 medals, followed by Greece with 75, Turkey with 70, Serbia-Montenegro with 62, Bulgaria with 41, and FYROM with 29. The Romanian women's team was also leading with 81 medals, followed by Greece with 69, Turkey with 68, Serbia-Montenegro with 48, and Bulgaria with 41.

Greek men's team comes first in Balkan Games in Istanbul: The Greek team came first in the men's category and third in the women's during the 59th Balkan Games which ended at the "Kemal Ataturk" Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Sunday evening.

The men garnered 156 points to reach first place, ahead of Romania with 149 points.

The women gathered 132 points, two less than Turkey, while winner Romania finished with 167 points.

[08] Athens police disrupt network trafficking eastern European women

Athens, 5/7/2004 (ANA)

The police, following information and investigations, on Saturday arrested a Greek at the time when he was transporting five foreign women in his car.

Police are seeking another two Greeks, while confiscated were various sums of money, two passports, two medical care booklets and notes indicating the activity of the network.

The police disclosed that the culprits compelled the young women, exploiting their poor economic position, to perform personal strip-tease to clients in various clubs.

The Greek appeared before the public prosecutor, while investigations are continuing for the arrest of the other two.

[09] Brando 'was the man of my life', actress Pappas says

ROME, 5/7/2004 (ANA/L. Hatzikyriakos)

This was revealed by the Greek actress to Italian journalists at Epidauros Theatre and on Sunday her history was hosted in Italian newspapers.

A love which began many years ago in Rome "when I was 24 and he was 30. We fell in love passionately. I never loved any man as much as I loved Marlon, he was the great passion of my life, the man who I loved and respected more than anyone else in my life. Two things which are difficult to combine," she said.

Pappas admitted that she wanted to keep this love a secret, which was the greatest in her life.

She last met him in Greece a few years ago when Marlon Brando came for certain lectures. She would have met him last year in Los Angeles but at the last moment other obligations cancelled the rendezvous. "I still feel remorse about this," she said.

[10] Renowned Greek painter Nikos Kessanlis dies at 74

Athens, 5/7/2004 (ANA/Y. Dimitroglou)

Kessanlis, who won many international distinctions, was born in Thessaloniki in 1930.

He left Athens for Rome in 1955 and stayed there until 1959. He then settled in Paris in 1960 where he met P. Restany.

In the mid 1960s, along with Beguier, Bertini, Jacquet and Rotella, they created the Mecart group, under the supervision of Restany.

He officially represented Greece at the Venice Biennale in 1988.

He also won first price in France in 1997 from the Conseil regional, at the Salon de Montrouge.

Weather forecast Mostly fine on Monday, local cloud in north

The weather will be mostly fine throughout Greece on Monday, with local cloud developing in the north in the afternoon. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures ranging from 24 to 36 C. Sunny in Thessaloniki, turning to local cloud in the afternoon, and temperatures of 23-33 C.

[11] Papadopoulos: Cyprus not an obstacle for Turkey's EU bid, if 24 agree

LARNACA 5/7/2004(CNA/ANA)

"If the rest 24 EU member - states deem that Turkey satisfies all Copenhagen criteria and in general the EU requirements regarding its politics and stance, then Cyprus could not be an obstacle in defining a date for opening accession negotiations with Turkey'', President Papadopoulos said.

In statements Saturday on his arrival at Larnaca Airport from Vienna, where he paid a working visit, the president said that the political parties in Cyprus should clarify their positions regarding the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's plan for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.

''People should know whether there are members in the National Council (top advisory body to the President regarding the Cyprus problem), who support the Annan plan as it is, and believe that a new referendum should be conducted without any changes on the plan''.

He added that the National Council would convene to discuss the matter as soon as possible.

Cyprus President said that one should not ignore the fact that 76% of the Greek Cypriots voted against the Annan plan, in its current form.

He wondered whether the 24% who voted in favor of the Annan plan have all the wisdom, whereas the 76%, who voted against, were wrong.

Referring to his visit in Austria, he said that he had useful meetings with the Austrian government and he discussed mainly the Cyprus problem and other bilateral issues.

''The results of my meetings are very satisfactory and I believe that it was a useful visit'', he said.

"Austria shares more or less the same position (as Cyprus) regarding Turkey, only it wishes a serious study on the EU effects of a possible accession of Turkey to the Union'', President Papadopoulos added.

Regarding Sunday's final match for Euro 2004 between the Greek and Portuguese national football teams, President Papadopoulos wished Greece good luck and said that it can achieve a great deal.

Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article