Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 14-07-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] Euroworking Group approves 1 bln euro tranche to Greece

[02] Disbursement of 1.0 bln euro loan next week, official says

[03] Bill on 'small PPC' voted in principle by parliamentary committee

[04] First reading of 'small PPC' bill concluded in Parliament

[05] Athens court rules PPC employees' strike is illegal

[06] Mitsotakis, Georgiadis attack SYRIZA over PPC

[07] SYRIZA opposition to 'small PPC' not ideological, Tsipras tells TVXS website

[08] 'The Greek market cannot take any more blackouts' ESEE head says

[09] Tsipras seeks the disintegration of the country, government spokesperson says

[10] 'Greece on the hydrocarbon producers map', Energy Minister says after meeting president

[11] PM Samaras meets new BoG governor Stournaras

[12] 'We want and we must encourage new efforts,' Development Minister says

[13] Attica region governor Sgouros on employees' evaluation system

[14] Government to allocate 165 mln euro of 'social dividend' next week

[15] PASOK's political party to convene on Monday

[16] Golden Dawn leader, two deputies return to jail after testimony

[17] Magistrates take testimony regarding Golden Dawn supporters' attack on photojournalists

[18] Deputy Foreign Minister Gerontopoulos met with the Ukrainian ambassador

[19] Manolis Kefalogiannis is new president of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee

[20] Greece preparing to go back to the markets-Bloomberg

[21] Greece to submit plan for unemployed youth to European Union on July 17

[22] Finance minister extends deadline for banks to participate in 'Alogoskoufis law'

[23] Finance ministry concern over low tax return submission rate

[24] Tourism minister concerned PPC strikes might hurt tourism

[25] Amendments on tourism bill introduce stiffer fines for unlicensed lodgings

[26] Elliniki Technodomiki Anemos to make debut in ASE next week

[27] Interest rate spread down in May

[28] Athens International Airport total passenger flow up by 1 million during H1 2014

[29] Tourist activity remains robust on Rhodes island

[30] Majority of Thessaloniki traders vote against the opening of shops on 52 Sundays

[31] Greek stocks end lower on Friday

[32] Greek bond market closing report

[33] ADEX closing report

[34] Foreign Exchange rates - Saturday/Monday

[35] Greece to acquire its first supercomputer by end-2014

[36] Prespa National Park committee one of the recipients of first European Natura 2000 Award

[37] Stavros Niarchos Fdn grants 16 mln euros for new radiation therapy machines to seven state hospitals

[38] Appeals court ruling on 'Sea Diamond' shipwreck; captain, ship's officer found guilty

[39] Two fires broke out in Crete and Zakynthos

[40] Collision between two aircrafts' wings at Mykonos airport, no injuries

[41] Fire breaks out in Kileler

[42] Mostly fair on Saturday

[43] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies at a glance Politics

[01] Euroworking Group approves 1 bln euro tranche to Greece

The country's lenders believe that Greece has fulfilled the first six prior actions agreed and that the loan could be disbursed on Monday, July 7 when a Euro-group meeting is scheduled to discuss, among others, the progress in implementing a Greek economic program.

Greek authorities, meanwhile, focus on the remaining six prior actions during the month. Government officials estimate that this can be achieved in this month offering a clear sign of credibiity ahead of the return of troika officials to Athens, July 9. The troika officials will assess the course of implementing prior actions, budget execution and any fiscal gaps created from court decisions annuling government legislation to cut wages of specific worker groups.

[02] Disbursement of 1.0 bln euro loan next week, official says

The disbursement of the 1.0 billion euro loan to Greece, approved by a Euro Working Group meeting on Friday, will be made next week, after the country fulfilled the six prior actions agreed with its lenders, a European official said.

Speaking to reporters, here, the official said that the decision for the disbursement of the loan will be taken by the board of the European Financial Stability Fund on Monday. He added that following reassurances offered by the Greek representative during today's teleconference meeting, Eurogroup expects that a second package with the remaining six prior actions agreed (including the PPC issue) will be completed by the end of July in time to approve the disbursement of another 1.0 billion euros loan to Greece. The official said that a troika's technical group will arrive to Athens next week to prepare the ground for the country's fifth assessment report, expected to begin in September. He added that this assessment will also examine the issue of the Greek public debt.

[03] Bill on 'small PPC' voted in principle by parliamentary committee

New Democracy and PASOK voted in favour, while opposition parties SYRIZA, Independent Greeks, Golden Dawn, Democratic Left (DIMAR) and communist party KKE voted against the bill. The debate continues on the articles.

[04] First reading of 'small PPC' bill concluded in Parliament

The second reading of the bill will be held next Monday, with discussion continuing on Tuesday and the final vote to be held on Wednesday.

[05] Athens court rules PPC employees' strike is illegal

The employees have launched strikes in reaction against government's plan to spin-off PPC assets and clients, in the framework of the company's partial privatization.

[06] Mitsotakis, Georgiadis attack SYRIZA over PPC

"PPC is not being privatized, a 30 percent stake of the company is being sold so as to create competition," he noted and criticized SYRIZA on its stance and proposal for a referendum. Mitsotakis added he was "surpised" that the communist KKE party, which sets the abolishment of all laws on energy deregulation market as a precondition, has joined the main opposition's effort to find 120 deputies.

In the meantime, New Democracy's parliamentary rapporteur Adonis Georgiadis termed SYRIZA's PPC referendum proposal a "firework". He told Skai radio station that SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras' aim is to lead the country to prolonged instability.

On PPC privatization, he noted the economy cannot move forward with an indebted monopoly. "Those who care about national sovereignty should be strongly in favor of privatizations," he said.

[07] SYRIZA opposition to 'small PPC' not ideological, Tsipras tells TVXS website

In this, Tsipras stressed the need to form a united popular front against the privatisation plan, "irrespective of possible different viewpoints".

He also accused the government of selling off "select portions" of the company and pushing the bill through the summer session of Parliament, using fast-track procedures, in order "to conceal a major issue of national importance from the people but also the sum of MPs".

Reviewing the Public Power Corporation (PPC) history, Tsipras noted that its foundation in 1950, when it had replaced 385 private electricity companies then supplying the country, was because high production costs had meant that only 55 pct of the population had access to electricity and the national system had required a level of investment that no private investor was prepared to make.

Such investments still needed to be made in order to make the network more efficient, while the power company had to be able to not just produce and distribute power but also exercise social policy, he added. He also rejected claims that SYRIZA was simply defending a group of pampered trade unionists and a privileged employees, stressing that SYRIZA was defending the right to work and the Greek people's right to keep control and ownership of a company that it had built and paid for, 64 years ago.

[08] 'The Greek market cannot take any more blackouts' ESEE head says

Korkidis earlier in the day had a phone conversation with the PPC employees union GENOP leadeship.

"We have been assured by GENOP that there would be no electricity cuts longer than 20 minutes in any region of the country and in case something like that happens, we shall contact them. However, while the businesses are fighting for their survival, we ask for the understanding and cooperation of unionists, because we must all show the necessary social solidarity and social responsibility and understanding, respecting one another," Korkidis said.

"The business world addresses a request so that the cost of the strikes does not have catastrophic consequences for the market, which is tested in the midst of a critical summer season. Similar protests in 2011 resulted in 4 million euro per day losses for PPC and several million euro losses for small and medium sized businesses. Therefore, we fully respect the right of workers to protest and strike, but we call on the strikers to show responsibility and respect the rights of the Greek consumer..." he added.

[09] Tsipras seeks the disintegration of the country, government spokesperson says

In statements to Mega and Star TV stations and Alpha radio, Voultepsi noted that Tsipras in an effort to rally and control his own party incites protests that "threaten to destroy the Greek economy and the Greeks...In the name of the intended party unity Mr. Tsipras seeks the disintegration of the country."

Regarding the impact from the Public Power Corp. employees' strike, she said: "Some 20 million tourists will visit our country; it is unthinkable for all those people not to have air-conditioning during their summer holidays. It is unthinkable for the unionists to decide whether a kiosk owner will manage to sell its merchandise or whether museums will open. All that will be a big hit for our tourism."

[10] 'Greece on the hydrocarbon producers map', Energy Minister says after meeting president

"This development is a positive augury for growth," he added, while refusing to answer questions about the 'small PPC' bill and strike action called by Public Power Corporation (PPC) staff against the planned privatisation.

Maniatis said that he had briefed President Papoulias on all the latest developments concerning hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in Greece and the results of his meetings in London, where he had carried out a presentation of the blocks up for tender in the Ionian Sea and south of Crete.

Papoulias congratulated him on his "persistent efforts and good results," noting that he had closely followed the minister's efforts from the start. Maniatis also praised the president's contribution to the overall effort, saying that it would not have been carried out so efficiently and quickly without him.

[11] PM Samaras meets new BoG governor Stournaras

[12] 'We want and we must encourage new efforts,' Development Minister says

"We are trying to create a more comprehensive framework of financial tools that will enhance the new efforts of young people to enter the market," Dendias said representing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at the event "The Greek Presidency of the European Council: Starting point for Development based on Research and Innovation", organized by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology at Zappeio.

The minister noted that the focus was on the startups, the neophyte companies or entrepreneurship incubators, the state participation in the capital and the risk of new ideas.

The government, he pointed out, will retain a royalties right or copyrights, so as to be able to invest again in new efforts and new ideas.

"We want to encourage and as a society we must encourage new efforts. We must encourage new ideas, we must encourage new projects," Dendias said.

[13] Attica region governor Sgouros on employees' evaluation system

Sgouros described the system as "unconstitutional" saying that it works "under exclusion of the principles of meritocracy and the public interest."

In an effort to justify his position, Sgouros underlined that the evaluation of the employees' productivity is a necessary tool for any organization and eveyone should seek it so as to avoid tarring everyone with the same brush and put an end to the devaluation of public sector employees.

He concluded that the new system aims at reducing the headcount in the public sector. "Evaluation must not work as a threat or a possible pool for layoffs, and consequently as a means of punishment, but as a tool for improvement," he stressed.

[14] Government to allocate 165 mln euro of 'social dividend' next week

The amount is distributed in accordance with the amendment of the Joint Ministerial Decision, which extended the income criteria for the handing out of the "social dividend" - a part of Greece's primary surplus returned to the more vulnerable groups in society as a one-off benefit.

Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras earlier in the day chaired a meeting at the General Accounting Office on the issue, with the participation of Secretary General for Public Revenues Katerina Savaidou and PASOK officials Filippos Sachinidis, Giorgos Koutroumanis and Christos Protopappas.

[15] PASOK's political party to convene on Monday

The meeting will take place at the party offices, at 12.00.

[16] Golden Dawn leader, two deputies return to jail after testimony

The three were summoned before magistrates Ioanna Klapa and Maria Dimitropoulos to provide additional explanations on new charges against them. Mihaloliakos and Lagos will have to answer on charges of illegal possession of arms and explosives. The summons sent to Pappas concerns illegal weapon possession and violation of the law on antiquities.

On the charges for which the three testified on Friday, the magistrates ordered that Mihaloliakos and Lagos be placed under house arrest and barred from leaving the country, while Pappas was released without restrictions. These terms will be imposed on them if they should be released from jail on the other charges against them.

The magistrates' decision was welcomed with applause and shouted slogans by some 100 supporters of the party gathered outside, waiting for the three to be led out and placed into a police van taking them back to Korydallos prison. Earlier, the party's supporters had tried to approach the van carrying the three MPs on its arrival and police used flash-bang grenades to disperse them.

[17] Magistrates take testimony regarding Golden Dawn supporters' attack on photojournalists

The two photojournalists, Symela Pantzartzi of the ANA-MPA and Yiannis Kemmos, were there to cover the arrival of jailed GD leader Nikos Mihaloliakos and two of the party's MPs at the courthouse to testify to the magistrates in connection with charges against them.

While there, they came under an initially verbal attack from supporters and members of the party who had gathered outside the courthouse but this escalated into kicks and punches, so that they were slightly injured. They later said that police on the scene had failed to intervene to help them.

The magistrates were informed of the incident and summoned Lolos, who was at the appeals court after the incident.

[18] Deputy Foreign Minister Gerontopoulos met with the Ukrainian ambassador

During the meeting, Gerontopoulos asked for the protection of Greeks in the Ukraine during this difficult time and discussed issues affecting the Greek community in the country - primarily its safety.

Ambassador Shkurov thanked Gerontopoulos for his participation in an event on July 1, 2014 to mark the signing of the Association agreements between the EU and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, and briefed the deputy foreign minister on the activities of the Ukrainian Embassy, the Ukrainian community in Greece and the latest developments in Ukraine.

[19] Manolis Kefalogiannis is new president of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee

The specific Committee deliberates on all matters relating to Turkey's relations with the EU, in particular on the basis of the annual report of the Association Council. It has held discussions on the relations between the Community - later the Union - and Turkey. After the entry into force of the Customs Union on December 31, 1995, it has also scrutinised its application and implementation.

Financial News

[20] Greece preparing to go back to the markets-Bloomberg

"The sale will probably be held in the middle of next week and hinges on the outcome of a meeting of euro-area finance ministers on July 7," the official, who asked not to be named because the auction has yet to be announced, said. A Finance ministry spokesman declined to comment, Bloomberg noted in the report.

[21] Greece to submit plan for unemployed youth to European Union on July 17

Plakiotakis made the announcement jointly with Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) manager Theodoros Abatzoglou, at the staff's regular congress.

Greece is expecting 340,000,000 euros in funds from the EU up to 2020 for youth employment, in the programme, which has been referred to by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

At the meeting, staff representatives said that the Social Security Foundation's (IKA) outstanding debts to OAED came close to 8 billion euros, while they charged that the organisation's activities had been curtailed and services such as providing jobs turned over to the private sector.

Main opposition SYRIZA deputy Dimitris Stratoulis, in an intervention, said that real unemployment is over 34%, while official data shows that it has tripled from 2009 to the present (from 9.7% to 27.6%). Among registered unemployed, 70% are long-term unemployed, or a million people in absolute numbers, he pointed out.

[22] Finance minister extends deadline for banks to participate in 'Alogoskoufis law'

The 2008 law envisions three main means of support:

Preference shares in the bank, whose nominal value is now 2.71 billion euros after these were redeemed by Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank.

Greek State guarantees for financial institutions that had received a licence to operate from the Bank of Greece, provided they meet the BoG capital adequacy ratio, lasting from three months to three years. These guarantees now stand at 49 billion euros and from March 2015 will not be accepted by the European Central Bank, so that banks will need to replace them.

Issue of Greek state bonds of up to three years by the Public Debt Management Agency that will be made available to banks. This option has not been used by banks.

[23] Finance ministry concern over low tax return submission rate

Finance ministry staff stress that there are no margins for a new extension to the deadline and that the first installment of tax due must be paid by July 31. In the meantime, the rate of submissions have been falling steadily since the extension was announced, from 198,000 on the day before the extension was given to just 104,000 last Wednesday.

In total, some 4.58 million tax returns out of an estimated total of 5.7-5.8 million have been submitted so far.

[24] Tourism minister concerned PPC strikes might hurt tourism

"No one wants a repetition of unpleasant pictures of the past which defamed Greece", underlined Kefalogianni, who added that "the circumstances demand high responsibility, such that will safeguard our tourism product and protect the thousands of families who work in the tourism sector, so as not to hurt the Greek economy".

Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers president Yiannis Retsos had recently voiced similar concerns, of PPC strikes during the tourist summer season potentially harming the industry.

[25] Amendments on tourism bill introduce stiffer fines for unlicensed lodgings

Most of the changes relate to higher fines for lodgings and agents booking at lodgings that are not properly registered. For example, tourist lodgings operating without the Special Operation Sign will be fines 200 euros per bed (from the original proposal of 150 euros), while an enterprise that did not provide all that it advertised to attract customers will be facing a penalty of 5,000 euros in the bill (from the original 1,000 euros). Tourist agencies that send customers to logdings not properly registered face stiff penalties of 15,000 euros (3,000 originally).

As Kefalogianni said, "The state is coming to say that it trusts the citizen, that it permits him to establish and operate his enterprise without previous stages of architectural study approval and on-site inspection, situations that in the past constituted the basis and provided the ground for phenomena of corruption and inconvenience for the citizen." She added, however, that there was control by the state: "The employees of the Tourism ministry and of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT), who deal today with the complications of licensing (gathering of documents, approvals, on-site inspections) are now going out to to check the enterprises".

A long discussion also took place during Friday's session on the amendment of the five New Democracy deputies on agrotourism.

Kefalogianni thanked the deputies for the tabling of the amendment and stressed that their work "is the basis of the discussion with the Agricultural Development ministry, with which we are cooperating; the amendement will be introduced with certain additions to the discussion at the plenum to enable Greece to obtain at last an institutional framework for agrotourism".

[26] Elliniki Technodomiki Anemos to make debut in ASE next week

A. Kallitsantsis, chairman and chief executive of the company, speaking to reporters, during a news conference, said there were three reasons behind the decision to list in the Athens Stock Exchange: 1) approval of a new regulatory framework for renewable energy sources, 2) resolving the problem of market liquidity (expected by the end of the year) and 3) the Greek economy exited its stabilization stage and was entering growth.

Elliniki Technodomiki Anemos is a company with activities in energy production from renewable energy sources, basically windpower parks. It owns energy production units in operation with a power of 171 MW. The money from its share capital increase plan will be used to complete four new windpower parks with a total power of 93.5 MW, currently under construction. Other projects with a power of 323 MW were currently under licensing procedures. Revenues totaled 37 million euros in 2013.

[27] Interest rate spread down in May

In a monthly report, the central bank said that the overall weighted average interest rate on all new deposits decreased by 10 basis points to stand at 1.59 pct in May 2014. In particular, the average interest rates on overnight deposits from households and from non-financial corporations remained almost unchanged at 0.33 pct and 0.36 pct respectively. The average interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to one year further decreased by 18 basis points to stand at 2.53 pct.

The overall weighted average interest rate on all new loans to households and corporations decreased by 36 basis points to stand at 5.46 pct in May 2014. In particular, the average interest rate on consumer loans without a defined maturity decreased by 6 basis points to stand at 14.80 pct. On the contrary, the average interest rate on consumer loans with a defined maturity at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year increased by 11 basis points and stood at 7.80 pct.

In May 2014, the average interest rate on loans without a defined maturity to corporations remained almost unchanged at 7.22 pct, while the corresponding rate on loans to sole proprietors decreased by 5 basis points to stand at 9.07 pct.

[28] Athens International Airport total passenger flow up by 1 million during H1 2014

April 2014 had seen a record increase by 27.9 pct of passenger flows - mainly due to Orthodox and Catholic Easter coinciding in the current year - making June 2014 the second-best month of AIA.

Also in June, passenger flows related to international flights saw a 22.3 pct increase - having risen to 1,015,876 passengers - while passenger flows related to domestic flights recorded a significant increase by 22.4 pct, to 528,913 passengers.

AIA reported that during the first half of 2014, passenger flows rose by 17 pct, with 6.47 million total passengers, exceeding last year's flow by nearly a million (+940,000) passengers. During the same period, passenger flows related to international flights recorded an increase of 18.6 pct, while those related to domestic flights rose by 14.1 pct.

According to AIA - the Greek capital's sole international and domestic airport - the promising upward trend in passenger throughput can be explained mainly by the recovery of the Greek economy, as there was an increase of Greek passenger flows, as well as by the significant improvement in the attractiveness of Athens as a tourist destination, as foreign visitors with Athens as their sole destination recorded an impressive increase by 35 pct. The increased flight and seat offerings for Athens by a great number of airlines during the summer season of 2014 is also credited with reinforcing AIA's total passenger throughput, so far.

Leasing contract for regional airports approved by HRADF; OLP privatisation moves to stage II

The state privatisation agency approved the final contract allowing the leasing of regional airports, it announced on Friday.

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund said the date for submitting tenders will be set following the state's approval of the contract.

It also announced that the tendering process for the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) was moving to the second stage, as the initial share sale/purchase and shareholder agreement plans had been approved.

[29] Tourist activity remains robust on Rhodes island

According to data released by Rhodes "Diagoras" airport, 348,840 tourists arrived on charter flights last month, compared to 321,795 in June 2013, posting 8.4 percent rise on a yearly basis. Most visitors came from Russia (58,259 tourists), followed by British and Germans.

Despite the higher tourism inflow, however, restaurants and shops have not seen increased activity.

[30] Majority of Thessaloniki traders vote against the opening of shops on 52 Sundays

More specifically, 96 percent of the 575 members of the Thessaloniki traders' association that participated in the process expressed their opposition.

The Association also elected a new board, with only 471 members participating in the process compared to 630 that voted three years ago. According to the Association's outgoing president Costas Hantzaridis "the economic fatigue has turned people away."

[31] Greek stocks end lower on Friday

The Large Cap index fell 0.89 pct and the Mid Cap index ended 1.24 pct lower. Jumbo (3.55 pct), PPC (1.91 pct) and Eurobank (0.79 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Ellaktor (3.13 pct), Eurobank Properties (2.67 pct), Athens Water (2.60 pct) and National Bank (2.48 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

The Personal products (2.26 pct), Media (1.27 pct) and Utilities (0.56 pct) sectors scored big gains, while Real Estate (2.42 pct), Food (1.69 pct) and Travel (1.67 pct) suffered losses.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 70 to 41 with another 30 issues unchanged. Athina (20 pct), Selonda (17.65 pct) and Sato (13.33 pct) were top gainers, while Elgeka (22.50 pct), Pegasus (19.79 pct) and Atti-kat (14.29 pct) were top losers.

Sector indices ended as follows:

Banks: -1.03%

Insurance: Unchanged

Financial Services: -1.37%

Industrial Products: -1.12%

Commercial: -0.95%

Real Estate: -2.42%

Personal & Household: +2.26%

Food & Beverages: -1.69%

Raw Materials: -1.42%

Construction: -1.66%

Oil: -1.04%

Chemicals: -1.56%

Media: +1.27%

Travel & Leisure: -1.67%

Technology: -0.70%

Telecoms: Unchanged

Utilities: +0.56%

Health: -0.89%

The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, Folli Follie, Alpha Bank and Eurobank.

Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:

Alpha Bank: 0.70

Public Power Corp (PPC): 11.21

Coca Cola HBC: 16.71

Hellenic Petroleum: 5.94

National Bank of Greece: 2.75

Eurobank Properties : 8.76

OPAP: 13.00

OTE: 11.30

Piraeus Bank: 1.71

Titan: 24.31

[32] Greek bond market closing report

In interbank markets, interest rates were mixed to lower. The 12-month rate fell to 0.486 pct from 0.488 pct, the nine-month rate eased to 0.392 pct from 0.394 pct, the six-month rate was unchanged at 0.303 pct, the three-month rate eased to 0.204 pct from 0.206 pct and the one-month rate was 0.097 pct.

[33] ADEX closing report

Volume in futures contracts on equities totalled 5,768 contracts with investment interest focusing on Eurobank's contracts (1,666), followed by Alpha Bank (572), Piraeus Bank (443), National Bank (693), MIG (374), OTE (191), PPC (791), OPAP (235), Hellenic Exchanges (108), Viohalco (92), Ellaktor (155), Hellenic Petroleum (55), Motor Oil (58), Piraeus Port (32), Intralot (47) and Mytilineos (13).

[34] Foreign Exchange rates - Saturday/Monday

U.S. dollar 1.358

Pound sterling 0.792

Danish kroner 7.456

Swedish kroner 9.312

Japanese yen 138.67

Swiss franc 1.216

Norwegian kroner 8.411

Canadian dollar 1.445

Australian dollar 1.452

General News

[35] Greece to acquire its first supercomputer by end-2014

GRNET has carried out an open international tender, awarding the contract for the supply and installation of the new system to Cosmos Business Systems A.E.B.E in a partership with IBM.

Once complete, the new infrastructure will support a wide of scientific applications and is expected to play an important role in developing and promoting scientific research in Greece and southeastern Europe. The system aims to provide a national-scale supercomputing infrastructure and to be integrated into the Tier-1 European supercomputing ecosystem of Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). It hopes to be among the 500 most powerful computers in the world, enhancing Greece's participation in PRACE.

It will form part of the project "PRACE-GR - Deployment and Operation of the National Supercomputing Infrastructure and Related Services to the Greek Research and Academic Community," that is jointly funded by the Operational Programme "Attiki" and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

This HPC system is expected to play an important role at the national level by facilitating high-level scientific research, meeting the needs of Greek users in multiple disciplines - Computational Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Biomedicine, Meteorology, Seismology, Computational Engineering and Materials Science - and improving their access to PRACE European infrastructure.

The Greek system will be based on the IBM's NeXtScale platform and incorporate the latest generation of Intel Xeon E5 v2 processors (Ivy Bridge technology), while its processing speed will approach 180 teraflops (a trillion floating point operations per second. It will have 426 computing hubs and more than 8,500 CPU cores linked in an FDR Infiniband network and roughly one Petabyte storage.

[36] Prespa National Park committee one of the recipients of first European Natura 2000 Award

The Committee, which received the award on behalf of all local agencies in northern Greece's Prespa Lake district, is the consultative body of the state agency handling the management of the Prespa National Park (32,700 hectares). The award was given by the European Commission to six organisations in the Natura Award category of "Reconciling interests/perceptions".

This is the first year the Natura 2000 awards are being offered, with other categories including Conservation; Socio-Economic Benefits; Communication; and Networking and Cross-Border Cooperation. The Natura 2000 network was set up to preserve and enhance Europe's biodiversity and covers a great variety of sites across the European contitnent.

In terms of the Prespes Lake system, Greece came to an agreement with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2000 to collaborate in order to protect the whole wetlands area, a vital habitat of Europe. A trilateral committee was set up to coordinate the effort, supported by international agencies and European countries and banks. In 2009, Greece set up the Prespa National Park to include the Small Prespa Lake (5,078 hectares) and Natura 2000 sites.

[37] Stavros Niarchos Fdn grants 16 mln euros for new radiation therapy machines to seven state hospitals

According to the Foundation, the grant is part of a three-year initiative (2012-2014) worth 100 million euros beyond the regular annual programmes offered to deal with the adverse effects of the social and economic crisis in Greece.

The grant will replace old-technology linear accelerator machines with new state-of-the-art accelerators, which have greatly enhanced accuracy, while the Foundation will also train the machine operators.

Board president Andreas Drakopoulos said the Foundation wanted to "introduce a holistic approach on the issue and contribute to the necessary upgrading of radiation therapy services provided by public hospitals to all suffering from cancer." (There are approximately 25,500 patients who require radiation therapy in Greece, annually.)

The recipient hospitals will be selected on the basis of geographic coverage in services provided and on the age of the equipment being used. For the gift's implementation, the Foundation will collaborate with university hospitals in Europe and the United States as well as the Greek Association of Radiation Therapy Oncology.

[38] Appeals court ruling on 'Sea Diamond' shipwreck; captain, ship's officer found guilty

The court ruled that the ship had been seaworthy and judged the ships's captain and one of the ship's officers guilty for its sinking due to negligence, while the operations director of the managing company was found guilty due to negligence for causing pollution and given a suspended sentence.

The court acquitted the technical director, DPA and two legal representatives of the managing companies, as well as the inspector of the Norwegian shipping register.

The captain was sentenced to five years imprisonment, with the option of buying this time off at a rate of five euros per day, while the operations manager was given a suspended sentence of three years and the ship's officer a suspended sentence of 26 months.

[39] Two fires broke out in Crete and Zakynthos

Twenty-three fire engines with 55 firefighters and another 32 firemen on foot, 6 tanker trucks, two army vehicles and two helicopters have been sent to put out the fire.

The fire is not threatening residential area and has so far burned trees and grassland.

Another fire broke out early on Friday at Karakonisi, Zakynthos.

Fifteen firemen with eight vehicles, two tanker trucks and a helicopter are trying to put out the fire. The fire is not threatening residential areas.

[40] Collision between two aircrafts' wings at Mykonos airport, no injuries

The collision took place during taxiing and was attributed to bad guidance by a land services employee.

According to an announcement by both the Civil Aviation Service and Aegean, all the passengers were in good health and were transferred to the airport's departures terminal, while aircraft were being removed.

[41] Fire breaks out in Kileler

Ten fire engines, 25 fire men and two fire-fighting teams on foot are trying to put out the blaze, assisted by a water-bombing aircraft from the air.

Weather forecast

[42] Mostly fair on Saturday

[43] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies at a glance

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Movement of resistance

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: Government's blackout

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: University entry score threshold rises

ESTIA: The good state and the bad private sector

ETHNOS: Red alert over PPC

IMERISSIA: Stock exchanges jump

KATHIMERINI: University entry score threshold rises at top schools

LOGOS: Civil mobilization against a blackout

NAFTEMPORIKI: ECB gives 1 trillion for growth

RIZOSPASTIS: Solidarity with PPC's strike

TA NEA: A dress rehearsal for the 120 deputies

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