Antenna: News in English, 96-11-06

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, of 06/11/1996

TITLES

• Four naval officers missing following a tragedy at sea.
• Former archbishop Iakovos hopes the next US administration will understand Greece.
• And, fans take their passion off the field and into the studio.

IAKOVOS

Currently in Greece, Iakovos met with former prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis.

Iakovos said, "We hope the new US administration will be able to utilise the experiences of the past four years, and revise the American views of foreign policy issues of importance to Greece". Greece's problems, he added, are European problems as well.

Iakovos has expressed pessimistically in recent days his belief that little will be done to solve the Cyprus problem by the next American government.

After meeting with Iakovos, Mitsotakis had no problem naming Clinton the winner. "All Greeks hope that in his second term Bill Clinton will be willing to help solve major problems troubling Greece, especially the Cyprus issue".

Mitsotakis said Cyprus is ripe for a solution and that the US could play a decisive role in providing it.

ECONOMY

Kostas Simitis has approved two new taxes proposed by economy minister Iannos Papantoniou's. There will be a property tax and a tax on state bond interest.

A number of goverment bodies will now be asked to look the budget over and give it their approval. Government ministers will meet with public sector trade union reps next week to hash out the government's final 1997 pay offer.

ND

Sources say that party vice-president Ioannis Varvitsiotis and former parliament president Athanassios Tsaldaris were asked once again to head the committee, but Varvitsiotis made no response. He recently said he wouldn't take responsibility for setting up the comittee, because what's needed is for all the top party members to sit down and agree to how the congress should be run.

Honorary New Democracy president Constantinos Mitsotakis met with a number of party MPs Tuesday, including Souflias. Many of the MPs said the only solution is for Miltiades Evert to resign as leader.

But not everyone agrees.

MP Vassilis Michaloliakos says Evert shouldn't resign, and that the only way out of the current crisis is for everyone to support Evert because he's the party's elected leader.

Asked about the idea of party vice president taking over as interim leader until the congress, Giorgos Panagiotopoulos said there can be no other leader now, not even an interim leader. The leadership issue, he adds will be dealt with at the congress.

NAVAL

A few minutes later, it ploughed into the rear of the Greek warship "Kostakos", which, along with six other war vessels, was conducting exercises in the area.

On board the "Kostakos" came the order, "Abandon ship! This is not an exercise!"

15 minutes later, the warship lay at the bottom of the sea. 34 of its 38 crewmembers were picked up by rescuers and taken to safety on board the "Samaina". The other four are still missing, and hopes of finding them were slim Tuesday afternoon. One fear is that they were trapped inside the ship.

Relatives of the missing have been in agony since the tragic mishap, waiting for some word that their loved ones have been found alive. Into Tuesday night, the search continued, but there was no trace of the four unfortunate sailors.

The mother of 22-year-old Giorgos Anadranistakis was incosolable as relatives tried to tell her to be brave because there's still hope. "How can I be brave", she asked, "I've lost my child".

The 34 sailors saved from the "Kostakos" disaster arrived in Athens Tuesday morning. They were taken to the hospital for checkups, just to make sure they are OK.

Passengers from the "Samaina" gave harrowing accounts of the accident as they arrived, shell shocked, in Athens.

As yet, there has been no official announcement concerning the exact cause of the accident.

But prime minister Kostas Simitis, who offered his condolences to the families of the missing, has called for exemplary punishment of all those responsible for the tragedy.

And, Matthaios Pnevmatikakis, captain of the Samaina has been charged with criminal negligence and causing the accident.

Visibly shaken after his arraignment Tuesday, Pnevmatikakis apologised to the families of the four missing seamen.

Greek naval commanders say the captain of the "Samaina" was responsible for the accident, since he had steered off his course. But the Samos port authority says the captain of the "Kostakos" is to blame, because he failed to react in time after spotting the ferry boat on his radar.

And Pnevmatikakis argues that he's innocent. "I never left my course", he says. "Suddenly, I saw a black shape at a distance of 30 or 40 metres. It was dark, there were no stars out".

More important, there were no lights on the warship, which was hiding as part of the naval dissimulation exercise underway. An exercise Pnevmatiakis was never informed was taking place.

Pnevmatikakis says his lights were on. "They saw me, why didn't they react?", he asks.

That's a question that will most likely be answered by the committee investigating the accident. Whatever the answer, it will be little solace to those who lost loved ones in the accident.

BUS LANES

Lane violators will be slapped with fines. The controversial measure is designed to guarantee public buses speedy passage through urban traffic, and encourage commuters to use the buses.

Taxi drivers want to be allowed to use the lanes too. They say the restricted lane makes picking up and dropping off fares difficult, if not impossible in some cases, since the bus lanes are right next to the sidewalk.

The protesting cab drivers are also up in arms because bus company officials will be on the lookout for lane violators and informing the police when they spot one.

Ordinary car owners are also in a stew over the use of bus company empoloyees to collar people trying to make time by sneaking into an empty bus lane.

SPORTS

The manager of Paok soccer team, Giorgos Kalyvas, was a guest on the live sports show called the "Trial".

Programme host Kyriakos Thomaides was shocked when a group of Paok fans came on the set to break up the discussion. He said he felt more like he was on a soccer field than in a studio.

The fans had taken exception to some of the questions Thomaides was putting to the team manager. The fans thought the questions were too strongly worded.

Thomaides says he thinks the offending question actually came from a journalist who called Paok player Thodoros Zagorakis a "con artist". The player phoned in his indignation at being so called, lending more tension to the atmosphere.

The angry supporters finally left the show at the pleading of Paok's manager, and the programme resumed after what was all-in-all a ten-minute interruption.

The fans remained outside the studio until the show was over.

©ANT1-Radio 1996

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