The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 10-08-17

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece-Israel Closer Cooperation

The agenda of talks on the island of Poros between Greek Premier G. Papandreou and his Israeli counterpart B. Netanyahu included furthering cooperation in the defense and security sectors. The two Premiers accompanied by their wives sailed off to the island of Poros on a port patrol craft on Tuesday morning. Prior to their departure Mrs. Papandreou accompanied the Netanyahu couple in a guided tour of the historical significance war ships "Averof" and "Velos". Mr. Papandreou and his wife Ada Papandreou hosted a dinner in hour of the Israeli Premier and his wife Sara Netanyahu.

Sources: ÍÅÔ - ÍÅÔ 105.8 - ÁNA/ÌPA News item: 39516

[02] ND Leader Meets Israeli Premier

ND party leader met with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning. Their talks focused on issues of bilateral interest and particularly cooperation in the tourist and economic sectors. In his statements after the meeting Mr. Samaras said: "Our talks covered bilateral cooperation issues in the fields of commerce, tourism and economy during the present difficult circumstances. We placed particular emphasis on cooperation in the tourist sector. We also spoke about security in the region, the Cyprus and Middle East issues. We discussed the need for the creation and guarantee of the Palestinian state as well as security of the Palestinian state".

In response to a question related to scientific research raised by the Prime-minister on Monday, Mr. Samaras blamed PASOK governments for pushing out of the country the rich dynamic of scientists and underlined that the ND party's aim was to repatriate the prominent Greek scientists.

The ND party supports furthering of Greek-Israeli relations but underlines the need for delicate handling to keep balance with the Arab world and maintain Greece's traditional good relations with the Arab world. The ND party also maintains that promotion of Greek-Israeli relations in the fields of tourism and commerce should be disengaged from developments in Turkey-Israel and Greek-Turkey relations.

Mr. Samaras was accompanied by the party's vice-president D. Abramopoulos, the director of his political office Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos and the party's spokesman Panos Panagiotopoulos.

Left wing parties object to the Israeli prime-minister visit to Athens.

Sources: ÍÅÔ - ÍÅÔ 105.8 - ÁNA/ÌPA News item: 39513

[03] Massive Leak of Afghan War Files

The US has strongly denounced the massive release of about 90.000 secret military files that allegedly describe how Pakistan's spy service helps Afghan insurgents. Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husein Haqqani, denounced the leaks and reassured that his country was dedicated to the struggle against islamist guerillas. In his statement he says the files posted on webpage Wikileaks consisted of "unprocessed" reports from the field that do not reflect the current on ground realities.

"Threat to National Security"

The files -which are in the hands of large newspapers such as "New York Times", Guardian and German magazine Der Spiegel- are said to detail growing numbers of Afghan civilians dying at the hands of international forces as well as the Taliban, that had not been revealed so far.

"The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security," said White House National Security Advisor James Jones.

"These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people."

Sources: French, Reuters, ÍÅÔ, ÁNA-ÌPA

News item: 38859

[04] High Mobility on Bread Price

Wheat industries intention to rise price of wheat , Russia's ban on wheat exports and forecasts for reduced harvest of wheat in several European countries have sparked high mobility which includes inspections, meetings , announcements and protests.

European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said:

"The EU imports less than one million tones of wheat from Russia. EU domestic production of wheat comes to an annual production of 280 -300 million tones. Put together, these numbers clearly indicate that the impact will be minimal or even almost non-existent for the European cereal market. The EU has plenty of crops reserves and there is no reason for concern. There are no concerns regarding the stocks of cereal in the European Union".

In his statements to NET, the president of the Athens Bakers' Union A. Hristou said: " world stock of grain is higher this year and the price of grain will not go up". He also called on the members of the union to drop the price in any kind of bread they wanted to support weak groups of people.

The Union of Wheat Industries has predicted reasonable price of wheat for both consumers and farmers.

The general secretary for Commerce St. Komninos told journalists: " We will not allow profiteering on the burden of consumers. We are monitoring the issue and in contact with all market sectors.

Market representatives say that price of soft wheat variety went up to â¬250 from â¬170 in a month. On their part farmers speak of fabricated wheat shortage, denouncing that they sold their wheat harvest at low price in June and there is no justification of rise in prices at least at the present time.

The Ministry for Economics, Competitiveness and Merchant Marine, which is carrying out cost inspections, is holding a meeting in the next days.

SOURCES: ÍÅÔ, ÍÅÔ 105.8, ÁNA

News item: 39509

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