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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-07-01
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, July 1, 1998
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] HEAT WAVE THROUGHOUT GREECE, TEMPERATURES CLIMB TO 102F
[02] PREMIER TO MEET WITH DEFENSE MINISTRY OFFICIALS TODAY
[03] MINISTRY PUBLISHES ENGLISH PHRASES GUIDE FOR BUS AND TAXI
DRIVERS
[04] DRAMA PREFECTURE TO BESTOW HONORS FOR CONTRIBUTION TO
DIASPORA
[05] REPPAS ON THE CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF
[06] SIMITIS - TSOCHATZOPOULOS MEETING
[07] HEAT WAVE IN GREECE
[08] MEASURES FOR THE REPATRIATED GREEKS
[09] THE FAYUM PORTRAITS WILL BE IN THESSALONIKI IN AUGUST
[10] GIORGOS PAPANDREOU SUPPORTS THE REPATRIATED GREEKS OF THRACE
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[11] CONFLICT CONTINUES IN KOSSOVO, CITY OF BELACEVIC IN EYE OF
THE STORM
[12] CULTURE MINISTER IN OTTAWA, MEETS WITH CANADIAN COUNTERPART
[13] GREEKS SPEND THE HIGHEST ON FOOD IN EU, ACCORDING TO EUROSTAT
[14] GREEK EURODEPUTY HEADS DELEGATION ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO
GEORGIA
[15] STREET NAMED AFTER GREEK NOBEL LAUREATE GEORGE SEFERIS IN
IZMIR
[16] CORDOVEZ WILL BE IN CYPRUS TOMORROW
[17] THE "GREECE IN BRITAIN" EVENTS WERE COMPLETED
[18] A FIVE-POINT DRAFT FOR KOSOVO BY KINKEL
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] HEAT WAVE THROUGHOUT GREECE, TEMPERATURES CLIMB TO 102F
State authorities are in a state of readiness in order to
address the various problems that may arise from the heat wave
expected to strike Greece today, according to the National Weather
Bureau.
According to the forecasts, the temperatures are expected to
climb to 102F (39C) today, 106F (41C) tomorrow, reaching 108F
(42C) on Friday and Saturday.
The Prefect of Thessaloniki, Kostas Papadopoulos has ordered
hospitals and ambulance services to be in a state of readiness,
especially for the groups which are most prone to heat strokes,
such as the elderly and the ill.
Temperatures are forecast to fall on Sunday, with a cool
front moving in from the north, the weather service said in a news
release.
[02] PREMIER TO MEET WITH DEFENSE MINISTRY OFFICIALS TODAY
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is to meet with the Minster of
National Defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos today to discuss defense-
related matters.
Later in the day, the Premier will meet with the Ministers of
National Economy and Finance, Yiannos Papantoniou; Labor,
Miltiadis Papaioannou; Transportation and Communication Tasos
Mantelis. They will discuss the imminent restructures in the
public sector.
[03] MINISTRY PUBLISHES ENGLISH PHRASES GUIDE FOR BUS AND TAXI
DRIVERS
The Ministry of Transportation-communications has published a
30-page English phrases guide in order to enable public
transportation and taxi drivers to communicate, even at a basic
level, with foreign tourists.
The guide, titled "Guide to Everyday Expressions", contains
simple and useful expressions in English and is published in
40,000 copies which will be distributed free of charge to
transport organisations and taxi drivers' federations.
[04] DRAMA PREFECTURE TO BESTOW HONORS FOR CONTRIBUTION TO
DIASPORA
The Prefecture of Drama, in northern Greece, is to bestow
honors on two of its citizens who are distinguished members of the
Greek community living abroad, namely Swedish deputy Nikos
Papadopoulos and the Secretary-General of the World Council of
Hellenes Abroad (SAE) Christos Karypides.
The two men will be honored in a celebration to be held on
Friday, July 3, at 8:30 p.m. At the amphitheatre of the Prefecture
of Drama.
Along with Mgrs. Papadopoulos and Karypides, the general
director of the Macedonian Press Agency Spyros Kouzinopoulos will
also be honored for his valuable input and contribution to
informing Greeks throughout the world.
[05] REPPAS ON THE CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas commented on the
unexpected crisis in Iraq between Baghdad and the United States.
Mr. Reppas underlined that Greece's position is given namely,
the UN resolutions should be respected and all those actions that
heighten tensions in the region should be avoided.
[06] SIMITIS - TSOCHATZOPOULOS MEETING
Minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos, after the meeting
he had with prime minister Kostas Simitis, expressed the wish that
there will be no irrational actions that will lead to a hot
incident in the Balkans. The two men discussed issues concerning
the Greek-Turkish relations, the Cyprus issue and the Kossovo
crisis in view of Mr. Tsochatzopoulos' visit to the United States
at the end of the week.
On Kossovo, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos stressed the priority of
political dialogue and added that the advantages of a strategic
course must be made clear to strengthen the prospects of easing
the tension in the region.
[07] HEAT WAVE IN GREECE
The state mechanism is ready to handle the problems that may
arise due to the heat wave that has hit the country starting
today.
According to the Weather Service, temperatures today will
reach 39 degrees Celsius, while on Friday and Saturday it will be
extremely hot with a temperature of 42 degrees.
Thessaloniki's prefect Kostas Papadopoulos instructed the
health services, hospitals and ambulance services to be ready to
deal with emergency cases of heatstroke.
[08] MEASURES FOR THE REPATRIATED GREEKS
Greek deputy foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou is expected
to announce today from the city of Komotini in north-eastern
Greece measures aimed at assisting the repatriated Greeks who live
in the region of Thrace.
Mr. Papandreou had a long meeting with the members of the
regional council of eastern Macedonia-Thrace on the issue and
later met with representatives of the repatriated Greeks.
[09] THE FAYUM PORTRAITS WILL BE IN THESSALONIKI IN AUGUST
An artistic event of worldwide significance will be held in
Thessaloniki's Byzantine Museum from August 1st to the end of the
month.
The Fayum portraits exhibition that will be held in the
museum will be made up of 73 exhibits among them 46 Fayum
portraits and three mummies with painted pictures of the dead.
The portraits were made by unknown Greek and Egyptian artists
from the 1st to the 4th century AD and were named after the Fayum
plateau, 60 kilometers from Cairo, where they were first found.
[10] GIORGOS PAPANDREOU SUPPORTS THE REPATRIATED GREEKS OF THRACE
Greek Alternate Foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou announced
today that within 4 or 5 years the housing problem of the
repatriated Greeks, who live in the region of Thrace, will be
solved.
Mr Papandreou stressed that the regime of rent paying will be
maintained and added that further funds will be offered in order
to complete house constructions. Regarding the employment of the
repatriated Greeks, mr Papandreou reassured that all EU projects
would be exploited and underlined that in the bid for vocational
rehabilitation, the regional services of the State Employment
Oganization should actively participate.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[11] CONFLICT CONTINUES IN KOSSOVO, CITY OF BELACEVIC IN EYE OF
THE STORM
Serb forces in Kossovo are continuing with their efforts to
recapture the city of Belacevic and the region's coal mine.
According to reports, Serb military officials state that the
coal mine is now under their control, but journalists were not
allowed access to the region in order to verify the claims.
[12] CULTURE MINISTER IN OTTAWA, MEETS WITH CANADIAN COUNTERPART
Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos is currently
in Canada where he represented Greece at the two-day
international conference on international cultural cooperation in
Ottowa.
Mr. Venizelos was received by Canada's National Heritage
Minister Sheila Copps with whom he discussed expansion of
bilateral cultural cooperation and protocol issues concerning
joint audio-visual productions during a meeting held Monday in
Ottawa.
He also invited Ms Copps to attend an international
conference on "Women-Athletics and
Sponsorship" to be held in Athens in September, and also invited
the Canadian minister to represent her country as an observer at a
meeting of the Culture Ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean
Cooperation-Barcelona Process on the island of Rhodes in
September, to be attended by 15 European Union and 12 non-EU
Mediterranean countries.
Mr. Venizelos gave a speech at the Canadian National Press
Club, addressing the issues of the Cultural Olympiad, Greece's
position in Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, and also
Europe's response to American cultural hegemony.
He also stressed the need for the immediate return of the
Parthenon Marbles, currently housed in the British Museum, to
their homeland, Athens.
[13] GREEKS SPEND THE HIGHEST ON FOOD IN EU, ACCORDING TO EUROSTAT
Greeks spend 38.1 per cent of their income on food as
compared to the European Union average of 19.4 per cent, according
to a study recently released by Eurostat .
Per capita consumption in Greece reached 4,300 Fixed
Purchasing Power (FPR) units - a technical currency unit used in
the study - as compared to Belgium's 10,700 FPRs.
The study also noted that during the 1975-1995 period,
consumption in Greece fell, while in the rest of the EU it rose by
40 per cent.
[14] GREEK EURODEPUTY HEADS DELEGATION ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO
GEORGIA
Greek Eurodeputy Alekos Alavanos (Coalition for the Left and
Progress), in currently on an official visit to Georgia, heading a
Europarliament delegation.
The delegates were received yesterday by Georgian President
Eduard Shevardnadze in Tbilisi, where discussions focused on the
upgrading of Georgian-EU relations and Georgia's prospects for EU
accession, as well as issues relating to the so- called "Silk
Route" connecting Europe and Asia.
[15] STREET NAMED AFTER GREEK NOBEL LAUREATE GEORGE SEFERIS IN
IZMIR
A street in the Turkish city of Izmir will be named after
Greece's Nobel laureate George Seferis, as of Saturday, following
a decision by the city's local authorities.
The naming ceremony will be held on July 4, in the presence
of the Greece's consul-general in Izmir Andrea Fryganas, the
poet's nieces, Despina and Dora - daughters of former president of
the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Tsatsos, and representatives of
the Izmir Cultural Society in Athens.
Speaking to the Macedonian Press Agency, Mr. Fryganas stated
that the poet's house was located near the street that is to bear
his name, in the municipality of Vourla, 30 kilometers away from
Izmir, or Smyrna, as it was called then. However, the Greek
diplomat added that according to other reports, Mr. Seferis' house
was in another location of the municipality and has been
demolished.
The Nobel laureate Seferis was born in Smyrna in 1900,
although his family left for Greece immediately after World War I.
He served at the Greek embassy in Ankara and visited Izmir in
1950.
[16] CORDOVEZ WILL BE IN CYPRUS TOMORROW
UN secretary-general special envoy Diego Cordovez will visit
Cyprus in the next two days.
Mr. Cordovez will meet with Cypriot president Glafkos
Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
On Saturday, he will meet with Ann Herkus, who will replace
Gustav Feisel in the position of UN secretary-general deputy
special envoy to Cyprus.
[17] THE "GREECE IN BRITAIN" EVENTS WERE COMPLETED
The comments made by the British Foreign Office on the events
titled "Greece in Britain" were especially positive. The events
that lasted 6 months and were held in London were organized by the
Greek embassy in Britain.
A Foreign Office representative in an interview with the BBC
radio, congratulated the Greek diplomatic delegation for the
events it has organized and underlined that for the first time
modern Greece was presented to the United Kingdom in such a way.
The British Foreign Office expressed the wish for the further
development of cultural ties between the two countries and the
festival "Britain and Greece" that will be held in Athens in
November is regarded as a step toward this direction.
[18] A FIVE-POINT DRAFT FOR KOSOVO BY KINKEL
German Foreign minister Klaus Kinkel announced, today, a five-
point draft aiming at the settlement of the Kosovo crisis, which
is to be examined by the Contact Group, during the meeting
scheduled to take place in Bonn, on July 8.
Mr Kinkel, in an interview with the "Deutschland Radio",
noted that the five points of the proposal are the beginning of
talks between Serbian authorities and ethnic Albanians, provided
that an immediate cease-fire is achieved, the implementation of
the sanctions, imposed by the international community and the UN
Security Council, the determination, by the Contact Group, of the
basic principles concerning the Kosovo autonomy, the formation of
an observer mission to Kosovo and the return of refugees to the
Serbian province.
Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available
on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at
http://www.hri.org/MPA/
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