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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2000-08-17
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 17, 2000
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] ECONOMY MINISTRY TO HOLD MEETINGS OVER TAX BILL
[02] MOTHER WHO WENT UNDERCOVER TARGETED BY THUGS
[03] POLICE DISCOVER BODY OF MISSING AMERICAN TOURIST
[04] THESSALONIKI HOSTS INT/L RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
[05] MEDITERRANEO BEGINS, GREECE "FEATURED" COUNTRY
[06] BODY IN TRUNK IDENTIFIED AS AN ALBANIAN WOMAN
[07] NEW INVESTMENTS FOR INTERBALKAN MEDICAL CENTRE
[08] KAKLAMANIS TO ATTEND INTER-PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE
[09] "PRESPES 2000" BEGINS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE DELEGATION IN MOSCOW
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] ECONOMY MINISTRY TO HOLD MEETINGS OVER TAX BILL
In light of a tax bill to be introduced in parliament next
month,
National Economy and Finance Ministry officials are to embark on
a series of meetings next week with the Federation of Greek
Industries (SEV) and the civil servants' union ADEDY to discuss
the new taxation proposals.
The most important changes provided in the draft tax bills
are:
- Reducing the top income tax rate on individuals from 45 percent
to 42.5 percent for incomes earned in 2001 and 40 percent for 2002
incomes
- Index-linking of all income tax brackets to inflation.
- Exempting spending on new technology articles from taxation.
- Reducing corporate tax for firms not listed on the Athens Stock
Exchange from 40 percent to 35 percent over a two-year period.
- Abolishing the Special Tax on Banking Transactions.
- Gradually abolishing all indirect criteria for corporate
taxation.
- Increasing tax-exempted income for families with children by
20,000 drachmas per child.
- Increasing the tax-exempt space in homes from 20 to 30 square
meters per child; this also affects families with three children
or more.
[02] MOTHER WHO WENT UNDERCOVER TARGETED BY THUGS
A Thessaloniki mother who guised herself as a prostitute last
year to discover those responsible for her drug-addicted
daughter's death, escaped unharmed after being attacked by two
armed men yesterday afternoon.
Eleni Fotiadou, who was shot at while driving on the
Thessaloniki-Katerini highway, is frequently the target of threats
from drug dealers whom she has pointed out to the Thessaloniki
police.
[03] POLICE DISCOVER BODY OF MISSING AMERICAN TOURIST
Police have discovered the body a 40-year-old American woman
who had been missing for a week after failing to return to her
family's boat from a jet ski outing in Naxos.
The body of Mariana Alix was discovered off the coast of Ios
and was positively identified by the boat's captain.
At least three foreign tourists have drowned during the past
week around Greece.
[04] THESSALONIKI HOSTS INT/L RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
The 2000 International Rhythmic Gymnastics Meeting will be
held in Thessaloniki between August 19-20, the last competition
before the Sydney Olympic Games.
To date, countries which confirmed their participation are
Belorussia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan and
Russia. It remains to be seen if Sydney's team will be present,
while Brazils has declined to attend.
[05] MEDITERRANEO BEGINS, GREECE "FEATURED" COUNTRY
Greece will be the "featured country" at the 13th
Mediterraneo Festival, which gets underway in Italy today and will
last until September 1. World-renowned actress Irene Papas
will represent Greece at an awards ceremony, while two
Thessaloniki singers (Georgia Syeou and Sakis Papadimitriou will
also be featured among artists representing 22 countries of the
wider Mediterranean region. China will be the honored guest.
[06] BODY IN TRUNK IDENTIFIED AS AN ALBANIAN WOMAN
A body discovered by an unsuspecting driver in the trunk of
his car yesterday has been identified by Athens police as Sotiria
Cili, a 53-year-old Albanian woman who had been residing in Athens
for the past few years.
All police indications point to suicide and there have been
reports that the deceased was known to suffer from mental
problems. While an autopsy will be performed tomorrow, the Athens
coroner has not ruled out the possibility that the death may have
been inflicted from drowning or strangulation.
The driver made the grim discovery as he searched his car for
the source of the foul odor.
[07] NEW INVESTMENTS FOR INTERBALKAN MEDICAL CENTRE
The Apostolopoulos Group is making four new investments to
develop the infrastructure of the new Interbalkan European Medical
Centre, due to open the day after tomorrow. The new projects,
whose cost remains undisclosed, will mainly focus on the
education sector.
Part of the proposed investment concerns the creation of a
university level medical school in Thessaloniki, according to the
Centre's President, George Apostolopoulos.
A new surgical training centre, the moving of the obstetrics
centre to a new space and the creation of a children's nursery for
the Centre's employees complete the investment plans currently
being proposed.
The Group's insurance company "La Vie" is expected to start
operating on August 28th and will offer unlimited hospital cover,
in collaboration with the Interbalkan European Medical Centre, for
those who are insured, at an annual cost of between 65.000 and
163.000 drachmas.
This investment program also crosses the borders, into
southeastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, with plans being
made for the creation of diagnosis centres in FYROM and Tirana.
According to Mr Apostolopoulos, the Interbalkan European
Medical Centre is the only hospital to be created based on law
517/91, which outlines strict specifications in all areas of
private medical care.
[08] KAKLAMANIS TO ATTEND INTER-PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE
The Greek President of the Republic, Apostolos Kaklamanis,
will participate in the Worldwide Conference for Parliamentary
Presidents, due to be held by the Inter-Parliamentary Association
in the United States, from August 30th until September 1st 2000.
Over 150 Presidents of National Parliaments have confirmed
they will participate in the conference, which will be one of the
first summits to be held by Parliament leaders on a global level.
The conference, entitled "the Parliamentary Vision for
International Cooperation at the Dawn of the Third Century", will
be opened by the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, as well as by
various Parliamentary Presidents.
[09] "PRESPES 2000" BEGINS
The Thanos Mikroutsikos and Vasilis Papakonstantinou concert
was the first in the many "Prespes 2000" events due to take place
in Sklithro, western Macedonia. The concerts will continue on
August 25th with a concert by Socrates Malamas in Florina and will
be followed by a concert by Dimitris Mitropanos.\
The focal point of the events will take place as usual on
Sunday August 27th, at Saint Achileio, where "Prespes 2000" will
be formally inaugurated and where the Florina born tenor Sotos
Papouklas will sing both Greek and foreign songs, as well as
Russian psalms. Maria Farantouri, Elli Paspala and Savina Gianatou
will also sing at the special inauguration event.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE DELEGATION IN MOSCOW
Archbishop of America Dimitrios is presently in Moscow,
heading a three-member delegation from the Ecumenical
Patriarchate which will attend the officiation services of the
Church of the Christ the Savior in Moscow.
The delegation, which will be in Moscow until August 29,
comprises the Ecumenical Patriarchate Vartholomeos and
Metropolites Constantine and Cyrillus.
The inauguration ceremony will be held on August 19 and will
be officiated by the Moscow Patriarch Alexius.
The Church of the Christ the Savior, established in 1880,
was ruined in 1931 during the Stalin era. Its restoration was
completed this year.
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