Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-02-05
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, February 5, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[01] AWARD-WINNING GREEK AUTHORS AT HARVARD
[02] MINISTER EXPRESSES SORROW FOR XENAKIS' DEATH
[03] GREEK PREMIER CONDUCTS OFFICIAL VISIT TO INDIA
[04] TWO NABBED FOR TRYING TO SELL ZINC AS "URANIUM"
[05] NO TRUST IN BOURSE, INVESTORS ARE TO BLAME TOO
[06] PREMIER: GREECE AND INDIA SHARE COMMON VALUES
[07] ASE TRADING OPENS WITH SIGNIFICANT LOSSES
[08] THE BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WILL BE IN ATHENS ON THURSDAY
[09] THE DISAPPOINTMENT CONTINUES IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[10] THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES OF GREECE AND TURKEY IN NATO
WILL MEET IN BRUSSELS
[11] SIMITIS WILL BE IN THE INTER-BALKAN CONFERENCE IN SKOPJE
[12] AN IOC DELEGATION WILL VISIT ATHENS TOMORROW
[13] THE NEW ATHENS AIRPORT WILL BE INAUGURATED IN MARCH
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] GREECE OCCUPIES THE TOP PLACE CONCERNING THE FREEDOM ENJOYED
BY ITS CITIZENS
[15] SIMITIS HAD POSITIVE TALKS ON HIS FIRST DAY IN INDIA
[16] JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE BY GREECE AND CYPRUS
[17] TSOCHATZOPOULOS' STATEMENTS ON THE 37TH SECURITY CONFERENCE
IN MUNICH
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] AWARD-WINNING GREEK AUTHORS AT HARVARD
Four Greek award-winning novelists, spanning four
generations, are to read from their recent works during a week-
long event held at Harvard University commencing this evening,
February 5.
The first reading, sponsored by the Greek Consulate's Press
office and Harvard University's George Seferis Chair, will
feature Thanassis Valtinos and will be held tonight.
The second reading, sponsored by the Foundation for Hellenic
Culture, the Kokkalis Program, Harvard University and the
Consulate's Press office, will feature Christos Chomenidis, Ioanna
Karystiani and Ersi Sotiropoulou.
[02] MINISTER EXPRESSES SORROW FOR XENAKIS' DEATH
World-famous Greek composer Iannis Xenakis passed away in
Paris yesterday, at the age of 78. He is survived by his wife,
Francoise, and their daughter.
Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos stated that "with his
work, Iannis Xenakis represents one of the most advanced chapters
in the history of music.
"Xenakis identified himself with modernity and research, that
is, with two basic components of cultural creation. His talent,
his profound and multi-faceted culture and his cosmopolitan spirit
fascinated and will fascinate people. His death is a great loss
but in no way does it signal the end of a work which has been and
will always be ‘open'," Mr. Venizelos added.
Xenakis was born in 1922 into a Greek family residing at
Braila, Romania. The sense of being an "ousider" remained
integral to his identity, signaled by the title of a recently
published book of interviews "il faut etre constamment un
immigre."
Having lost his mother when he was five years old, he was
sent off to boarding school on the Greek island of Spetses at the
age of ten. He studied civil engineering at the Athens
Polytechnic, but the German invasion followed by the British
occupation drew him into the Resistance, activities from which he
would end up near fatally wounded, losing one eye, then later
condemned to death. Forced to escape Greece, Xenakis ended up in
Paris in 1947, wanting to study music, but earning a living
working as an engineering assistant for Le Corbusier.
His creative and intellectual intensity attracted the
attention of both the reknowned architect, who delegated
architectural projects to him in spite of his lack of professional
training, and the composer and pedagogue Olivier Messiaen, who saw
in the music he was struggling to produce in isolation an
originality deserving of encouragement. Xenakis had his first
major success with the premiere of Metastasis in 1955, and by 1960
he was able to devote himself entirely to composition.
Along with his acoustic works, he has produced a number of
important electroacoustic pieces, and a series of multimedia
creations involving sound, light, movement, and architecture
(polytopes).
Xenakis was a pioneer in the area of algorithmic composition,
and also developed an approach to digital synthesis based on
random generation and variation of the waveform itself.
[03] GREEK PREMIER CONDUCTS OFFICIAL VISIT TO INDIA
Prime Minister Costas Simitis is presently on an official
five-day visit to India, heading a delegation of government
officials and private sector entrepreneurs.
Mr. Simitis will meet with Indian President Kocheril Raman
Narayanan and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, among
other officials. The Greek Premier and his Indian counterpart are
to sign a series of agreements, including double taxation
avoidance, investment protection measures and cooperation in the
agricultural sector.
Also, the New Delhi University Law School is planning to
award Mr. Simitis an honorary doctorate.
Today, Mr. Simitis will visit and lay a wreath at the Gandhi
Monument.
The delegation accompanying the Premier includes Development
Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, Press and Media Minister Dimitris
Reppas, Alternate Foreign Minister Elizabeth Papazoi and National
Economy Deputy Minister Yiannis Zapheiropoulos.
The Premier isn't scheduled to tour the quake-stricken
Gujarat state, since infrastructure has been completely wiped out
in the area, which borders Pakistan.
Instead, Mr. Simitis' itinerary includes New Delhi and
meetings with the central government, the western city of Jaipur,
home to India's nascent marble industry, and the famed industrial
port city of Bombay.
The Greek Premier's tour of India comes on the heels of
several high-level visits between Greek and Indian officials,
including visits conducted last month by the President of the
Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos and by Greek Foreign
Minister George Papandreou.
[04] TWO NABBED FOR TRYING TO SELL ZINC AS "URANIUM"
Two individuals were arrested yesterday and are presently
being interrogated by police after having attempted to sell a
mixture of red mercury and zinc which they claimed is uranium.
According to the police report, the two suspects were
arrested in central Greece after trying the sell the said
substance for a reportedly astronomical amount of money.
Researchers at the Dimokritos Laboratory have determined that
the material is definitely not radioactive.
[05] NO TRUST IN BOURSE, INVESTORS ARE TO BLAME TOO
Eight out of ten Greeks have no trust in the Athens Stock
Exchange (ASE) and believe that the bourse's present crisis will
send ripples through the economy, according to a nationwide poll.
Published in the Athens daily "Ta Nea" today, the V-PRC poll
found that 77.9 percent of the respondents have no trust
whatsoever in the bourse, unlike 13.7% who are confident of ASE's
course.
Moreover, 69.4 percent of those polled believe that the state
has to intervene immediately and take recovery measures, although
a ‘fatalist' 20.4% feel that if the government were to become
involved it would only make matters worse.
Speaking of the state, a vast percentage (72.3) of the
respondents maintain that there are political responsibilities
involved in the index's plunge, while 78.9% hold the ruling PASOK
party liable, as opposed to 68.7% who blame the opposition.
Responsibilities are also allocated to individuals whose
companies are listed (85.8%), along with stockbrokers and
securities companies (79.7%), the Minister of National Economy and
Finance Yiannos Papantoniou (78.3%) and the Premier Costas Simitis
(75.8%).
At the same time, 36.8% of the respondents are opposed to the
censure motion tabled by the main opposition party of New
Democracy against Mr. Papantoniou (which the Parliament rejected
last week), even though 33.6 percent support the move.
As for the investors' liability, 81.5% agree that the blame
lies with them, too, in their effort to make a fast buck.
[06] PREMIER: GREECE AND INDIA SHARE COMMON VALUES
Greece and India share common values, according to Greek
Prime Minister Costas Simitis who is presently on an official five-
day visit to Delhi, heading a delegation of government officials
and private sector entrepreneurs.
Today, Mr. Simitis will meet with Indian President Kocheril
Raman Narayanan and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
among other officials. The Greek Premier and his Indian
counterpart are to sign a series of agreements, including double
taxation avoidance, investment protection measures and cooperation
in the agricultural sector.
Also, Jawaharlal Nehru University planning to award Mr.
Simitis an honorary doctorate andthe Premier is expected to referr
to the European Union's charter of fundamental rights during his
acceptance speech. Specifically, Mr. Simitis is to state that
respect for fundamental rights and liberties constitutes a key
element for the structure and operation of a modern democracy.
"These rights constitute the quintessence of democracy as
absolute values, inviolably bound with human nature," according to
the Greek Premier.
This morning, Mr. Simitis visited and laid a wreath at the
Gandhi Monument.
The delegation accompanying the Premier includes Development
Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, Press and Media Minister Dimitris
Reppas, Alternate Foreign Minister Elizabeth Papazoi and National
Economy Deputy Minister Yiannis Zapheiropoulos.
The Premier isn't scheduled to tour the quake-stricken
Gujarat state, since infrastructure has been completely wiped out
in the area, which borders Pakistan.
Instead, Mr. Simitis' itinerary includes New Delhi and
meetings with the central government, the western city of Jaipur,
home to India's nascent marble industry, and the famed industrial
port city of Bombay.
[07] ASE TRADING OPENS WITH SIGNIFICANT LOSSES
Trading on the Athens Stock Exchange opened today in a
negative climate, with declines in all the individual sector
indices.
The general index was down by 1.44 percent at 3,111.42
points, having plunged earlier to an even lower 3,105.74.
At the same time, trading volume barely amounted to a low 9.4
million euro.
[08] THE BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WILL BE IN ATHENS ON THURSDAY
The Greek side will try to feel the intentions of the
Bulgarian side concerning the construction of the Burgas-
Alexandroupolis oil pipeline during the two-day formal visit of
Bulgarian foreign minister Natezda Michailova to Athens on
Thursday.
The Bulgarian foreign minister will have consultations with
president Kostis Stephanopoulos, foreign minister Giorgos
Papandreou, parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis, right-wing
main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis
and Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos.
The talks of the Bulgarian foreign minister with her Greek
counterpart will focus on bilateral political and economic
relations, the developments in the Balkans, the course of the
Stability Pact, the developments in Europe and Bulgaria's EU
accession prospect.
[09] THE DISAPPOINTMENT CONTINUES IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The disappointing trend continues in the Athens Stock
Exchange. The general index dropped by 1.87% at 3.098,07 points,
while the volume of transactions was 74.73 million Euro or 25.4
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 314 recorded losses and only 26
had gains, while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.
[10] THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES OF GREECE AND TURKEY IN NATO
WILL MEET IN BRUSSELS
The permanent representatives of Greece and Turkey in NATO,
Vasilis Kaskarelis and Onur Oymen, will meet in Brussels today to
discuss the confidence-building-measures that had been agreed by
Greek foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou and his Turkish
counterpart Ismail Cem in Budapest last September.
It should be noted that the measure of the mutual briefing on
the time and place of the military exercises in the Aegean is
already implemented, while the political directors of the Greek
and Turkish foreign ministries are expected to meet in March.
[11] SIMITIS WILL BE IN THE INTER-BALKAN CONFERENCE IN SKOPJE
Prime minister Kostas Simitis will attend the Inter-Balkan
Summit meeting scheduled to take place in Skopje, FYROM on
February 22-23.
The meeting will be attended by SEECP state and government
leaders, while an invitation has been issued to the Swedish prime
minister as the current EU presidency holder.
The proceedings will be opened by the FYROM president and
among the issues that will be discussed will be the prospects for
the further strengthening of cooperation, security, democracy and
good neighborly relations. Also, they will discuss the
strengthening of the regional economic cooperation aimed at the
acceleration of the development of the countries in southeastern
Europe.
[12] AN IOC DELEGATION WILL VISIT ATHENS TOMORROW
An International Olympic Committee, IOC, delegation will
visit Athens tomorrow to be briefed on the course of the 2004
Olympic Games preparations.
Canadian IOC vice-president Richard Pound in an interview
with the Athens newspaper "Ethnos" appeared positive regarding the
organizing of the Olympic Games in Greece.
In the interview he stressed that he is not an anti-Greek and
that a special attention has been given to the preparations after
the warnings that were issued, while he underlined that the Greek
government has a strong sense of its responsibilities.
[13] THE NEW ATHENS AIRPORT WILL BE INAUGURATED IN MARCH
The new Athens airport at Spata will be inaugurated in March
based on the existing timetable, stated acting Greek government
spokesman Tilemachos Hitiris.
Meanwhile, according to press reports, 39 airline company
directors in a letter to the government warned that if the flight
charts and the necessary arrivals equipment are not provided in
time, then the "Eleftherios Venizelos" Airport at Spata will not
open as scheduled.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] GREECE OCCUPIES THE TOP PLACE CONCERNING THE FREEDOM ENJOYED
BY ITS CITIZENS
Greece gets the highest grade concerning the respect of
political rights in the new 2000 report that will be issued in the
spring by the "Freedom House" Institute regarding the degree of
freedom enjoyed by the people in countries around the world.
The highest grade is 1 and the lowest is 7. According to an
article on the Journal of Democracy magazine issued by the Johns
Hopkins University in the United States, Greece is characterized
as a free country and is graded with 1 in the political rights
category and 3 in the civil rights category.
Turkey is characterized as partly free country, like last
year, and is graded with 4 in the political rights and 5 in the
civil liberties.
Cyprus is characterized as a free country and is graded with
1 both in the category of political rights and the civil rights.
[15] SIMITIS HAD POSITIVE TALKS ON HIS FIRST DAY IN INDIA
The first day of Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis' formal
visit to New Delhi, India ended with the meeting he had with his
Hindu counterpart, the signing of a memorandum on agriculture and
the formal dinner that was given in his honor by the country's
prime minister.
The Greek prime minister tomorrow is scheduled to meet with
main opposition Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, the widow of
assassinated prime minister Radzip Gandhi, who was the son of the
assassinated prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The new Greek embassy complex in New Delhi will be
inaugurated tomorrow in the presence of the Greek prime minister,
the government ministers and the Greek delegation accompanying,
him as well as, Hindu dignitaries.
The prime minister will give a press conference and then he
will depart for the city of Jaibur where he will stay for two
days. Then, the Greek delegation will visit Bombay, the commercial
center of India, where the prime minister will address an event
organized by Greek and Hindu businessmen.
[16] JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE BY GREECE AND CYPRUS
A joint map military exercise held by the army staff of
Greece and Cyprus, under the code-names "Olympus" and "Alexandros"
and with a hypothetical goal to face Turkish provocation in the
Aegean and Cyprus, got underway today.
According to a statement issued by the Cypriot ministry of
defense, the exercise that will be completed on February 9, is
placed within the framework of the Joint Defense Doctrine and the
goal is to test the participation of the Emergency Political
Planning agencies and the implementation of the Crisis Management
Joint Memorandum.
The Cypriot exercise is being held simultaneously with the
Greek National Defense General Staff exercise, code-named
"Alexandros 2001".
[17] TSOCHATZOPOULOS' STATEMENTS ON THE 37TH SECURITY CONFERENCE
IN MUNICH
The massive criticism launched by Europe against the US plans
for the development of a national anti-missile protection shield
and the decision reached by the EU member-states for the creation
of a European defense and security policy are, according to Greek
minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos, the reasons that created
a certain climate between Americans and Europeans in the 37th
Security Conference in Munich.
In an interview with the Deutsche Welle during his visit to
Germany on the occasion of the conference, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos
stated that there was a climate of suspiciousness, adding that the
new US secretary of defense will need some time to adjust his
government's positions to the new facts that exist today.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos stated that the US plans are an issue
that will be discussed in the future, while he pointed out that
the European politicians had the opportunity to make it clear to
the US side that the issue of the anti-missile protection can not
be a unilateral decision by the United States.
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