Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-10-02

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY

Thessaloniki, October 2, 1998

TITLES

[01] GREEK, BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN PREMIERS TO MEET IN DELPHI TOMORROW

[02] HOSPITAL DOCTORS DECIDE TODAY ON FURTHER MOBILIZATIONS

[03] UNHCR CALLS FOR URGENT PREVENTIVE ACTION IN KOSSOVO

[04] SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ATROCITIES IN KOSSOVO

[05] INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF OLDER PERSONS LAUNCHED BY UNITED NATIONS

[06] RICHARD HOLBROOKE WILL RESIGN AS US ENVOY FOR CYPRUS

[07] BSEC INTERIOR, PUBLIC ORDER MINISTERS MEET IN CORFU

[08] GREEK FM TO PARTICIPATE AT EU GENERAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL

[09] ONE OF GREECE'S MOST REVERED WRITERS, LILI ZOGRAFOU, DIES AT AGE OF 76

[10] GREECE TO HAVE WORLD'S THIRD OLDEST POPULATION BY THE YEAR 2020

[11] GREEK PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ITALIAN, BELGIAN COUNTERPARTS

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] GREEK, BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN PREMIERS TO MEET IN DELPHI TOMORROW

Athens, October 2 (MPA)

According to Bulgarian government press releases, the tripartite meeting will contribute in balancing inter-state relations between the Balkan countries for the promotion of economic cooperation and for stability in the Balkans.

Other issues to be discussed by the three leaders will be the combating of organized crime and plans for the enlargement of the European Union and NATO.

[02] HOSPITAL DOCTORS DECIDE TODAY ON FURTHER MOBILIZATIONS

Thessaloniki, October 2 (MPA)

The physicians have accepted, on principle, the Minister's proposal to form a joint committee that will draw the overtime and in-hospital duty schedules for the upcoming year, as well as his commitment that the doctors will be paid their due overtime as soon as the schedule is drawn.

Meanwhile, state prosecutors in Athens and Thessaloniki filed ex officio proceedings yesterday against any striking public doctor who took part in the occupations of the public hospital buildings and have also ordered the police that they ensure the unhindered access by patients and personnel.

[03] UNHCR CALLS FOR URGENT PREVENTIVE ACTION IN KOSSOVO

New York, October 2 (MPA)

In a statement made yesterday, Ms. Robinson said that her office had been seeking to increase the number of monitors on the ground in Kossovo where security forces reportedly massacred defenseless civilians over the weekend. She said that a stronger presence would also assist in ascertaining the facts of events such as the killings this weekend. Ms. Robinson also underscored the need for independent investigation by experts, including international forensic specialists, into violent deaths resulting from armed actions and into reported massacres.

Recalling that just over a week ago the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding to allow such an increase should be finalized, Ms. Robinson said the time had come to conclude this agreement.

"The time has also come to address at the political level the unacceptable suffering of the people driven from their homes in Kossovo," she added.

Ms. Robinson said that once again, the international community had been shocked and outraged by massacres of civilians in Kossovo.

The women, children and elderly men shot through the head and mutilated in the Drenica area over the weekend, she pointed out, had apparently been trying to escape the violence and intimidation associated with the continuing operations by the Yugoslav security forces.

The Human Rights Commissioner said that these killings were particularly reprehensible because they were evidence that despite expressions of international concern and official assurances that civilians would be respected, atrocities were continuing in Kossovo.

[04] SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ATROCITIES IN KOSSOVO

New York, October 2 (MPA)

In the statement the SC calls on Serb President Slobodan Milosevic to punish those responsible for the killings.

On Monday UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to issue a report stating whether or not the Yugoslav security forces have ceased their operations in the region.

[05] INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF OLDER PERSONS LAUNCHED BY UNITED NATIONS

New York, October 2 (MPA)

According to the United Nations Population Division, which defines older persons as those 60 years and older, one of every 10 persons now falls under that category. By the year 2050, one of five will be 60 years or older; by 2150, it will be one of three persons.

The older population itself is aging. Currently, persons 80 years and older constitute 11 per cent of the population aged 60 and above. By the year 2050, 27 per cent of the older population will be over 80 years old.

The impact of the world's aging population growth on socio- economic policies and the culture of societies is already presenting problems to governments. To help meet the challenge, the United Nations General Assembly decided in 1992 to observe the International Year of Older Persons in 1999. The objective of the Year is to raise awareness of the fast- changing demographic picture of older persons globally.

"A society for all ages is one that does not caricature older persons as patients and pensioners," said Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "Instead, it sees them as both agents and beneficiaries of development."

In a speech opening the commemorative events yesterday, the Secretary- General said that having turned 60 himself less than six months ago, he was now counted among the statistics on aging.

"I am an older person," he observed. From this perspective, he said, he had seen the "great potential of an age of aging."

The Secretary-General was presented with a commemorative poster from the American Association of Retired Persons and a special greeting card from the Dutch National Committee on Aging.

[06] RICHARD HOLBROOKE WILL RESIGN AS US ENVOY FOR CYPRUS

Washington, October 2 (MPA)

"President Bill Clinton is looking for a replacement for Mr. Holbrooke, but we have nothing else to announce for now," Mr. Philip Crowley said yesterday.

Mr. Holbrooke, who was scheduled to meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash within the framework of US efforts to alleviate the current impasse, is expected to visit the area before the end of this year.

[07] BSEC INTERIOR, PUBLIC ORDER MINISTERS MEET IN CORFU

Corfu, October 2 (MPA)

Specifically, the agreement concerns combating organized crime, the illegal cultivation, production, processing and trafficking of drugs, the illegal trafficking of arms, illegal international economic activities, money laundering, smuggling, illegal immigration, as well as the sexual exploitation of women and children, the counterfeiting of banknotes, the illegal trafficking of works of historical and cultural heritage, crimes in the hi- tech sector, including crimes carried out through electronic computers and the trafficking of people and human organs.

Greek Public Order Minister George Romeos said that "this multipartite agreement is important because it strengthens Greece's position in Black Sea countries and the Balkans..."

Apart Greece, the countries represented in Corfu are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

[08] GREEK FM TO PARTICIPATE AT EU GENERAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Athens, October 2 (MPA)

Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou will represent Greece during the second day of the proceedings, where the Council will discuss issues related to the European Conference.

The EU Council will also discuss "Agenda 2000", the Russian economic crisis, preparation of the EU-Ukraine summit and the harmonization of candidate members' national legislation with the acquis communautaire.

Also, issues to be discussed included the Balkan region and the European Commission's report on the screening process for the six candidate-countries, including Cyprus.

Mr. Papandreou said Greece's position is harmonious with that of the EU's presidium and Commission, namely, that accession talks should start on those chapters which are already prepared.

[09] ONE OF GREECE'S MOST REVERED WRITERS, LILI ZOGRAFOU, DIES AT AGE OF 76

Thessaloniki, October 2 (MPA)

Much like her book heroes, Ms. Zografou had lived an interesting life, while her -often- radical ideas and existentialist concerns were frequently dispersed throughout her writings.

Her first appearance in the literary world was through the short- stories anthology "Agapi", published in 1950.

Twenty-one yeas later (1971) Ms. Zografou showed her penmanship in essay-writing, publishing "Elytis, o Heliopotis", although her most significant essay is deemed to be her book "Nikos Kazantzakis, a tragic".

She wrote 24 books, many of which were translated in foreign languages and enjoyed dozens of reprints.

In her book "Occupation: Prostitute", which was republished 37 times, Ms. Zografou wrote: "I'm not giving attitude, style, literature. I do not write essays. I register the events and symptoms of my era. Everything I write has happened. Either to me or to others. I've wasted myself for years now watching everything and everyone. Life flows through me, saturating me with its ugliness, filling me with anguish with its organized injustice, humbling me with my inability to react, to productively revolt, defend our mass humiliation.

"If I were twenty years old again, I would climb the mountains, be a rebel, a pirate, open the eyes of those who suffer their fate without protest, all those who turn a willful blind eye. No, my revolution wouldn't be against the status quo and its systems, it would be against those who tolerate it..."

Having written consistently through the years that followed, her last work, "Love was late one day" was published in 1994.

[10] GREECE TO HAVE WORLD'S THIRD OLDEST POPULATION BY THE YEAR 2020

Athens, October 2 (MPA)

The organization has reported that 22 years from now there will be over one billion people over the age of sixty in the world, nearly double the current number.

The "oldest" countries that year will be Japan and Italy, each with 31 percent of their populations being at least 60, it said.

They will be followed by Greece, Switzerland and Finland, each at 28 percent.

[11] GREEK PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ITALIAN, BELGIAN COUNTERPARTS

Athens, October 2 (MPA)

Mgrs. Violante and Kaklamanis discussed the need to strengthen the role and the relations among the parliaments of Mediterranean countries and the need to strike a balance between north and south, in the framework of the European Union.

Mr. Kaklamanis also briefed his Italian counterpart on Turkey's aggression towards Greece and the Turkish occupation of Cyprus's northern part.

In turn, Mr. Violante pointed out that Europe needs to contribute to the strengthening of the democratic institution in Turkey, searching for and supporting that country's democratic elements.

Moreover, Mr. Kaklamanis met with the speaker of the House of Belgium Frank Swaelen, with whom he discussed the cooperation opportunities between the two Assemblies, within the framework of the European fulfillment.

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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