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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-11-26Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, November 26, 1998TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] THESSALONIKI AT THE EPICENTER OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BALKANSThessaloniki, November 26 (MPA)Thessaloniki's, and overall northern Greece's, dynamic role in the Balkan trade and economic developments constitutes the government's main target, to be achieved through the construction of new highways and their incorporation into trans-European transportation networks.As such, an agreement signed between Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman concerns the construction of a new highway along the Dalmatian coast. [02] PREMIER TO SPEAK BEFORE THE FOREIGN PRESS IN ATHENS TODAYAthens, November 26 (MPA)The Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will be the guest speaker at a Foreign Press Association (FPA) luncheon to be this afternoon at the Caravel Hotel in Athens.The Premier will speak about government policy, and reply to questions from the floor. [03] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT CLERIDES TO MEET WITH PREMIER SIMITIS TOMORROWAthens, November 26 (MPA)Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides, who is arriving in Athens today, is to be received by Greece's Prime Minister Kostas Simitis tomorrow.On the agenda for the meeting are Cyprus' EU accession process and all aspects of the Cyprus issue. During his visit to Athens, the Cypriot President will be accompanied by Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides. The talks between Mgrs. Clerides and Simitis will be attended by Greece's Foreign and Defense Ministers, Mgrs. Theodoros Pangalos and Akis Tsochatzopoulos, respectively. [04] NORTHERN GREECE'S PHYSICIANS TO CONDUCT ANOTHER ROUND OF STRIKESThessaloniki, November 26 (MPA)Northern Greece's hospital physicians are to embark on another 48- hour strike, December 1-2, protesting the on-duty scheduling programs proposed by the Ministry of Health.The striking doctors are to conduct sit-ins in offices of the hospitals' presidents and will gather in front of the Macedonia- Thrace Ministry. [05] RAILWAY WORKERS TO CONDUCT FIVE-DAY STRIKE AS OF MONDAYThessaloniki, November 26 (MPA)Workers at the Greek Railways Organization, (OSE) are to conduct a five-day strike starting on Monday, November 30, protesting a recent bill tabled in Parliament concerning their sector.The only trains that will operate will be those serving social needs, one for each route. [06] PREMIER: UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS WILL BE DEPORTEDAthens, November 26 (MPA)Prime Minster Kostas Simitis, responding to a deputy's question posed in Parliament yesterday, stated that all the migrant workers who are undocumented will be deported from the country.The Premier conceded that Greek citizens feel insecure due to the increased crime rate which, he stated, is a result of the migrants who enter Greece with no economic means to survive. Nevertheless, he stated that the country's crime rate is low when compared to other EU member-states. He stated that the government will considered enlarging the forces at the country's police stations by assigning 4,000 desk- bound police officers to active service units, and will intensify its efforts to deport all foreign undocumented workers. [07] TURKEY IN SEARCH OF A PREMIER AFTER MESUT YILMAZ RESIGNSAnkara, November 26 (MPA)Turkey is in search of a new Premier following yesterday's resignation of Mesut Yilmaz, whose coalition government collapsed in a Parliamentary censure vote held last evening. The censure vote was initiated by the True Path and Republican People's parties. President Suleiman Demirel has asked Mr. Yilmaz to stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government can be formed.[08] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN FYROM TODAY, AS WELL AS WESLEY CLARKSkopje, November 26 (MPA)NATO's secretary-general Javier Solana and the Alliance's military chief Wesley Clark are to travel to FYROM today where they will be received by President Kiro Gligorov, the outgoing Prime Minister Branco Cervenkovski and the Premier by proxy Lupco Georgievski.Mr.Gligorov stated that his country is ready to allow the deployment of a NATO rapid intervention force in FYROM. [09] SOUTH KOREA'S SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES SELLS 4 CRUISE SHIPS TO GREECEAthens, November 26 (MPA)The South Korean company Samsung Heavy Industries Company Limited has won a contract to sell four cruise ships to Greece's Minoan Lines Shipping, which are to be delivered by July 2002.The ships, weighing 28 thousand metric tons, will each have a one- thousand passenger capacity and will also be able to carry 400 cars. Each ship will also have a pool, gym, and movie theater. [10] GREEK STUDENTS TAKE TO THE STREETS TODAY FOR PROTEST RALLIESThessaloniki, November 26 (MPA)Greek high school students are to take to the streets of Thessaloniki, Athens and other major cities today in order to rally against a number of issues, including teacher shortages, education ministry changes to grading and examinations at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and the introduction of open university type programs.High school teachers are also to refrain from conducting part of their classes today, while many schools are being occupied by student sit-ins. [11] CHILE'S PINOCHET LOSES IMMUNITY BID IN GREAT BRITAINLondon, November 26 (MPA)Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet has lost a court bid for immunity from arrest, leaving the British government a week to decide whether Spain can extradite the former Chilean dictator to face charges of genocide and torture.A House of Lords tribunal ruled yesterday in a 3-2 vote that Mr. Pinochet's alleged crimes were no more part of a head of state's functions than, as it announced, "murdering his gardener or arranging the torture of his opponents for the sheer spectacle of it." Mr. Pinochet, who is presently under police guard at a north London hospital, was arrested on October 16 while in a London clinic recovering from back surgery. An extradition order issued by a Spanish Judge accused Mr. Pinochet of atrocities committed by his security forces in the deaths and disappearances of Spanish citizens in Chile during his 1973-90 rule. Two weeks later, a British court quashed the arrest warrants, saying he had immunity from prosecution as a foreign head of state. Wednesday's ruling overturned that decision. [12] BELARUS GOVERNMENT INSTITUTES FOOD RATIONINGMinsk, November 26 (MPA)The government of Belarus is to impose food rationing in order to deal with severe food shortages that have resulted from the country's economic crisis.Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has also told the government to cap the salaries at the country's few private companies. The food rationing will apply to milk, meat and other goods, even matches. Specifically, customers have been limited to two cartons of milk, 4.4 pounds of meat or poultry, 11 ounces of cheese, 10.5 ounces of chocolate and 10 boxes of matches. [13] FOREST FIRES IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERMoscow, November 26 (MPA)The international ecological organization Greenpeace has announced that the forest fires that scorched Russia's Far East for five months have caused an "ecological and social catastrophe."Approximately two million acres, including 1,500,000 of forest, in the Ulch region have been destroyed by the fires, Greenpeace representatives stated. The Ulch region is located some 500 miles north of Khabarovsk and neighbors the Sakhalin island. Its 30,000 residents have for centuries lived from hunting, fishing, and mushroom and berry picking. "Now an ecological and social catastrophe is threatening the population, deprived of its last source of existence, the forest," Greenpeace said. The fires burned from mid-May until mid-October, after an unusually dry period. They were extinguished by the first snowfalls. Animals normally living in the forest either perished or fled, and the vegetation was reduced to ashes. Smoke also destroyed the harvest. [14] EUROPEAN COMMISSION: HALF A MILLION HIGH-TECH JOBS GO BEGGINGBrussels, November 26 (MPA)Over half a million jobs in Europe's information technology sector are currently unfilled because of skill shortages, according to a European Commission report released yesterday.A failure to address these shortages urgently will "carry a heavy price" for the growth and competitiveness of EU member- states, as well as for employment levels, the report warned. To address the crisis, the Commission said the European Union had to do more to encourage start-up firms in the sector and boost IT training in schools and colleges as well as for people already in work. Underlining the potential of information-related industries, the report said the EU audiovisual market would grow by 70 percent by 2005, creating up to 300,000 new jobs. Another 150,000 jobs would be created if other EU countries matched Finland's mobile phone density. A report published in September by Microsoft said that the number of unfilled IT jobs in Europe will have grown to 1.6 million by 2002, seriously undermining the capacity of Europe's businesses to embrace new technologies like the Internet. Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |