Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 00-09-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] THE BALKAN DEFENSE MINISTERS SUMMIT MEETING WILL BE HELD IN

[02] THANOU: MY DREAM WAS TO BE AN OLYMPIC MEDALLIST

[03] TSOVOLAS IS IN YUGOSLAVIA TO ACT AS AN OBSERVER IN THE ELECTIONS

[04] SIMITIS: THE RIO-ANTIRIO PROJECT WILL BE READY BY 2004

[05] APPEALS ARE MADE TO THE GREEK MINORITY MEMBERS TO VOTE IN THE ALBANIAN

[06] GATSIOUDIS RANKS 6TH IN THE JAVELIN - THE GOLD WENT TO CZECH ZELEZNY

[07] IAKOVOU: IT'S WONDERFUL TO WIN THE GOLD

[08] DIMAS WINS THIRD GOLD - THE GREEKS ARE JUBILANT

[01] THE BALKAN DEFENSE MINISTERS SUMMIT MEETING WILL BE HELD IN THESSALONIKI

Thessaloniki will attract the international political interest on October 9 when the south-eastern European defense ministers' summit meeting will be held in the city.

The summit's proceedings will be attended by US secretary of defense William Cohen as Washington participates in the regional political-military initiative adopted by the defense ministries of south-eastern Europe at Greece's proposal.

The summit meeting is held at a very crucial period for the Balkans given the Yugoslav and Albanian elections. The election results in the two countries are likely to mark the start of significant developments putting at risk the fragile political stability in the wider region. The participating ministers will examine the situation in the region in the light of the developments in Yugoslavia and Albania.

According to information, they will also discuss the proposal for the establishment of a multi-national military-police force on the model of the UN force in Kosovo. The military-police force will implement and maintain order in the crises ridden Balkan regions.

[02] THANOU: MY DREAM WAS TO BE AN OLYMPIC MEDALLIST

"My dream was to be an Olympic medallist and today I did it. American Marion Jones was very strong and I couldn't beat her today", stated Greek champion Katerina Thanou immediately after the women's 100m race in which she won the second place and the silver medal.

America's Marion Jones stated that she is very happy for the gold medal she won and added that Thanou is a extraordinary athlete.

Jones clocked 10.75 seconds, Thanou 11.12 seconds and Jamaica's Tanya Lawrence, who won the bronze, covered the 100m distance in 11.18 seconds.

Unbeaten over 100 meters since 1997, Jones shrugged off a false start from Thanou and two separate delays before surging clear after 60 meters.

[03] TSOVOLAS IS IN YUGOSLAVIA TO ACT AS AN OBSERVER IN THE ELECTIONS

Greek Social Democratic Movement party president Dimitris Tsovolas arrived in Yugoslavia yesterday, heading a delegation, as an observer in the presidential elections that will be held in the country tomorrow.

The Social Democratic Movement president and the delegation will visit polling stations in the region of Kosovo and elsewhere tomorrow to observe the election procedures.

The party delegation visit to Yugoslavia was made at the invitation of the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia.

[04] SIMITIS: THE RIO-ANTIRIO PROJECT WILL BE READY BY 2004

The assurance that the construction of the Rio-Antirio bridge will be completed by the year 2004, as already 23% of the project has been constructed, was given by prime minister Kostas Simitis, who watched the construction works today together with president Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Mr. Simitis, who was accompanied by minister of environment, public works and land planning Kostas Laliotis and transportation minister Christos Verelis, criticized right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis, who has spoken of a project that is still at the designing stage referring to the Rio-Antirio bridge.

The Rio-Antirio bridge is a very important project that links the two inter-European networks in Greece namely, Egnatia Odos road network and the Patras-Athens-Thessaloniki-Evzoni road axis as well as, the ports of Igoumenitsa and Patras.

[05] APPEALS ARE MADE TO THE GREEK MINORITY MEMBERS TO VOTE IN THE ALBANIAN ELECTIONS

An appeal has been issued by Greek minority organization "Omonia" president Vangelis Doules to the members of the Greek minority in Albania, who live in Greece, calling them to go to Albania next Sunday to vote in the municipal elections that will be held in the country. At the same time, he accused the two main Albanian political parties of trying to snatch the votes of the Greek minority.

The "Omonia" president stated that there is an intense pre-election climate in Albania, while the Human Rights Party in which "Omonia" participates is the target of an unprecedented attack launched by the parties of Sali Berisha and Fatos Nano.

Specifically, on the municipality of Himara, Mr. Doules attacked the alliance formed by Nano's Socialist party and Berisha's Democratic party in the second round of the vote aimed at blocking a possible election victory by the Greek minority candidate, which would have led to the recognition of the Greek presence in the region by the Albanian state.

The "Omonia" president also spoke of unacceptable methods used by the governing party such as blackmails and threats because the Socialists are in danger of losing a big part of their strength in south Albania which was their stronghold as a result of the cooperation between the Human Rights Party and the Greek minority organization "Omonia".

[06] GATSIOUDIS RANKS 6TH IN THE JAVELIN - THE GOLD WENT TO CZECH ZELEZNY

Greek champion Kostas Gatsioudis ranked 6th in the javelin finals with a throw of 86.53 meters. The gold was won by Czech Jan Zelezny with 90.17 meters, the silver went to Britain's Steve Backley with 89.85 meters, while the bronze was won by Russia's Sergey Makarov with 88.67 meters.

The 34yearold Zelezny, world champion in 1993 and 1995 and the current world record holder is the first competitor, to win three Olympic javelin gold medals.

[07] IAKOVOU: IT'S WONDERFUL TO WIN THE GOLD

"We wanted this medal, the third gold, very much. For Pyrros and me and for Greece", stated Greek national weightlifting team coach Christos Iakovou, who didn't and couldn't hide his joy over the result of Pyrros' sensational effort.

Coach Iakovou stated that this is the beauty of sports and it is even more wonderful to win a gold medal after such a hard battle. "We did it", said Iakovou. "The tough training brought the desirable results".

[08] DIMAS WINS THIRD GOLD - THE GREEKS ARE JUBILANT

Greece's Pyrros Dimas won the men's 85kg contest today and became the second weightlifter in the Olympic Games' history to win three consecutive gold medals in Barcelona, Atlanta and now in Sydney after Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu who had won consecutive gold medals in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta.

Dimas won a difficult battle as all three medallists finished tied on the same weight of 390kg total. In such cases, the lightest athlete wins and Dimas had weighted in at 84.06kg, while Germany's Marc Huster was at 84.22kg and Georgia's George Asanidze 84.70kg.

The modern Atlas did not do well in the snatch and ranked fourth. In the first effort he was disqualified because his time had ended, in the second effort was not concentrated enough and failed and in the third effort he lifted 175kg and ranked fourth.

Everything changed and his soul spoke in the clean-and-jerk contest. In the first effort he lifted 210kg, in the second 215kg while in the third effort he attempted to break the world record in the 85kg category without being concentrated enough and failed.

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