Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-01-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] DIMITRIOS ON SEPTEMER 11 VICTIMS

[02] ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA IN ATHENS

[03] OLYMPICS MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE MEETS TOMORROW

[04] TERRORIST LIST REACTIONS

[05] GREEK INITIATIVE TO SAVE NIGERIAN WOMAN

[01] DIMITRIOS ON SEPTEMER 11 VICTIMS

During the Holy Mass he performed at the Athens Metropolis, Archbishop of America Dimitrios referred to the 20 Greek-American victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US. The Archbishop of America, who is visiting Greece, pointed out that after the attack, the Greek community was on alert, and that the healing of the wounds left by the attack is under way, but will take years to be completed.

Mr. Dimitrios also spoke about the achievements of the Greek community in the US, he underlined that Orthodoxy and Hellenism do not belong to any geographic region, while he praised the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchy.

In the afternoon, Archbishop Dimitrios was present at a lunch held in his honor by Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece Christodoulos. The Head of the Greek Church, referred to the role of Archbishop Dimitrios after the terrorist attack on the US, pointing out that his presence calmed the Greek community and gave peace to the people that needed it so.

Within the week, the Archbishop of America will have meetings with the state and political leadership of the country.

[02] ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA IN ATHENS

Archbishop of America Dimitrios, who arrived in Athens this morning, will have contacts with the Greek government and Archbishop Christodoulos, within the next few days.

The Archbishop was welcomed at the Eleftherios Venizelos airport, by the Secretary General of Greeks Living Abroad, Dimitris Dollis, metropolites, a representative of the Archbishopric of Athens, the President of SAE, Andrew Athens, and other bodies for the Greek Community Abroad.

The Archbishop of America pointed out that with this visit, the entire Greek community of America is represented, aiming at strengthening the close ties of the Greeks living abroad with their homeland.

The Archbishop of America will remain in Greece until Friday, and will meet with representatives of the political, business and academic world of our country.

[03] OLYMPICS MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE MEETS TOMORROW

The issue of security at the 2004 Olympics will be the main topic of discussion at tomorrow's meeting of the ministerial committee on the Olympics, after the meeting Prime Minister Kostas Simitis had with US President Bush on the issue during his trip to Washington.

The ministerial committee will deal with, among other things, the preparations of the Greek side for the upcoming inspection of the IOC coordination committee in Athens from January 21-23, headed by it's President, Dennis Oswald. In this framework, issues on the progress of construction works, tendering of Olympic works, developments in transportation works, alternative scenarios for road plans and the hospitality program will be discussed.

[04] TERRORIST LIST REACTIONS

These scenarios are ridiculous, and saddening, was the reaction of government spokesperson Christos Protopapas, regarding what was mentioned in the report with the suspects list, which was published in To Karfi tis Kyriakis (The Sunday Spike) newspaper, and in which top staff members of PASOK are mentioned, first among whom is Andreas Papandreou.

We cannot waste time dealing with this. We have our country's problems to deal with. That is the only issue on which our attention is concentrated, stressed Mr. Protopapas, while the Press spokesperson of New Democracy, Thodoris Roussopoulos made mention of John le Carre scenarios, which are not worthy of any serious attention.

This list, which the US and others often refer to, was revealed to the The Sunday Spike, by Nikos Kakaounakis.

The report, according to the publication of the newspaper, connects PAK with 17N, a PAK group in Paris, who, theoretically, had Professor Svoronos and Professor Sartre as their teachers, and as the staff and the first core of 17N, and are named as the hitmen of Wells, Babalis and Mallios. The theoretical core of the organization and editor of their propaganda sheets is former Dean of Macedonia University and MP, Ioannis Tsekouras, accusations that had been made in the past and had been disregarded as absurd and unfounded.

Lots of accusations are made throughout the pages of the report about connections of staff members with foreign secret services, state leaders, international terrorist groups and individual terrorists and drug smuggling.

[05] GREEK INITIATIVE TO SAVE NIGERIAN WOMAN

The conviction of a 35-year-old Nigerian woman to death by stoning, because, as the judges ruled, she was having extramarital affairs, is shocking and detestable. Safiya Houseini Tungar Doudou, divorced three times, was raped and brought a daughter into this world, a daughter which is now in danger of losing her mother, in order to pay the price of the most extreme application of Islamic law.

The appeals of the international community to the Nigerian government not to move to the execution of the 35-year-old woman, have had no results to this day.

The sentence would have been carried out on January 12, but she appealed and gained some more of what she calls a life. The next trial was set for January 14.

An appeal to the Nigerian government not to move to the execution of the Nigerian, was made by PASOK's EuroMP and Vice President of the International Women's Socialist Party, Anna Karamanou.

With a letter to the Ambassador of Nigeria in Greece, which she announced to Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, the President of the European Committee, Romano Prodi, The President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontain, High Commissioner of the UN on Human Rights, Mary Robinson, she asked the government of Nigeria to call off the execution, pointing out that her conviction to death is inhuman, unacceptable and not tolerable in any democratic society.

The Coalition of the Left took steps towards the UN delegation, in order to save the 35-year-old. President of the Coalition Nikos Konstantopoulos expressed the hope that a movement of solidarity will be developed with the intervention of other countries, international organizations and organizations in many countries, so that 2 lives may be saved, that of the woman and the child.

MP of New Democracy Dora Bakoyanni appreciated that it is unthinkable and tragic in this day and age, in 2002, "for a woman to be executed by stoning, having committed the grave sin of being raped". "This woman was raped and besides having to live with that rape and her daughter resulting from it, she will also be murdered, so that the child may become an orphan", she underlined.

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