Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-10-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] TAPING PRISONERS PROHIBITED

[02] KARAMANLIS TOURS N. GREECE

[03] PROTOPAPAS ON CYPRUS' INDEPENDENCE DAY

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[05] GREEK EXPORTS DROPPED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

[06] INTRACOM SIGNED A 9 MILLION EURO CONTRACT IN CROATIA

[07] A TOTAL OF 150.000 CANDIDATES IN THE MUNICIPAL AND PREFECTURAL

[08] STRIKES AND OIL PRICES INTENSIFY THE INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

[09] PAPANDREOU: THE EU ENLARGEMENT IS A TRAIN THAT WILL CONTINUE ITS COURSE

[10] GREECE HOPES FOR A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION IN IRAQ

[11] PATRA ''2006 CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE''

[12] ANTIWAR RALLIES

[13] ANNAN WILL MEET WITH CLERIDES AND DENKTASH ON OCTOBER 3-4

[01] TAPING PRISONERS PROHIBITED

The immediate arrest of all those attempting to video tape or photograph prisoners without their consent, while they are being taken to the police and judicial authorities, has been asked for by the Head of the Court of First Instance DA Sotiris Bagias, with a circular he sent to the Attica General Police Direction.

Mr. Bagias invoked the presumption of innocence, and pointed out that the public viewing of the accused, innocent or guilty, is a form of unofficial sentencing.

The law foresees up to two years imprisonment for members of camera crews or reporters who photograph or videotape suspects without their consent.

[02] KARAMANLIS TOURS N. GREECE

President of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis is carrying out a tour of N. Greece today. He will visit Kozani, Alexandroupoli, Komotini, Kavala, while tomorrow he will visit Xanthe. The Head of the Opposition will visit the campaign centers of ND candidate mayors and prefects.

[03] PROTOPAPAS ON CYPRUS' INDEPENDENCE DAY

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas expressed the wish for a quick solution of the Cyprus issue for the reunited Cypriot Republic to be able to follow its own course. The statement was made on the occasion of the anniversary of Cyprus' independence and the founding of the Cypriot Republic.

Regarding the Turkish threats for the annexation of the occupied territories in the northern part of the island, the Greek government spokesman reiterated that the only thing Turkey can achieve by adopting this stance is to be exposed even more and put its European course in doubt.

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Small losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.25% at 1.832,97 points, while the volume of transactions was small at 60.1 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 174 recorded gains and 144 had loses, while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.

[05] GREEK EXPORTS DROPPED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

The Greek exports to the European Union and third countries dropped by 6.6% in the first half of the year, according to figures given to publicity by the Greek National Statistics Agency. The biggest drop by 8.3% is recorded in the exports to EU member states.

This development reflects the competitiveness problem faced by the Greek economy which becomes worse by the fact that inflation is maintained at higher levels compared to the Euro-zone average combined with a decline in the foreign markets' demand. A downward course was also followed by imports which dropped by 5% at 14.8 billion Euro.

A 4% drop was recorded in the trade balance deficit which was a 9.2 billion Euro in the period of January-June 2002 compared to 9.6 billion Euro in the same period last year.

[06] INTRACOM SIGNED A 9 MILLION EURO CONTRACT IN CROATIA

The Intracom Group signed a new 9 million Euro contract, through Hungarian subsidiary Fornax, with Croatia's telecommunications organization Hrvatski Telecom (HT).

The contract concerns the management system of the HT telecommunication network (Telecom Network Management System). The system will be similar to those Intracom has installed for the Greek Telecommunications Organization (OTE), Vodafone and customers in Bulgaria and Poland.

Through its new system, HT will be able to manage directly and effectively the telephone centers and transmission systems of its network.

Hrvatski Telecom belongs to the Deutsche Telekom Group since October 2001 and offers fixed line and mobile phones service, data communication and Internet.

For the record, Intrakom has undertaken to execute another 5 million Euro project on behalf of Hrvatski Telecom that concerns the technical works management.

[07] A TOTAL OF 150.000 CANDIDATES IN THE MUNICIPAL AND PREFECTURAL ELECTIONS

About 3.000 tickets backed by different political parties will ask for the voters' support in the municipal and prefectural elections that will take place in Greece on October 13. Central Association of Municipalities and Communities president Paris Koukoulopoulos also announced that the candidates for municipal and prefectural councilors are estimated at 150.000.

Based on the figures available, except from the region of Athens where there are no exact figures, there are a total of 1.388 tickets in 31 prefectures and 504 municipalities and 1.341 of them are headed by men, while only 47 are headed by women candidates (3.26%). The candidates for municipal councilors are 53.426 and of them 40.832 are male and 12.594 female (32.44%).

[08] STRIKES AND OIL PRICES INTENSIFY THE INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

The explosive combination of the international oil price rise and the price hikes in fresh fruits and vegetables, as a result of the strike organized by producers and vendors in the open air markets, have brought headache to the responsible ministries.

Inflation in September is estimated to rise to 3.8% compared to 3.5% in August, while in October the situation will be more unfavorable as the heating oil price will be increased by 15% compared to last year.

[09] PAPANDREOU: THE EU ENLARGEMENT IS A TRAIN THAT WILL CONTINUE ITS COURSE

The EU enlargement is a train that does not stop its course and the European Union is called to become stronger through this procedure, stated Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou after meeting with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis.

The meeting focused on Greece's preparations in view of the imminent visit of the Danish Prime Minister on Friday and the Brussels Summit meeting in mid October to discuss the EU enlargement.

Mr. Papandreou characterized the Summit meeting as very important because it will decide which of the EU candidate countries will be on the home stretch to Copenhagen and expressed the hope that Cyprus will be among those that will receive the green light.

[10] GREECE HOPES FOR A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION IN IRAQ

Greece expects the new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq to be issued hoping for a diplomatic solution that will open the doors for a serious UN supervision on the issue of the nuclear weapons construction to avert war.

Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou stated that the final developments on Iraq are not known and the UN Security Council is considering the resolution it is going to issue. Mr. Papandreou stated that Greece is hoping for a diplomatic solution that will open the doors for a serious UN supervision regarding the nuclear weapons construction in Iraq.

[11] PATRA ''2006 CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE''

Patra was unanimously selected as the Cultural Capital of Europe for 2006, by the Evaluation Committee seated in Brussels, according to information from ERA.

Patra is the third greek city to become a Cultural Capital of Europe, after Athens in 1985 and Thessaloniki in 1997.

[12] ANTIWAR RALLIES

An antiwar rally against US intentions to attack Iraq has been organized for this afternoon, in Volos, by the Peace Committee.

Also, an antiwar rally has been organized for Thursday at the Chania Market Square, in Crete, by the Kindergarten and Elementary School Teacher's Association, with the participation of antiwar committees and municipal movements, in protest of US plans against Iraq.

[13] ANNAN WILL MEET WITH CLERIDES AND DENKTASH ON OCTOBER 3-4

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was briefed by his special adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto on the course of the direct talks on the Cyprus problem.

The Office of the UN secretary-general has not revealed anything yet on the contents of the talks or the schedule of the meeting Mr. Annan will have with Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash on October 3-4.

According to diplomatic sources, a new meeting will take place in the Office of the UN secretary-general this evening, while Mr. de Soto will also meet with the envoys of Britain and the United States.

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