Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-02-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] A DEAFENING NO TO WAR

[02] WITNESS WITH MYSTERIOUS CONNECTIONS

[03] FORMER KING OF GREECE IN ATHENS

[04] ALPHA BANK'S ISOLATED MOVE

[05] PEACEFUL PROTEST IN THESSALONIKI - VIOLENCE IN ATHENS

[06] MASS ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION IN THESSALONIKI

[07] ASSESSMENT OF THE SAE COORDINATORS WORK

[08] THE SEARCH FOR THE HELICOPTER CONTINUES

[01] A DEAFENING NO TO WAR

Millions of people in over 600 cities around the world, participated in protests against the war, while large rallies also took place in Greece. No weapons of mass destruction have thus far been found in Iraq, stated the inspectors at the Security Council, without however ruling out their possible existence, while on March 1, they will present their new report. The US, the UK and Spain appreciated that Iraq is ridiculing the inspectors, while Germany, France, Russia and China asked for the duration of the inspections to be extended. The need to form a common position was pointed out by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, in a letter he sent to his counterparts in the EU, in view of Monday's Summit Meeting.

[02] WITNESS WITH MYSTERIOUS CONNECTIONS

An important testimony on the N17 case was submitted to the Special Examiner by a woman whose identity has not been revealed, and who allegedly held information on an N17 member still at large, while she was connected with N17 victims M. Vranopoulos and K. Peratikos, as well as alleged leader of the terrorist organization, Al. Giotopoulos. DA in charge of the blackmail in the name of N17 case, D. Papaggelopoulos, received the testimonies of M. Vranopoulos' predecessor at the National Bank of Greece, D. Germidis, and journalist El. Zamaria, who was an eyewitness at the Vranopoulos murder.

[03] FORMER KING OF GREECE IN ATHENS

Former King of Greece Constantinos arrived in Athens today, accompanied by his family. The deposed monarch entered Greece with a Danish passport under the name and surname Constantinos De Grecia, while he arrived at El. Venizelos airport on an Alitalia flight from Milan and was checked in Italy, in accordance with the Schengen Treaty. Immediately following his arrival he went to Tatoi, to his parents' graves where a memorial service was held. All procedures Greece were carried out according to the Schengen Treaty, signed by Greece, commented the Government Spokesperson.

[04] ALPHA BANK'S ISOLATED MOVE

His appreciation that the interest rate increase at Alpha Bank was an isolated policy was expressed by Minister of Finance Nikos Christodoulakis, after his meeting with the Prime Minister, while he characterized comments that the government was setting a bad example by issuing the popular bonds as ridiculous, while he called the banks to create new attractive products (investments, savings), so that they can boost the Greek economy.

[05] PEACEFUL PROTEST IN THESSALONIKI - VIOLENCE IN ATHENS

Thousands of protesters ended their march against the war in Iraq this afternoon, outside the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace, in Thessaloniki.

Representatives of the Thessaloniki Worker's Center, of local government and other bodies submitted a protest resolution and then dispersed without causing any incidents.

The resolution includes the protesters' request that Greece not to be involved in military operations and that Prime Minister Simitis stands against the participation of EU countries in the war, at the EU Summit Meeting this Monday.

Meanwhile, there were incidents of violence in the antiwar march in Athens, where hooded individuals clashed with police forces.

The culprits threw Molotov bombs destroying two cars parked outside the building housing the To Vima and Ta Nea newspapers, and also broke the building entrance's windows.

At a later incident, unknown parties threw a Molotov bomb at the entrance of the Ministry of Transit. The guard was slightly injured by the explosion and on car was destroyed. Police forces intervened with teargas and the hooligans dispersed.

[06] MASS ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION IN THESSALONIKI

One of the largest rallies in recent history took place in Thessaloniki. Thousands of people participated in the mass anti-war rally to demonstrate their opposition to a likely war in Iraq.

The protesters holding banners and signs with slogans against the war in Iraq will converge outside the US Consulate. They will continue their march to the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace building where they will make an appeal to the Greek government, currently holding the EU rotating presidency, to make every effort to avert a war in Iraq.

Thousands of Greeks said no to the war against Iraq in demonstrations held in most of the Greek cities.

In Athens, thousands of protesters flooded Constitution Square demonstrating their opposition to the US intention to launch an attack on Iraq.

[07] ASSESSMENT OF THE SAE COORDINATORS WORK

The activities in the North and South America region since August 2002 were presented by World Council for Greeks Abroad, SAE, Vice-President and region coordinator Christos Tomaras in the meeting of the SAE presiding board held in Thessaloniki.

The main activities after the last meeting of the Regional Coordinating Conference focused on the preparation of the program for the promotion of the Olympic Games and the Volunteers' Program.

The success of the 6th Regional Asia-Africa SAE Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa on November 1-3, 2002 was pointed out by SAE Vice-President, and Asia-Africa Coordinator Vasilis Magdalinos.

The Asia-Africa SAE funded a documentary under the title The Flame of Peace - Olympic Truce to promote Olympic Truce and the Athens Olympic Games. The documentary was financed in cooperation with RHODES University in South Africa.

The activities of the Oceania SAE region in 2002 were presented by SAE Vice-President and Oceania Region Coordinator Konstantinos Vertzagias.

The most important of them concern the promotion and support of the 2004 Olympic Games, the organizing of the Helleniad and issues concerning the Greeks living abroad. Such issues are the promotion of the agreement between Greece and Australia on social security issues as well as issues concerning the extradition of criminals between the two countries, the promotion of the demand for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece etc.

SAE Vice-President and Europe Regional Coordinator Angelos Aslanidis stated that the Region's Coordinating Council will found a non profit, non governmental company to contribute to the creation of the Society of the Citizens of Europe.

[08] THE SEARCH FOR THE HELICOPTER CONTINUES

The search for the location of the patient air transfer helicopter that crashed last Monday at midnight near the Aegean island of Ikaria taking with it at the bottom of the sea its four crew members, resumed early this morning. In the search participate the oceanographic ship Aegean and the bathyscaph Thetis.

The good weather conditions in the region can be an ally in today's search in which also take part Coast Guard specialists and officers. Also, present in the region watching the search are relatives of the missing.

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