Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-02-21

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] CHURCH CLEANUP

[02] PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS DEPARTS FOR BRUSSELS

[03] PASOK PARTY CONGRESS DELEGATES ELECTED YESTERDAY

[04] FOUR CANDIDATE SONGS FOR GREECE IN THE EUROVISION CONTEST

[05] WATER LEVEL OF EVROS RIVER IS DROPPING

[06] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE TURKISH CYPRIOT ELECTIONS

[07] A TOTAL OF 2,500 GREEKS LIVE WITH DEFECTIVE PACEMAKERS

[08] GREECE SUPPORTS BULGARIA'S EU ACCESSION

[09] THE METROPOLITE OF ATTIKI IS THE OWNER OF AN OFFSHORE COMPANY

[01] CHURCH CLEANUP

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece called on the faithful yesterday to stand by the Church's side and support it during the trying times is going through, while on the occasion of the consecration of the new Metropolite of Patras he said that there is still hope through the new hierarchs that become members of the Greek Orthodox Church hierarchy.

On Saturday evening, the plenary session of the Church of Greece hierarchy approved with an overwhelming majority a number of measures proposed by Archbishop Chrostodoulos for the cleanup of the Church.

The Metropolite of Kalavrita and spiritual brother of Archbishop Christodoulos was the only exception characterizing the proposals made by Archbishop Christodoulos as a communication trick and the product of populism.

[02] PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS DEPARTS FOR BRUSSELS

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis departs for Brussels today to attend the meetings US President George Bush will have with EU and NATO leaders.

The talks of the US President will focus on the Euro-Atlantic relations, the problems in the Middle East and developments in Iraq.

Meanwhile, protest rallies against the US policy have been scheduled to take place in Brussels and local authorities have increased security measures.

[03] PASOK PARTY CONGRESS DELEGATES ELECTED YESTERDAY

An estimated 300,000 friends and members of opposition Socialist Party of PASOK voted yesterday to elect 4,000 delegates to participate in the party congress to take place on March 3-6.

The candidates for party congress delegates were 9,200 and applications had been filed in PASOK party organizations across the country.

PASOK president Giorgos Papandreou stated that yesterday was a very important day for the party.

[04] FOUR CANDIDATE SONGS FOR GREECE IN THE EUROVISION CONTEST

The four candidate songs for Greece in the Eurovision contest, all of them with English lyrics, were presented in a press conference in Athens today. The song to represent Greece in the 50th Eurovision contest to take place in Kiev on May 21 will be selected by the Greek people through tele-voting and a committee of judges on March 2 and will be performed by singer Elena Paparizou.

The four songs are: Let's get wild (music and lyrics by Douglas Carr), My number one (music by Christos Dantis and lyrics by Natalia Germanou), OK (music by Christodoulos Siganos and lyrics by Christodoulos Siganos, Valentino-Giorgos Papadimitriou) and The light in our soul (music and lyrics by Kostas Bigalis).

[05] WATER LEVEL OF EVROS RIVER IS DROPPING

The state mechanism continues to be on alert in the region of Evros River in northeastern Greece in spite of the fact that water level in the rivers of Evros and Ardas is dropping since yesterday.

Water level at Pithion dropped to 5.48 meters below the danger level of 5.70 meters, while in Ardas River water level dropped to 4.80 meters below the high risk level of 5.20 meters.

However, water level at Kipi is still high reaching 4 meters, while in Petalo it has reached 6.5 meters, half a meter over the danger level.

Thousands of acres of arable land were destroyed when Evros River broke its banks as a result of the heavy rainfall and the melting of the snow, while controlled floods were decided in the regions of Pithion and Lavara in order to relieve Evros River.

[06] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE TURKISH CYPRIOT ELECTIONS

Greek acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros expressed the hope that the election process will contribute so that the Turkish Cypriots will have a more constructive stance on the issue of the solution of the Cyprus problem.

Mr. Antonaros made the comment during the press briefing referring to the elections in the Turkish occupied northern Cyprus.

[07] A TOTAL OF 2,500 GREEKS LIVE WITH DEFECTIVE PACEMAKERS

The Greek patients with defective pacemakers manufactured by the German company Medtronic are estimated to be around 2,500.

The company has warned that there is a 1 to 10,000 chance of a short-circuit in the pacemakers that come from the lot of the year 2001 and afterwards putting at risk patients' lives.

Patients are called to visit their doctor to check on their pacemakers' operation.

[08] GREECE SUPPORTS BULGARIA'S EU ACCESSION

Minister of Transportation and Communications Michalis Liapis assured his counterpart and Bulgarian government vice-president Nikolai Vasiliev that the Greek government has the political will to help Bulgaria go through with its EU accession as an equal partner.

During the inspection of the road border stations at Kulata, Bulgaria and Promachonas, Greece, Mr. Liapis pointed out that the Greek side wishes transportation between the two countries to take place without delays to boost trade.

Mr. Vasiliev stated that huge efforts have been made to upgrade border stations and more money will be allocated to further upgrade them, especially with regard their technological infrastructure.

Mr. Liapis stated that the Promachonas border station is one of the best in Greece and announced that by the end of 2005 the Greek border stations will be equipped in such a way that border checks will take only 6 seconds.

Mr. Liapis also reminded Mr. Vasiliev that the Schengen agreement has tough terms and preconditions that will be in effect for Bulgaria as well.

[09] THE METROPOLITE OF ATTIKI IS THE OWNER OF AN OFFSHORE COMPANY

Metropolite Panteleimon of Attiki, who has been suspended from his duties by the Holy Synod for six months accused of corruption, used an offshore company in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean to take his money out of the country while at least 18 bank accounts are in its name in Greek banks.

The above are mentioned among others in a press report on Athens daily Apogevmatini.

The newspaper mentions that Metropolite Panteleimon is the beneficial owner of the High Sky Trading Ltd based on the island of Tortola in the Virgin Islands.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article