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Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 03-01-20Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>January 20, 2003CONTENTS
[01] Germany seeks to avert military attack on IraqAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Germany said on Saturday that it wanted to see UN resolutions on Iraq implemented, avoiding the use of military strikes against the Middle Eastern country.''We must coordinate our efforts towards full implementation of UN resolutions on Iraq without recourse to military action,'' German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters during an official visit to Athens. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said that Germany will not take part in any war in Iraq. But he has left open how the country would cast its vote if Iraq were found to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Greece is currently the European Union's six-month rotating president. Germany has become a member of the UN's Security Council for two years, and will chair the body from February. Fischer was speaking after talks with Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Foreign Minister George Papandreou. Papandreou reported that talks with Fischer focused on attaining wider consensus in the EU for implementation of UN resolution 1441 on Iraq. ''We are monitoring developments and will discuss these matters again at a general affairs (EU) council meeting in a week's time,'' Papandreou said. In addition, the EU was engaged in a concerted endeavor to persuade countries to seek a peaceful solution to the Iraq issue, he added. Papandreou also announced that he and Fischer would visit the Middle East. [02] PM expected to meet UN's Iraq inspector MondayAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Prime Minister Costas Simitis is expected to meet the head of the UN arms inspection team to Iraq for talks on Monday.Visiting Athens, Hans Blix will brief Simitis on the outcome of checks conducted in Iraq. Greece currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. In addition, Foreign Minister George Papandreou is to begin a tour of the Middle East sometime this week. [03] NATO chief says war on Iraq not certainAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)NATO head George Robertson said in an interview released on Sunday that it was not certain whether war would be declared on Iraq.''It is not a fact that there will be war in Iraq. The Americans and British are transferring troops to the area in case they need to intervene,'' Robertson told the Sunday Kathimerini newspaper. ''We have learnt from the past that Saddam complies when he realizes that he is going to have to pay the price,'' Robertson added. [04] Greece won't send troops if war declared on IraqAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Greece will not send troops if war is declared on Iraq, Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said in an interview published on Sunday.''In no event will Greece send troops to Iraq. Whatever support is given will take the form of facilities, mainly port facilities, and not some other type of participation,'' Papantoniou told the Sunday Ethnos newspaper. In addition, any support of military action against Iraq by Greece and the European Union would first require full endorsement from the UN Security Council, he said. At the same time, protracted action against Iraq would engender risk for the global economy due to a rise in oil prices and the adverse economic climate that would emerge, the minister said. [05] Call on EU's Greek president to keep bloc out of war on IraqAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)The Coalition of the Left and Progress on Saturday asked Greece, the European Union's rotating president, to make sure that the 15-nation bloc stayed out of any war with Iraq.''The Greek presidency should play a decisive role in preventing the EU from again being swept along by the US,'' the party's leader, Nikos Constantopoulos, told reporters. ''There is enough leeway for a common European stand that could avert a war,'' he added. [06] Foreign minister's talks with officials from abroad this weekAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Foreign Minister George Papandreou is scheduled to hold talks with officials from abroad this week, his office said in a statement on Sunday.The talks, venues and times are as follows: [07] Tunisia hears Greece's EU presidency prioritiesAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Deputy Defense Minister Loukas Apostolidis visited Tunisia last week to outline priorities of Greece's six-month presidency of the European Union.Among the priorities is to make progress in Euro-Mediterranean dialogue, in which Tunisia is a leading player as the first north African country to forge a cooperation agreement with the 15-member bloc, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Also on the agenda for the talks with Defense Minister Dali Jazi and Deputy Foreign Minister Saita Chtioui were finding a peaceful solution to the stand-off with Iraq, the statement said. [08] Development minister to chair EU industry conferenceAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Tuesday is to chair a conference in Brussels on industrial policy following enlargement of the European Union, as part of Greece's rotating presidency of 15-nation bloc.The EU's executive Commission is revisiting EU industrial policy with a view to adjustment and improvement in order to meet enlargement, globalization, environmental and social changes. The conference will launch a broad public debate on the challenges that Europe must take up if it is to become the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010. Among those taking part are the president of the Commission, Romano Prodi, and Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. On Wednesday, Tsohatzopoulos will outline his ministry's development priorities as part of the six-month presidency to committees of the European Parliament at the end of his two-day trip to the Belgian capital. [09] Gov't, parties decry bookstore attack on authors of terrorism bookAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)The government on Saturday condemned an attack by masked thugs on two journalists who jointly authored a book on the November 17 terrorist group.The attack on reporters Alexis Papahelas and Tasos Teloglou earlier in the day occurred when the two were signing copies of their work, entitled ''17'', at a bookstore presentation in central Athens. About 15 youths smashed the store's window, hurled paint and tore books off shelves before fleeing. ''This act runs contrary to freedom of the press and the free movement of ideas. It also reveals the masked attackers' extremist, anti-democracy views,'' government spokesman Christos Protopapas said in a statement. Also condemning the incident as a breach of free speech were the main opposition New Democracy party and the Coalition of the Left and Progress. [10] Communist Party of Greece makes political overtureAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)The Communist Party of Greece on Sunday announced a political overture towards like-minded blue and white-collar workers, entrepreneurs, intellectuals and movements.Taken on December 14, the party's central committee decision to work with forces beyond the party's membership does not cover other political parties. Being sought is cooperation with individuals or groups that are striving for a different political schema, oppose war, and wish to forge a radical solution to problems of unemployment, education, health and culture. The long-term aim of the overture is to build a powerful socio-political alliance that will change current conditions, the party said. [11] Top cleric blasts plan for Turkey's EU entryAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece on Sunday decried a plan for Turkey to join the European Union, doubting whether it could be classed as a European state.''(Turkey is seeking EU entry) no longer through arms but through bulk of population and through markets that some are coveting in order to reap greater profits,'' Christodoulos claimed from the pulpit. He also alleged that the Greek public did not want Europe to become fifty percent Moslem. ''The truth of the matter is that Turkey should not become a member of the EU because it has nothing to offer Europe's civilization, as it has so far contributed nothing,'' the archbishop fumed. He claimed that allowing Turkey into the bloc would make it difficult to justify barring other countries that might wish to enter, such as Egypt, Israel and Syria. ''There is nothing higher, more noble that the Greek Orthodox, Greek Christian tradition,'' he added. [12] Athens 2004 Olympics head to meet German chancellorAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)The head of the national organizing committee for the Athens 2004 Olympics, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, is to visit Berlin on Tuesday for talks on the international event with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.Daskalaki will provide a briefing on preparations for the Olympics following the invitation to Germany from Schroeder. Last October, she visited Paris to brief French President Jacques Chirac on the Olympics. [13] Sebastian Coe to Athens for talks on 2004 OlympicsLONDON 20/01/2003 (ANA/L.Tsirigotakis)British Olympic champion Sebastian Coe will visit Greece on Monday for talks on the Athens 2004 Games with political and sports officials.The holder of four Olympic medals - two gold and two silver - in the Moscow and Los Angeles events, Coe will also lecture in Athens on Wednesday on the Olympic ideal versus doping. On Thursday, he will speak at Thessaloniki University on the preparation of athletes for the Olympics. The international sportsman is also to receive a briefing on preparations for the Athens event from its national organizers. Coe, a member of the House of Lords, has an impressive track record in his 18-year career as a middle-distance runner. At the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games he won the gold medal in the 1,500 meter race and the silver in the 800 meters. Four years later, at Los Angeles, he repeated his successes. Coe is now a columnist in the Daily Telegraph newspaper and sports commentator on BBC radio. [14] Ex-king has right to visit Greece for Olympics, IOC chief saysAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Former king Constantine has the right to return to Greece for the Athens 2004 Olympics under the terms of an agreement signed by the IOC and the government, the sporting body's chief said in an interview released on Sunday.''The Greek government has signed a contract with the IOC under which members of the IOC will be in Athens in August 2004, and this contract must be adhered to,'' IOC head Jacques Rogge told the Sunday Eleftherotypia newspaper. Constantine is a member of the IOC, but does not have the right to enter the country using a Greek passport unless he drops his former title and employs a surname. [15] Six dead found in migrant-trafficking ship off ItalyAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Six dead were found aboard a ship off southern Italy that was also carrying five illegal migrants, authorities said on Sunday.The nine-meter speedboat captained by a 28-year-old Greek identified as Panayiotis Liolios was sighted off Santa Maria di Leuca by a Russian tanker, the Brother 4, after relatives of Liolios reported him missing on January 16. The tanker took the five survivors and Lolios on board and was due to deliver them to Italian coast guard authorities later in the day. [16] Bulk of heroin sold in EU enters via Turkey, report showsAthens, 20/01/2003 (ANA)Eighty percent of heroin sold in the European Union has passed through Turkey, which has 4-6 metric tons of drugs leaving its borders each month destined for the EU market, said a report by Greece's rotating presidency of the 15-nation bloc.In addition, the movement of heroin into the EU is dominated by Albanian-Yugoslav and Turkish traders, who use rare dialects to foil police taps on their phones. Data from the August 2002 report was debated at a conference of southeast European police officers in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Saturday. [17] Turkish Cypriots in free areas stage demonstrationLIMASSOL 20/01/2003 (CNA/ANA)About a hundred Turkish Cypriots living in Limassol, members of the association ''Cyprus belongs to the Cypriots'', staged a demonstration on Saturday against the policy of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash on the island's political problem.The demonstrators marched through town holding banners and placards reading ''We want peace'' and ''Denktash resign'' and chanting slogans of a similar content. They also called for a solution to the Cyprus problem as soon as possible, based on a revised proposal submitted by the UN Secretary General last month for a comprehensive settlement. The demonstrators said they were ready to support the struggle of the Turkish Cypriots in the areas of the Republic under Turkish occupation since the 1974 invasion. Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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