Antenna: News in English, 97-02-21

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: [email protected]

News in English, 21/02/97

TITLES

• The US and Britain say a solution must be found for Cyprus.
• Hellenism on the Internet, courtesy of the Greek government.
• And, staying put, against the demographic odds.

CYPRUS

US secretary of state Madelaine Albright said in London that the US is concerned by tension in the eastern Mediterranean, and is keeping tabs on developments.

After meeting with Albright, the British foreign secretary said that new American and British initiatives are needed to guarantee peace in Cyprus.

But Malcolm Rifkind would not confirm reports that Britain intends to propose the formation of a five thousand man multi-national peace-keeping force for Cyprus. According to the reports, 600 of the troops would be British.

Rifkin did say, however, that there's a long way to go in completely resolving the Cyprus issue.

Earlier, a US state department spokesman said Washington and London want to help solve the Cyprus problem, but added that no specific plan has been laid out.

Diplomatic sources say the US and Britain are refusing to ADMIT they have a plan in mind, because they want to keep putting pressure on Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus at this point.

ND

Karamanlis's backers, some 30 MPs, say he has two things to recommend him for the job: his relative youth, and his ability to unite the different factions in the party.

New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert, sure to reseek the party leadership at the March congress, refused to comment Thursday, a day after the youthful Kostas Karamanlis all but announced his intention to seek the party's top post.

But honorary party president Constantinos Mitsotakis didn't mince words Wednesday, after it began to look like Karamanlis intends to seek the leadership, with the backing of party vice president Iannis Varvitsiotis. "This isn't serious stuff", said Mitsotakis.

Mitsotakis refused to comment when asked whether or not his daughter, Dora Bakoyianni, should throw her younger-generation hat into the ring too.

Bakoyianni met with MP Giorgos Souflias Wednesday night. She is backing his candidacy, but sources say if Evert finally decides NOT to run, she may reconsider her position.

Some in the Souflias camp reckon that either Evert or Karamanlis will be a candidate - not both.

Souflias is the only person who's declared his candidacy outright. And, following all the commotion over Karamanlis, and Evert's refusal to say in so many words that he's in the race too, Souflias said anyone who intends to be a candidate should come out and say so now. He feels the ongoing uncertainty is bad for the party and the country's political life.

A number of MPs spoke out in favour of Karamanlis for party leader.

Christos Vyzovitis said, "He's a young politician who inspires hope...and hope is what everyone needs".

Elevtherios Papageorgopoulos also considers Karamanlis's youth and ability to rekindle hope in the future valuable assets. He thinks that if you couple THAT with Karamanlis's parliamentary experience, you've got a leader who can win elections.

Mitsotakis isn't the only one who frowns on the idea of a Karamanlis leadership.

The MP's uncle - Constantinos Karamanlis - founded New Democracy, a fact which brought sarcastic criticism from MP Panos Kammenos. He said, "Those who passionately fought against the hereditary monarchy, are trying to impose the rule of hereditary leadership on the party. I won't support it".

Vyron Polydoras also dislikes what he sees as an attempt to pass the leadership on from uncle to nephew.

And not everyone believes youth is necessarily an asset for political leaders. MP Vassilis Manginas says leadership can't just be handed on to the next generation, without the up-and-comers proving they're ready to lead first.

SIMITIS

Simitis talked to journalists after meeting with the public works minister.

Kostas Simitis said that, overall, he's satisfied with progress being made in the construction of the bridge linking the Peloponese to central Greece; the subway systems in Athens and Thessaloniki; and the new Patra to Thessaloniki and Adriatic to Alexandroupoli highways.

He also noted that a number of other projects, from new airports, to land reclamation, to flood prevention, are also in progress.

Simitis said work is going ahead in all areas according to schedule.

INTERNET/PANGALOS

At the programme launch Thursday, alternate foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou said the new Net link means that Greece no longer has geographical, but electronic, borders.

Stavros Lambrinides, who handles government relations with Greeks of the diaspora, said that a new field of information and communication is being opened up to Greeks around the globe.

12 million dollars has been invested in the programme, and in computerising the Greek foreign ministry.

JULIANI

Mayor Rudolf Juliani discussed the visit with Orthodox Archbishop of America Spyridon.

Meeting with archbishop Spyridon at the seat of the orthodox archdiocese, Mayor Rudolph Juliani stressed the significance of the upcoming US visit of Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Vartholomeos.

"We are very excited about it, it will be a great blessing for all the people of the city and in particular obviously for all the greek and orthodox citizens of the city, but it will be a great blessing for all of the people in the city. This is one of the great religious leaders in the world and I always believe when someone like that visits the city, there's a very special blessing in the city. And I told the archbishop that we would be happy to work with him to make this really glorious visit, to make it a happy one, a good one and one that hopefully the patriarch will always remember as being a very warm and generous reception".

Presenting archbishop Spyridon with a crystal apple from Tiffany's, the mayor acknowledged the great contribution Greeks have made to the Big Apple.

Giving the mayor a book on the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Archbishop Spyridon said, "It's a great honour for us to have the mayor visit. We had the chance to talk about a lot of things, including the role of the Orthodox community in New York".

Juliani said he came away from the meeting with the new archbishop, enriched, and ready to help him settle in to his new job:

"I was very honoured to meet with the archbishop for such a long session, he was very generous. I learnt a great deal about history and religion and really the whole world. The archbishop has a remarkable carreer in Italy, in Germany, the US. It's wonderful to have a man of his background, his education, his experience and leadership of one of the strongest communities in New York. We're very proud of the fact that he's American born but with a very strong knowledge of the traditions of his people. This is a wonderful transition for everyone in the city. And anything that we can do to help, we're very anxious to do it".

BASKETBALL

And, Wednesday night, it turns what looks like sure defeat into sweet victory.

Pao playing host to Ortez, but the French team acts like it owns the Athens Olympic stadium for about three quarters of the contest.

Though playing without three of its starters, Ortez uses good ball movement and a tough zone in moving out to a ten-point half-time lead. That lead mushrooms to 14 in the second half, before Pao gets back in it with an 11- nothing run. That sets the stage for Byron Dinkin's winning three-pointer near the end, which puts Pao ahead for the first time in the game at 73-71. For the record, the final score is 75-71.

MESOVRACHO

Many of those villages are now abandoned.

As we hear in this report, in the village of Mesovracho, a few residents have tenaciously refused to pack their bags and leave.

© ANT1 Radio 1997

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