Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-01-12

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Minister cites need for cooperation with US

[02] PM welcomes outcome of talks with Bush on return from US

[03] Nigerian woman to be spared, embassy quoted as saying

[04] Orthodox archbishop arrives from US on official visit

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Sunday

[06] Winter sales begin on Monday

[01] Minister cites need for cooperation with US

Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday that it was necessary for Greece to work with the US as well as the European Union.

Matters of importance to Greece in which the government should evolve effective terms of cooperation with the US included resolution of the Cyprus issue and the island republic's entry into the EU; and world security in the wake of the Afghanistan war linked to the battle against terrorism.

Speaking on the sidelines of a ruling PASOK party youth meeting in Thessaloniki, the minister was commenting on the premier's visit to the US last week.

[02] PM welcomes outcome of talks with Bush on return from US

Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who returned to Athens on Saturday after an official trip to the US, welcomed the outcome of talks he held with US President George Bush in Washington.

Speaking to reporters on the flight home, Simitis also said that the US Jewish Council had praised the abolition of religion as a category of information on Greek state-issued ID cards; and the creation of a monument to Jews in Thessalonki.

Turning to the Cyprus issue, the prime minister showed a guarded response to the outcome of recent talks between Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

He said that substantive progress on Cyprus could only be made within six months if Denktash changed his line.

Asked to comment on a rumoured list of terrorism suspects including public figures, Simitis said that in his six-year tenure as prime minister he had not encountered such a record.

Public release of any names would create a breach of human rights, damaging the individuals cited and affording protection for the guilty, he added.

Answering another reporter's question, the prime minister said that the government was looking into the issue of major terrorist crimes being written off due to the country's 20-year statute of limitations.

Any retroactive legal measure would be difficult to introduce, he added.

The Ta Nea daily newspaper and its Tachydromos supplement had said that the first four murders committed by the November 17 terrorist group were no longer open to judicial action due to the time limit on legal action.

The first of the four was the murder of CIA station chief Richard Wells in Athens on December 23, 1975.

[03] Nigerian woman to be spared, embassy quoted as saying

A member of the Coalition of the Left and Progress, Soula Panaretou, said that Nigeria's embassy in Athens had told a protest delegation on Saturday that a woman sentenced to death by stoning in the African country would be spared.

In December, Safiya Hussaini, 33, received a stay of execution from an Islamic sharia court in order to prepare an appeal after the divorced mother of five was sentenced to death for having sex outside marriage. Hussaini, who is pregnant, claimed she was raped.

"It was announced to the delegation that visited the Nigerian embassy this morning that the execution of Safiya will not take place," the Coalition said in a statement quoting Panaretou, a member of its political bureau.

Nigeria's federal government has said in the past it will not allow Hussaini's execution to be carried out, opposing the original sharia court sentencing.

"Despite the good news, we remain on the alert," Panaretou added.

The delegation that visited the Nigerian embassy represented a number of groups condemning a breach of human rights in the Hussaini case.

[04] Orthodox archbishop arrives from US on official visit

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Dimitrios of America arrived in Athens on Saturday at the start of an official visit for talks with the country's political leaders.

Dimitrios told reporters that he hoped the talks would contribute to closer ties between ethnic Greeks in the US and their country of origin.

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Sunday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Sunday, becoming overcast in parts of the west and south. The morning will be misty in some parts of the country. Winds northerly, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from -5C to 10C; on the rest of the mainland from -1C to 15C; and in the islands from 4C to 15C. Light cloud in Athens with temperatures between 5C and 15C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from -1C to 10C.

[06] Winter sales begin on Monday

The winter sales begin on Monday, with retailers required to mark both the original and new reduced price of goods in euros and drachmas.

The sales, which end on February 28, are to begin almost two weeks late this year due to introduction of the euro on January 1 in a move to lessen confusion over the new currency.

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