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Tuesday, 26 November 2024
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-06-09Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM chairs extraordinary Cabinet meetingThe government's choice and decision is to change "everything that disappoints the citizen and makes him bitter," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said on Tuesday, addressing an extraordinary Cabinet meeting.The premier called on all his ministers and deputy ministers to proceed more quickly and decisively with their actions and interventions, and stressed that he will personally systematically monitor the government's work in all sectors. Referring to the outcome of Sunday's European Parliament elections, Karamanlis said "that we are to blame for the electoral, and it is we who must correct ourselves". "Whatever makes the citizens bitter must be changed," the premier said. He also ruled out the prospect of collaborations with other parties, and accused main opposition PASOK of irresponsibility in calling for early general elections, charging that "this is a pretext for escaping from the problems". Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis [02] GEO international symposium on Earth Observation Services opens in AthensA three-day international scientific symposium on the theme "Earth Observation Services for Monitoring the Environment and Protecting the General Public" is taking place at the University of Athens' main auditorium, running through Wednesday, co-organised by the Athens National Observatory, the Greek chapter of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the GEO General Secretariat based in Geneva, and the Mariopoulio-Kanagineio Foundation for Environmental Sciences.Taking part in the Symposium are 14 countries of the region -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Turkey -- with two delegates each -- one scientist and one environment ministry official. The representatives of the Balkan and eastern Mediterranean countries will discuss issues of common interest regarding the observation of Earth and environmental protection. The GEO is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 77 member countries, the EU, the UN and 46 international organisations, whose purpose is to collect and organise all Earth observations globally into a single data base, the GEOSS (GEO System of Systems). so as to facilitate governments and scientific institutions in the precise evaluation and taking of appropriate decisions on the major environmental issues such as Natural Disasters, Earth and Desertification, Health, Energy, Climate, Water Resources, Meteorology, and Atmosphere, Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Attending the Symposium are GEO secretarial director Prof. Jose Achache, the head of Athens' National Observatory Prof. Christos Zerefos, Athens National and Kapodistrian University deputy-rector Prof. Demosthenes Assimakopoulos, European Environmental Agency (EEA) acting executive director Dr. Gordon McInnes, and a European Space Agency (ESA) official. [03] Lesvos wins EU's EDEN award 2009 for GreeceThe island of Lesvos took the award for the top sustainable tourism destination in Greece for 2009 in the European Commission-sponsored program "European Destinations of Excellence" (EDEN), in which Greece's tourism development ministry is participating for the third consecutive year.The ministry submitted candidacies for 18 regions of Greece, which were evaluated by a relevant committee. The purpose of the annual EDEN competition is to highlight the values, diversity and common characteristics of European tourism destinations in which tourism development is sought in ways that ensure a social, cultural, financial and environmental balance. The theme of this year's competition is "tourism and Protected Areas". Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of trunks of petrified trees from the Petrified Forest, on the west side of Lesvos island, dated 5 million years ago. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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