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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 99-01-13Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, January 13, 1999TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] GREEK PREMIER IN SPAIN TO MEET WITH KING JUAN CARLOSMadrid, January 13 (MPA)Prime minister Kostas Simitis, presently on a three- day visit to Spain, is to meet with King Juan Carlos today and the leaders of the country's political parties.Yesterday, Mr. Simitis met with his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar with whom he discussed bilateral ties and European Union matters. During his stay, Mr. Simitis will also meet with the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch. He is accompanied by the ministers of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Pangalos, Culture Evangelos Venizelos, Press Dimitris Reppas and the Undersecretary of National Economy Alexandros Baltas. A.F. [02] "MACEDONIA" AIRPORT REOPENS AFTER CLOSURE DUE TO DENSE FOGThessaloniki, January 13 (MPA)Thessaloniki's "Macedonia" airport remained closed this morning due to the dense fog that blanketed the area.Airport authorities informed the morning flight passengers that they will depart for their destination as soon as visibility improves. No flights were conducted during the morning hours. Meanwhile, dense fog rolled in the city as well, hampering transportation in Thessaloniki's outskirts. A.F. [03] STUDENTS PREPARE TO BLOCK ROADSThessaloniki, January 13 (MPA)High school students are preparing road blocks in protest to the Education Ministry's academic reforms.However, they no longer enjoy a united front as merely 450 schools remain under occupation by their classmates while the remaining 3,000 schools have resumed their operation. Moreover, in addition to the district attorney's ire, the occupying students are now facing parents who demand that schools re-open. The state-wide rallies will be held on Friday, while the Ministry is to announce within the following days the measures it plans to take in order to cover lost teaching hours. A.F. [04] SERB SOLDIERS TAKEN HOSTAGE TO BE RELEASED TODAYPrishtina, January 13 (MPA)Albanian rebels in Kosovo have consented to release all eight Serb soldiers they have been holding hostage since last Friday. The soldiers are expected to be freed today although it is not known if any ethnic Albanian prisoners will be exchanged for them, as the rebels had demanded The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Knut Vollebaek, said negotiations with the Kosovo Liberation Army ended successfully.Meanwhile, the Russian and French Foreign Ministers, Igor Ivanov and Yber Vetrine, respectively, have issued an appeal to the Contact Group for a new initiative in Kosovo. A.F. [05] PASOK DELEGATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, MEET WITH ISRAELI FMTel Aviv, January 13 (MPA)Greece's deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis is presently heading a delegation of PASOK party officials at an official visit to the Middle East, where they met with Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday evening.They discussed bilateral relations, the Middle East peace process and the military cooperation accord signed between Israel and Turkey last October. Mr. Sharon stressed that the said accord should not be viewed as a threat against Greece. The delegates, among them PASOK central committee member Theodoros Tsoukatos, also visited the Palestine self-rule areas where they met with Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Jerusalem Patriarch Diodoros. A.F. [06] BALKAN SPORTS MINISTERS TO MEET IN RHODES THIS WEEKENDThessaloniki, January 13 (MPA)Balkan Sports Ministers are to meet at the island of Rhodes this weekend, January 15-17, in order to increase participation in the 2004 Olympic Games which will be held in Athens.Greece's Sports Undersecretary Andreas Fouras stated yesterday that he hoped for a positive reception of his proposals to upgrade the 'Balkan Games'. Sports ministers from Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia are expected to attend. A.F. [07] SAE BUSINESS COMMITTEE TO HOLD COMMERCE FORUM IN ILLINOISSchiller Park, January 13 (MPA)The Council of Greeks Abroad Business Committee for the North and South America Region is to hold a seminar in Schiller Park, Illinois on January 23, presenting trade opportunities with Greece.The issues will cover the span of imports, exports and investments between the US and Greece. The seminar has bend divided into four sections each addressing the following sectors: 1) Distribution of Greek Products in the United States, presented by the Athanasios Makrandreou, trade attache of the Greek Embassy in Chicago 2) Exports to Greece, presented by Charlie Reed, official of the State of Illinois Trade Department 3) Investment Opportunities in Greece, presented by Leonidas Ananiadis, the economic and trade attache of the Greek Embassy in Washington 4) Funding Imports and Exports, presented by Konstantinos Alisandratos of Broadway Bank's Chicago branch. A.F. [08] THESSALONIKI TO HOST CAR EXPORT CENTER OF MEDITERRANEAN REGIONThessaloniki, January 13 (MPA)The Greek government plans to establish a car export center of the Mediterranean region in Thessaloniki, as was announced in Parliament by the Undersecretary of Finance George Drys.Mr. Drys also stated that a series of contacts has already taken place regarding commercial and import companies. The said initiative is closely eyeing the Balkan automobile market, a fertile ground for the exportation of new and used cars. A.F. [09] EVROS PREFECTURE TO HOST EUROPEAN CENTER OF INFORMATIONAlexandroupolis, January 13 (MPA)The prefectural local administration of Rodopi, in Evros, is to host the new European Center of Information, in an effort to strengthen its business strategy, which aims at the active support and development of small-to- medium sized businesses in the area.The purpose of the European Center of Information will be to brief the local entrepreneurs in national and EU programs related to European policies on ventures, development and employment. A.F. [10] ROM GYPSIES IN BULGARIA ESTABLISH THEIR OWN NEWS AGENCYSofia, January 13 (MPA)The Rom (gypsies) in Bulgaria are to establish a news agency titled "Kupate", in order to improve the public's perception of them and showcase little-known aspects of Gypsy history and culture.The plan's coordinator Antoni Galabov stated that the news agency could sail into operation as soon as April, by transmitting reports and information on the plights of Bulgaria's Gypsies. A.F. [11] PARTHENON MARBLES SHOULD BE RETURNED TO ATHENS, SAYS LABOUR MPLondon, January 13 (MPA)"The Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Athens", stated the Labour Party's deputy Eddie O'Hara during an interview with the Macedonian Press Agency, while he also stressed that the arguments expressed in favor of keeping the monuments (once part of the 534ft frieze of the Parthenon, in Athens)at the British Museum as outdated and ungrounded.The British parliamentarian also referred to the Cyprus issue, noting that the international community should support President Glafcos Clerides' proposal that an international, neutral peacekeeping force be established on the island and the said proposal should be accepted by Turkey. Concurrently, he supported that the island's accession to the European Union should not bear the condition of resolving the Cyprus issue. Responding to a relevant question posed by the Macedonian Press Agency, Mr. O'Hara, who is also the chairman of UK's Parliamentary British-Hellenic committee, commented that it has recently been proven that the Parthenon Marbles are not safe at the British Museum. "The Greek government is now in a very good position, having the proper facilities, to ensure their safety. However, the most basic factor is that the Marbles constitute a basic element of the Parthenon's architectural structure. There is a new museum in the works which will display the Marbles in a controlled environment and in direct relation to the building in which they belong," he said. Furthermore, he added that the onset of the next millennium, the year 2000, would be a prime opportunity to return the Marbles, albeit there is not sufficient time to do so. The next best opportunity for their return would be the year 2004, coinciding with the Athens Olympic Games. He assured that he will continue to work towards achieving this goal. In regards to the Cyprus issue, he emphasized that the British Parliament strongly supports the campaign to reach a fair solution to the problem and that he personally works closely with his colleague Tom Cox, who is the chairman of the UK Parliament's British-Cypriot group. "My view is that the ongoing occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey constitutes a violation of international law as well as disregard of numerous UN resolutions," he stated. "It violates the human rights of not only the 180,000 Greek-Cypriot refugees, but also of the Turkish- Cypriot population which continues to reside in the northern section./ The continued incoming settlers constitutes deliberate ethnic cleansing," he added. Mr. O'Hara represents the Knowsley South electorate district in Liverpool. He studied ancient Greek at Oxford and is also fluent in modern Greek. A.F. 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