Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-08-09

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] JUST DAYS BEFORE THE ATHENS OLYMPICS

[02] ATHENS' INT'L AIRPORT TO SERVE HUNDREDS OF FLIGHTS TODAY

[03] A TOTAL OF 90% OF THE TICKETS HAVE BEEN SOLD

[04] THESSALONIKI IS READY FOR THE OLYMPICS

[05] THE BIE REPRESENTATIVES AT THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION

[06] SMALL GAINS IN THE ASE

[07] DIMITRIS PAPAMICHAIL'S FUNERAL TO BE HELD TOMORROW

[08] THE FIRST GREEK WOMAN ATHLETE IN THE 1936 BERLIN OLYMPIC GAMES

[09] MINI HEATWAVE ON THE DAY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES OPENING CEREMONY

[10] TELEVISED MESSAGE BY PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS

[11] THE ARCHBISHOP ON THE ATTACKS TARGETING CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN IRAQ

[12] POSITIVE COMMENTS BY CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON THE OLYMPIC GAMES' SECURITY

[01] JUST DAYS BEFORE THE ATHENS OLYMPICS

The second public rehearsal for the Athens Olympic Games opening ceremony will be held in front of an audience of 70,000 spectators tomorrow.

The formal ceremony will take place on Friday but the games will be launched two days earlier in Thessaloniki and Iraklion on Wednesday with the football games.

Washington expressed its satisfaction officially on the security measures taken by Greece for the Olympic Games.

International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Jacques Rogge stated that Athens could surprise everybody.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis expressed the belief that Greece will host successful games.

[02] ATHENS' INT'L AIRPORT TO SERVE HUNDREDS OF FLIGHTS TODAY

Athens' Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport announced that based on the most recent figures a total of 653 flights will take place at the airport today carrying 3,212 members of the Olympic family.

On Saturday, Athens' International Airport served a total of 593 flights and 50,925 passengers, 25,292 arrivals and 25,633 departures. The members of the Olympic family were 1,801. The scheduled flights corresponded to 88% of all flights, while on Sunday a total of 649 flights took place.

[03] A TOTAL OF 90% OF THE TICKETS HAVE BEEN SOLD

The demand for Olympic Games' tickets is on the increase four days before the formal opening of the games.

A total of 38,000 tickets were sold during the weekend and the tickets for certain sports have been sold out, while it is only a matter of time for tickets of other sports to be sold out as well.

Long cues have been formed since early this morning outside Athens 2004 ticket offices and in certain cases people have to wait in line for hours before they are able to purchase a ticket.

[04] THESSALONIKI IS READY FOR THE OLYMPICS

Thessaloniki moves in Olympic pace in view of the opening of the Olympic football tournament at Kaftatzoglio Stadium on August 11.

Cultural events will take place in the city in parallel with the Olympic sports in Kaftatzoglio on August 11,12, 14, 15, 17, 21, 24 and 25.

Tight security measures are in effect in the city especially at the Olympic facilities while special traffic regulations will be adopted during the games.

During the Olympic football tournament a total of 700 Olympic taxicabs will serve the public. With an additional charge of 3 euros on top of the regular fare they will be able to take their passengers to the special reception areas at the Olympic sports facilities.

Special security measures are in effect in the three Olympic hospitals as well.

[05] THE BIE REPRESENTATIVES AT THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION

The EXPO 2008 coordinating committee has invited the diplomats representing the 91 member states of the International Bureau of Exhibitions to visit Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki on August 7-12 to evaluate from up close the facilities and infrastructures of Thessaloniki one of the EXPO 2008 candidate host cities.

Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Nikos Tsiartsionis, Thessaloniki Mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos and Thessaloniki Prefect Panagiotis Psomiadis will organize a special night tomorrow at the Governor's Mansion in honor of the diplomats.

On Wednesday, the foreign diplomats will tour Thessaloniki and later in the evening they will attend the Olympic football game between the Olympic football teams of Greece and Korea.

The BIE member states will decide which city will be the host of EXPO 2008 among the candidate cities of Thessaloniki (Greece), Trieste (Italy) and Zaragoza (Spain).

[06] SMALL GAINS IN THE ASE

Small gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +0.28% at 2297,21 points, while the volume of transactions was at 68.1 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 155 had gains and 115 had losses, while the value of 133 stocks remained unchanged.

[07] DIMITRIS PAPAMICHAIL'S FUNERAL TO BE HELD TOMORROW

The funeral of famous Greek actor Dimitris Papamichail, former husband of actress Aliki Vougiouklaki, will take place tomorrow at Athens' A' Cemetery. He died yesterday at the age of 70 from heart failure.

Dimitris Papamichail was at his summer home in Ermioni when he felt ill. An ambulance rushed him to the Kranidi Health Center but he was already dead when they arrived.

[08] THE FIRST GREEK WOMAN ATHLETE IN THE 1936 BERLIN OLYMPIC GAMES

Domnitsa Lanitou-Kavounidou in an interview with MPA's magazine Hellenic Diaspora spoke about her experience from her participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games when she was able to qualify to the 80 m hurdles semifinals. She was the first woman athlete to represent Greece in Olympic Games.

Today, at the age of 90, she continues to exercise on a daily basis. She was born in 1914 in Limassol, Cyprus and her father Cypriot Parliament deputy Nikolaos Lanitis was the first to encourage her to be involved in sports. Her father was the founder of the first sports club in Cyprus named Olympia.

It took about 30 years for her record in the 100 m and the 80 m hurdles and in the high jump to be broken.

[09] MINI HEATWAVE ON THE DAY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES OPENING CEREMONY

The Greek National Weather Bureau predicts a mini heatwave on Friday 13, the day of the Olympic Games opening ceremony and the temperature could be as high as 39 degrees Celsius.

However, on Saturday afternoon the temperature will drop and local rains and storms are not ruled out mainly in northern and central Greece.

[10] TELEVISED MESSAGE BY PRIME MINISTER KARAMANLIS

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis will deliver a televised message on the Athens Olympic Games at 8pm this evening.

Prime Minister Karamanlis will address the Greek people and refer to the importance of the Olympic Games for Greece and the rest of the world, and to Greece's goals after the games, while he will also thank the Greek people for the joint efforts they made within the framework of the Olympic Games' preparations and call on them to continue giving their best.

[11] THE ARCHBISHOP ON THE ATTACKS TARGETING CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN IRAQ

On the occasion of the recent terrorist attacks against Christian churches in Iraq, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All of Greece stated that religions defend moral principles and should not be used for other purposes nor their faithful become scapegoats.

Archbishop Christodoulos speaking on behalf of the Church of Greece condemned the attacks and wished that the wave of international terrorism will leave outside its catastrophic rush all places of worship regardless of the religion they belong to.

[12] POSITIVE COMMENTS BY CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON THE OLYMPIC GAMES' SECURITY

The United States, through US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, expressed satisfaction for the security measures adopted by Greece on the occasion of the Olympic Games.

In statements she made to the US television channel CNN, Dr. Rice pointed out that Greece has done everything to host safe games and added that the United States have cooperated closely with the Greek government.

On the risk of attacks, she stated that she could not guarantee that there won't be any, pointing out that it is impossible for anybody to give assurances on that.

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