Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-06-29

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 29/06/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece offers Turkey quake aid
• Eurodeputy calls on EU to help Turkey quake victims
• Greece, Peru to sign tourism accord
• Musician caught with 10 kgs of heroin
• Historian laid to rest
• Firefighters continue to battle blaze
• Papandreou: Gov't has made mistakes in handling, not policy
• War in Kosovo will have wider repercussions in region
• Holbrooke: Kosovo clashes could explode into Balkan conflagration
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

The Greek government said today that it had expressed a desire to offer practical assistance to the quake victims of Adana in southern Turkey. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas also expressed the regret of the government and its condolences to the people of Adana. Saturday's quake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, left at least 105 dead and over 1, 000 injured.

Eurodeputy calls on EU to help Turkey quake victims

Greek Eurodeputy Alekos Alavanos today sent a letter to European Commission President Jacques Santer calling for the European Union to provide humanitarian aid and support for rebuilding to the region of Adana, hit by a devastating earthquake on Saturday. Alavanos underlined "the need for the European Union to show solidarity with the residents of the region hit by the catastrophic earthquake".

Greece, Peru to sign tourism accord

Greece and Peru will sign a cooperation agreement in the field of tourism tomorrow (Tuesday) in Athens. The accord will be signed by the Peruvian Ambassador in Greece, Martin Yrigoyen, on behalf of his government, and by National Tourism Organisation of Greece (EOT) president Ioannis Stephanidis during a special ceremony at the EOT headquarters. "Peru and Greece have many agreements in the commercial, economic, cultural and education sectors, " Peru's civil and cultural attache Judith Roitman De Sabas told the ANA. "This new cooperation agreement will open a new perspective in the area of tourism, a field in which both countries have much experience and knowledge to interchange," she said.

Musician caught with 10 kgs of heroin

A member of "Nostradamus" - a popular Greek rock group of the seventies - was arrested today after being found in possession of over 10 kilos of heroin, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Magnum revolver, a pistol and ammunition. Also arrested with Ippokratis Exarchopoulos, 45, was his wife, Marianthi Patseli, 33. The police, who also found 14 Chinese-made hand grenades and 13 detonators, said it was the biggest heroin haul in the country in the past decade.

Historian laid to rest

Greek historian, essayist and leftist intellectual Kostis Moskof, who was also Greece's cultural attache to Egypt for the past 10 years, was laid to rest today in his hometown of Platamona, near Thessaloniki, after losing a long battle with cancer Saturday at the age of 59. Moskof, who was in an Athens hospital for the past month, was born in 1939 in Thessaloniki, where he later studied law at the Aristotelion University before going on the Sorbonne in Paris for a doctorate in History.

Firefighters continue to battle blaze

A fire that broke out yesterday afternoon was still raging in the Malea, Kardamyli area in Messinia, burning hundreds of acres of forest and farm land, firefighters said. They said fire-fighting planes were spraying the area with flame retardants, assisting ground crews. No homes were in danger as the fire was not close to inhabited areas, the firefighters said.

Papandreou: Gov't has made mistakes in handling, not policy

Development Minister Vasso Papandreou today conceded that the government has made mistakes, which should not be repeated, and clarified that differences of opinion in the government concerned its handling of issues, and not policy itself. "We acknowledge our mistakes and are pushing ahead, trying not to repeat them," Papandreou said in an interview with an Athens afternoon daily (Ta Nea) published today. She clarified that the mistakes concerned the handling of matters, and not mistakes in policy itself, and dismissed purported "leaks" from National Economy Ministry "circles" that certain ministers (including herself) did not back government policy as "lacking in seriousness".

War in Kosovo will have wider repercussions in region

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Italian counterpart Romano Prodi yesterday warned that any armed conflict in the troubled Yugoslav province of Kosovo should be avoided, as a war would have wider repercussions on the countries in the region, including Greece and Italy. The two men were speaking at a press conference on the island of Corfu, after talks during a private visit by Prodi to the island and before leaving together for Frankfurt to attend the official installation today of Wim Duisenberg as president of the European Central Bank (ECB). Their talks focussed on Greek- Italian relations, their countries' stand on matters concerning the European Union and the southeastern Mediterranean, and regional problems.

Holbrooke: Kosovo clashes could explode into Balkan conflagration

US ambassador-designate to the United Nations and presidential emissary for the Cyprus issue Richard Holbrooke yesterday expressed the view that the current clashes in Serbia's troubled province of Kosovo could at any moment develop into a military conflagration in the Balkans in which Greece may be involved. "The situation in Kosovo is explosive ... It is my estimate that the clashes could at any moment develop into war. If this war spreads, it could bring Greece at the doorstep of its own involvement in the crisis," he said in an interview with the Athens Sunday newspaper "To Vima".

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(M.P.)

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