Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-10-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] Ecumenical Patriarch-Athens-Visit

[02] POL.AN-former ND leader-Lawsuit

[03] Greece-Yugoslavia-Aid-Simitis

[04] Seaman dies in freighter sinking

[05] Weather forecast for Monday

[06] Balkan leaders to meet soon in Ochrid, on Greek initiative

[07] PM-Reshuffle rumours-Denial

[08] Bomb defused-Former merchant marine minister's office

[09] Freighter sinks-One dead

[10] PASOK-Mideast crisis-Summit

[01] Ecumenical Patriarch-Athens-Visit

ISTANBUL (ANA A. Kourkoulas) - Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos is scheduled to arrive in Athens on Wednesday for a seven-day visit to Greece.

During his stay, Vartholomeos will meet with Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos, among other notables.

On Thursday, Vartholomeos is to inaugurate the Patriarchates ?Representation Office? in Athens, and the Metropolitan Mansion of Peristeri.

[02] POL.AN-former ND leader-Lawsuit

Political Spring (POL.AN) leader Antonis Samaras on Sunday said that he would file a law-suit against former prime minister and current honourary president of the main opposition New Democracy party Constantine Mitsotakis, for the latters statements that Samaras was ?bought off? to overturn the New Democracy government in 1993.

In an interview to the Athens Sunday edition of the ?Vima? newspaper, Mitsotakis said that ?Samaras was bought off and they overthrew us. I believe it. No one doubts it. There was a regular purchase.?

[03] Greece-Yugoslavia-Aid-Simitis

Greece welcomed the political changes in Yugoslavia, since that country is central to creating the necessary conditions through which policies of development, peace and cooperation in the Balkans can be achieved, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said on Sunday, while en route to Athens from an informal European Union Summit in Biarritz, France.

During a briefing on his meeting with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Simitis said that a "policy of development, peace and cooperation in the Balkans, without Yugoslavia and especially without Serbia, could not be achieved. This was proven true in the past?.

?Serbia must participate, and this means that Serbia is in need of the rule of law, is in need of a state mechanism that cooperates with Greece and the other European countries, a state mechanism that is part of the effort for a European common course and cooperation,? Simitis said.

[04] Seaman dies in freighter sinking

One seaman was killed Saturday evening when a merchant vessel headed from Porto Lagos in Xanthi to Turkey sank after developing a sharp list as it was sailing 15 nautical miles southeast of Imeros Bay in Rodopi in high winds.

The 1,332-ton "YTONG 1", loaded with wooden planks, developed a list as it en route to Turkey, most likely caused by a shift in the cargo, sources said.

Nearby trawlers and a Turkish freighter rushed to the scene and picked up the other nine crew members of the YTONG, who had jumped overboard.

In another incident, the car/passenger ferry "Express Karystos" developed rudder trouble Sturday afternoon as it was sailing from the port of Lavrios to Kea island with 32 passengers aboard.

The ferry was towed to port Sounio and all passengers and crew were safe.

[05] Weather forecast for Monday

Mild weather is forecast throughout the country on Monday, turning overcast later in the west, with chances of light showers in the northern Ionian and in central Greece. Mostly sunny weather in Athens with temperatures between 17C and 28C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 15C to 25C.

[06] Balkan leaders to meet soon in Ochrid, on Greek initiative

The leaders of the Balkan countries will meet soon in Ochrid, on the iniative of Greece's prime minister Costas Simitis, the premier said Sunday after his return from an informal EU summit in Biarritz.

Simitis said the other Balkan leaders, including Yugoslavia's new president Vojislav Kostunica, had agreed to the meeting, which the Greek premier proposed following a suggestion by FYROM president and prime minister Boris Traikovski and Ljubco Georgievski immediately after last month's general elections in Yugoslavia that the Balkan countries issue a declaration in support of their neighbouring country.

Simitis said efforts were being made to convene the Ochrid meeting before the November 24 EU meeting with Balkan leaders in Zagreb called by the EU's French presidency. He said it was not yet clear, though, whether the Ochrid meeting would take place before or after the October 28 municipal elections in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

Kostunica, who has accepted an invitation from Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos to visit Greece but no date has yet been set, could likely visit Athens before the Ochrid meeting.

Simitis further said that French president Jacques Chirac would also visit Athens after the Zagreb meeting to discuss the topics of the Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) in Nice on December 8-9.

[07] PM-Reshuffle rumours-Denial

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Sunday denied rumours of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

Asked after his return from an informal EU summit in Biarritz whether he intended to reshuffle the government, Simitis replied "Good God, no".

[08] Bomb defused-Former merchant marine minister's office

Police on Saturday defused a bomb planted outside the political office of the previous merchant marine minister, Stavros Soumakis, in central Piraeus, after a warning call to a newspaper and radio stationon by the "Revolutionary Cells" group that a bomb was due to go off at the former minister's office half an hour later.

[09] Freighter sinks-One dead

One seaman was killed Saturday evening when a merchant vessel headed from Porto Lagos in Xanthi to Turkey sank after developing a sharp list as it was sailing 15 nautical miles southeast of Imeros Bay in Rodopi in high winds.

The 1,332-ton "YTONG 1", loaded with wooden planks, developed a list as it en route to Turkey, most likely caused by a shift in the cargo, sources said.

Nearby trawlers and a Turkish freighter rushed to the scene and picked up the other nine crew members of the YTONG, who had jumped overboard.

[10] PASOK-Mideast crisis-Summit

The ruling PASOK party on Sunday expressed its concern over the developments in the Middle East and appealed to all sides to contribute to terminating the "irrational bloodshed that is leading the relations between Israelis and Palestinians to a total impass", in view of Monday's emergency Middle East crisis summit attended by Israeli and Palestinian leaders and US president Bill Clinton in Cairo, Egypt.

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