Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-12-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] RAF plane - emergency landing on Crete

[02] Cyprus issue - Denktash to attend UN talks

[03] Rand Corp. conference - conclusions

[01] RAF plane - emergency landing on Crete

A British Royal Air Force plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Crete's Iraklion airport on Saturday because of engine failure.

The plane was an RAF C-130 with a 10-member crew and 23 passengers - all members of the military. Its pilot reported that he was returning to land at the airport shortly after take-off, at 9:07 a.m., due to failure of the no. 1 engine.

An alarm was immediately sounded at the "Nikos Kazantzakis" airport, while all emergency measures to ensure the plane could land safely were taken.

The landing was carried out flawlessly, however, with no injuries to either crew or passengers nor any damage to the aircraft itself.

The C-130 was on its way to Lenham, UK and will now remain at Iraklion airport until the engine is repaired.

[02] Cyprus issue - Denktash to attend UN talks

NICOSIA (ANA - G. Leonidas) - Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said on Saturday that he would participate in UN-sponsored Cyprus proximity talks to be held in Geneva in January but would not give up his claim to statehood for the Turkish-Cypriot territories in the occupied north of the island republic.

He also threatened to end the talks if Cyprus joined the EU system for air-traffic control.

Cyprus government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the island's induction in a unified European air-traffic control system was important, since it would make it difficult for Turkey to violate Cyprus airspace.

[03] Rand Corp. conference - conclusions

A two-day conference organised jointly by the US-based Rand Corporation and the Kokkalis Foundation in Athens, ended on Saturday with talks by Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos and US Ambassador to Athens Nicholas Burns and presentations by Rand Corporation analysts. The conference was entitled "The new geopolitical role of Greece" and is the culmination of several months of research by the US think-tank focusing on the role of Greece in the surrounding regions.

In presenting their findings, the US researchers attributed the increased importance of Greece's role in southeast Europe to its joining EMU, its active support of creating a strong European defence, its improved relations with NATO and its foreign policy in the Balkans, particularly regarding Turkey.

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