Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-05-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] Labour Day rallies - record turnout

[02] Sizeable tremor - Aegean sea near Rhodes

[03] Papantoniou - NYSE chairman - meeting

[04] State Department report on terrorism positive about Greece

[01] Labour Day rallies - record turnout

A record-breaking turnout relative to other years marked Tuesday's May Day labour rally in the central Athens, though it did not match the size of the protest rally staged by the unions on April 26, which forced the government to back down on the issue of social insurance reforms.

Down the road from Pedion tou Areos, where the General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE), the civil servants' union ADEDY and Labour Centres from various areas in Greece were addressing their members, the Communist Party-affiliated PAME trade union organisation was addressing its own membership in Kotzia Square.

The two rival union groups rose above their differences, however, and joined together in a protest march to Parliament.

In both rallies, the key issue dominating the meetings was that of social insurance reform and unemployment.

Similarly in Patras, PAME and the local Labour Centre staged separate rallies but joined forces to march through the city and shout slogans against the government's social insurance reforms.

[02] Sizeable tremor - Aegean sea near Rhodes

A strong earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale was recorded at 9:01 a.m. on Tuesday, 415 kilometres southeast of Athens.

The quake's epicentre was located in the sea between the Aegean islands of Rhodes and Karpathos and was perceptible on Rhodes, but no damage had been reported so far.

[03] Papantoniou - NYSE chairman - meeting

NEW YORK (ANA) National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, currently on a visit to the US, met New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso late on Monday to discuss prospects of cooperation with the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE).

After the one-hour meeting, Papantoniou said they had discussed the listing of more Greek companies on the New York exchange, while Grasso referred to the ASE's transition from developing to developed market in May.

Grasso is due to visit Athens on June 21.

[04] State Department report on terrorism positive about Greece

WASHINGTON (ANA) - Positive steps taken by Greece to combat terrorism were highlighted by this year's annual State Department report, which last year had termed the country one of Europe's "weakest links" in the struggle against terrorism.

The report released shortly after midnight on Tuesday notes that Greece has adopted a series of much tougher measures against crimes of political violence since the murder of British Embassy attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders last summer, but also that these have not yet resulted in any arrests.

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