Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-11-03

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Albanian Orthodox Church prelate arrives in Athens, meets with Greek

[02] Iran calls for a "sans Taliban" transitional gov't in Afghanistan

[03] Greek foreign ministry protests over delay in being briefed of

[04] Tests of suspicious letter received at U.S. Souda se came up negative

[05] Weather Forecast: Heavy rain, storms on Sunday

[01] Albanian Orthodox Church prelate arrives in Athens, meets with Greek counterpart

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos on Saturday received Archbishop of Tirana and All of Albania Anastasios in Athens, initiating the first visit of an Albanian Church prelate since 1937.

Anastasios arrived in Athens on Friday evening and was welcomed at the Athens airport by Christodoulos and a delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church Holy Synod.

[02] Iran calls for a "sans Taliban" transitional gov't in Afghanistan

TEHRAN (ANA - D. Konstantakopoulos - M. Savva) - Iran proposes the creation of a transitional government in Afghanistan, which will represent all ethnic elements, excluding, however, the Taliban, diplomatic circles said, commenting on talks Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou held with his Iranian counterpart Kamal, Kharazi.

The same sources said that Tehran is opposed to the American military mission in Afghanistan, stresses the need to resolve the Middle Eastern problem, while it refuses the move to include under the term "terrorist organizations" movements struggling for national liberation.

Speaking to journalists, after his meeting with Papandreou and during a joint press conference, Kharazi said that Tehran considers Athens' role and cooperation with very important.

He lauded Greece's "realistic" approach to the Middle Eastern issue and spoke of its ability to play a "very important role" in the European Union-Iranian relations.

"The military solution is not always the right response (to the problem that came up after Sept. 11) ? To combat terrorism we must go the roots and one of the most important roots is the atrocities against the Palestinian people or the refusal of its basic rights, the return of the refugees, the occupation of the Palestinian territories," Kharazi said.

On his part, Papandreou recognized the importance of the non-resolution of the Middle Eastern issue, supported the re-initiation of talks for the Palestinian problem, without terms and preconditions and stressed the need for confrontation of the "toot causes" of terrorism.

He stressed, however, that all that does not mean to "justify in any way terrorist actions".

Meanwhile, the Greek non-governmental organization Hellenic Aid signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Red Crescent of Iran for the distribution of humanitarian aid from Greece to Iranian refugees.

Papandreou will meet with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, before departing for Athens on Saturday evening.

[03] Greek foreign ministry protests over delay in being briefed of suspicious letter

the Greek foreign ministry protested via a letter to the American embassy for the delay in being informed regarding a suspicious letter that arrived in of the U.S. base in Souda, Crete, according to a press release issued by the ministry.

"The political director of the foreign ministry met today with the U.S. Ambassador Mr. (Thomas) Miller. Ambassador Skopelitis noted on the part of the (Greek) government the delay in briefing the Greek authorities, regarding the suspicions of the embassy surrounding the mail, which arrived via diplomatic ways, from the United States of America," the press release said.

[04] Tests of suspicious letter received at U.S. Souda se came up negative

Microbiological testing of the contents of a letter addressed to the naval command of the U.S. base in Souda, Crete, came up negative for disease causing organisms, according to a statement made by the base's spokesman Paul Farley, on Saturday.

The letter was received on Friday, was considered suspicious and was been sent to a laboratory for examination without having been opened

"We received the results today and they were negative. The letter was for the commander of the base. It is simple letter, in the envelop of which nothing dangerous was found. The envelop was sent, yesterday, to a lab in Europe and this morning we received the results. The eight people that were undergoing antibiotics treatment will stop taking it," Farley said.

Staff handling correspondence became suspicious of the letter after noting spelling mistakes in the handwritten address. The letter had arrived through the U.S. military post.

[05] Weather Forecast: Heavy rain, storms on Sunday

Heavy rain and storms are forecast throughout the country on Sunday, with snow on high ground in the mainland and on low ground in the north, conditions will be less severe in the northwest. Winds southeasterly strong to gale force, including in the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 2C to 8C; on the rest of the mainland from 5C to 14C; and in the islands from 10C to 17C. Rain and storms in Athens with a little snow on Mount Parnes in the evening and temperatures between 6C and 13C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 5C to 8C.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article