Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-07-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Monday weather - Sunny all over the country

[02] Premier delivers closing speech of National Council for Local

[03] PASOK secretary, development minister address party convention

[04] Simitis closes two-day PASOK party convention

[05] Special prosecutor visits alleged terrorist Xiros in an Athens hospital

[06] Premier addresses the National Council for the Local Government in

[07] The Sunday editions of Athens' dailies at a glance.

[01] Monday weather - Sunny all over the country

Sunny throughout Greece on Monday with a chance of scattered could later in the day in the northern parts of the country and possible rain. Northerly winds, light to moderate, strong in the Aegean. Temperatures in western and northern Greece between 20C to 33C, on the rest of the mainland 22C to 36C, and on the islands 24C to 34C. Sunny in Athens with temperatures ranging between 25C to 35C. The same in the morning with the possibility of showers later in the day Thessaloniki, 24C to 32C.

[02] Premier delivers closing speech of National Council for Local Government

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Sunday closed the meeting of the National Council for the Local Government, organized by the ruling PASOK party in Athens, underlining that there are no minimums in the numbers of municipalities and prefectures the ruling party should win in the October elections.

''The limit is victory in every municipality and in every prefecture,'' Simitis said, emphasizing on the election battle to be waged in the local government level against the conservative leadership, where according to him things are stagnant since 1998.

He said that the stagnation was due to the lack of vision by the main opposition party New Democracy in its policy for the local government, which he said has as its only vision the corruption and the vision of governing just to stay in power and called on the PASOK party cadres to break the ''downward spiral'' of misery.

[03] PASOK secretary, development minister address party convention

The convention of PASOK can decisively contribute to the overturning of the negative image of the party, PASOK party Secretary Costas Laliotis said on Saturday during the ruling party's Organizational Convention in Athens.

Laliotis said that political climate recorded by the opinion polls can be reversed, adding that if an opinion poll was to be conducted now the results would have been more positive for PASOK and the government, following the latest steps against terrorism.

On his part, Development Minister and long time high-ranking cadre Akis Tsohatzopoulos said that the convention met during a critical phase, as the local elections are approaching, the Athens 2004 Olympic Games are near and the accession of Cyprus in the European Union is on the line.

''The new element in Europe is the election gains of the right wing. PASOK should respond with cohesion and make clear that it will forge forward united and that it is the credible force guaranteeing the course of the country in the future and that it has a sense of its responsibility,'' Tsohatzopoulos said.

He expressed his satisfaction over the speech of Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Friday, saying that he had found the way again, reaffirming the agreements of the ruling party's Congress, which was held last year.

[04] Simitis closes two-day PASOK party convention

Prime Minister Costas Simitis closed the PASOK convention that began on Friday with his call for ''the turn of a page in the party ''which will end the introversion, the personal strategies of members and the defeatism.

He called the convention a starting point for the cohesion, which will lead to an organized march to victory and prospects.

Simitis strongly criticized the right wing, which he said was bound by the most conservative strata of society, which believes in a socially damaging policy for the economy and connects the development of education and culture with the operation of the market place.

The prime minister paid special attention to the issue of resolving the everyday problems of the citizens and called on PASOK cadres to work closely together in opening the way for the party on its way to society and the renewal of its policy.

Simitis spoke of a plan to modernize Greece, saying that the plan is a common one for all of PASOK, criticizing the stance of some social groups, as well as party members that are active in certain sectors, stressing that there can not be the case where there is a plan drafted by PASOK in words alone and a separate plan for the university professors, the port workers, the public sector employees, the lawyers, the doctors of the social security system etc.

[05] Special prosecutor visits alleged terrorist Xiros in an Athens hospital

Special prosecutor for terrorism issues Yiannis Diotis on Saturday visited alleged terrorist Savvas Xiros at the Evangelismos Hospital in Athens and stayed with him for about six hours in the presence of the Anti-terrorism Squad Stelios Syrou, police sources said.

According the same sources, the discussion did not take the form of questioning, rather it was a first attempt to convince Xiros to cooperate with the authorities.

Doctors insisted, the same sources said, that no pressure is applied on the 40-year old man as he was under great psychological strain made worst by the possibility that he may be blinded for life.

In a related development, police searched an electronics' shop in Koukaki central Athens and the family residence of its owner in Kalamata, southern Peloponnese for further clues into the November 17 terrorist organization, as the name of the shop's owner appeared in Xiros' address book.

[06] Premier addresses the National Council for the Local Government in Athens

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Sunday closed the meeting of the National Council for the Local Government, organized by the ruling PASOK party in Athens, stressing that all party members should stand at the forefront of the struggle for victory in the October elections.

''We heard our comrades, who will wage the struggle at the front lines and we can leave from this here room with the self-confidence that we will wage the right battle and if we have faith we will win,'' Simitis said.

''Let's all together wage the struggle for victory,'' he concluded.

On his part, PASOK party Secretary Costas Laliotis called on all members of the government to go out the people and work for the victory in the municipal and prefectural elections.

''We want our cadres at the forefront of the battle,'' Latiotis said, stressing that Parliament deputies and ministers were not excluded from his call to arms.

He also noted that the ''games with predictions and numbers and the bottom line were wrong''.

''We are fighting for and we are contesting victories, because no mayoral and prefect candidate, no election ticket and no party goes to a battle to lose it,'' he said, stressing the necessity for a renewed dialogue with the ''center-left'' initiated by PASOK.

Former merchant marine minister and mayoral candidate for Athens Christos Papoutsis also spoke to the council, stressing that ''the time has come for change in Athens and I am here, heading this collective effort, because I refuse to submit to the climate of the recycled and self-feeding misery that is cultivated in the public life of the country.''

He called the municipality a field for the popular participation in democracy and said that it has a leading role to play in the development and progress of a city.

Papoutsis expressed his discontent with the stance of the parties of the left and especially with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), saying ''it is a pity that some people give up the consistency concerning their opinions over the role of local government and use the slogan ''they are all the same: abstention, blank vote in the second round''.

[07] The Sunday editions of Athens' dailies at a glance.

ADESMEFTOS on Sunday: "Legalization of 400,000 illegally built residences"

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Andeas Papandreou held a dialogue with the terrorists"

APOGEVMATINI: ?The four safehouses of Kalamas St."

AVGHI: "And now come the arrests"

AVRIANI: ?November 17 surrenders without terms?.

ETHNOS: "The university entrance scores for 450 colleges"

ELEFTHERI ORA: "Patisia-Pangrati was the bus-lane of the November 17 terror"

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "From safehouse to safehouse"

EPOHI: "The capitalization of a success of police"

ESPRESSO: "Businessman questioned concerning the funding of November 17"

HORA: "The financial statement of November 17"

KATHIMERINI "Xiros spoke of everyone - New safehouse found in Pangrati"

LOGOS ON SUNDAY: "The keys of November 17"

PARON: "Hostages of November 17"

RIZOSPASTIS: "New anti-farmer storm coming to the forefront"

NIKI: "One hundred days of peace"

STO KARFI: "The sketches of the leader and the five executioners?

SUNDAY TYPOS: "Why do they set up a controlled dismantling of November 17"

VIMA ON SUNDAY: "Raid at Pangrati - The new safehouse with anti-tank handheld missiles "

VRADYNI: "A key witness confesses to Vradyni"

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