Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-07-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou meets with Prodi, D'Alema, Annan

[02] Rare Mesopithecus skull unearthed in Halkidiki

[01] Papandreou meets with Prodi, D'Alema, Annan

The talks were held in light of an emergency international conference on the war in Lebanon which convenes in the Italian capital on Wednesday.

Papandreou also met later in the day with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"I hope that the international community tomorrow will react decisively and effectively with the objective of promoting peace. And more specifically, the promotion of a truce, the cessation of the hostilities. And naturally for a breather to be given so that first of all, for there to be the possibility of access to humanitarian aid which is of great importance at this momement, because the number of refugees in Lebanon is approaching 900,000, and secondly, for the road to open for a substantial peace process for Lebanon and in a next phase for the broader region," Papandreou told reporters after the talks he had with Prodi and D'Alema, which lasted for about two hours.

Papandreou said that he is in contact with all the sides and specifically, "yesterday I had a contact with President of Syria (Bashar al-) Assad, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, today with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. I will continue this effort, giving a voice also to Greece, opening roads also for Greece, of course through Socialist International, with the objective of peace."

The PASOK leader expressed his satisfaction that "finally Greece and Cyprus will also be present" in Wednesday's international conference in Rome.

To a question whether Turkey will play a role in the multinational force, the PASOK leader said:"Everything is still hypothetical. I believe, providing there is a UN decision for the sending of a peacekeeping force, this must be based on a political framework which will find the broader consensus of the people of Lebanon and of course, broader, of the region. In such a framework, then, a peacekeeping force will not only have an objective, but also success. If to the contrary such a framework will not exist, then I believe that it will have many problems and will complicate the political situation in Lebanon."

Asked about his talks with Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Papandreou said:"The Italian government, Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and Socialist International, which I represent, are concerned about the humanitarian problem in Lebanon. We examined ways of achieving a truce, at least for humanitarian purposes, hoping that the achievement of a truce will create the possibilities for the next steps in the direction of a peace process. A peace process which will allow Lebanon to live in peace as an independent country and the government of Lebanon to have control of all the territory. But also a peace process for the disarmanent of Hezbollah, simultaneously with respect on the part of Israel of the sovereignty of Lebanon."

[02] Rare Mesopithecus skull unearthed in Halkidiki

According to Aristotelion University geology professor Evangelia Tsoukala, the cranium was a rare find, dating back to 5-7 million years ago (Late Miocene to Late Pliocene geological epoch), which was protected from the deformation by ischium that usually occurs during the process of fossilisation by two small stones that formed a natural casing, or protective cast.

The Mesopithecus genus belongs to the Cercopithecidae family of the Primate order (Anthropoidea suborder) -- the highest order of Mammals (Mammalia division) -- meaning the family of apes with tails. The Mesopithecus, which reached 1.30m in height, was a plant eater, and lived in the geological Turolian age (Upper Miocene epoch).

The Mesopithecus ("middle monkey") is morphologically closely related to the well-known long-tailed gray langur monkeys (Semnopithecus) extant in India today.

According to paleoanthropologist and Thrace University professor Antonis Bartsiokas, the cranium is equal in size with that of the extinct Homo Floresiensis ("Flores man", the smallest species of human ever discovered, remains of which were found in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, where the species lived just 18,000 years ago, co-existing at the time with modern humans.

The university's Geology Department has been searching for fossils of the Tyrolian age since 1998, following the chance find of a fossilised tooth of a Hipparion, a prehistoric horse with three toes on each hoof, that reached a height of just 1.20m.

Previous Mesopithecus fossils in Greece have been found near Vathylakkos in the Axios valley in Macedonia, near Maramena in the Serres basin, and in Pikermi, Attica.

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