Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-08-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] Opposition criticises UN deal for Lebanon

[02] Athenians flee city on holiday exodus

[01] Opposition criticises UN deal for Lebanon

The main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) called the document unclear on implementation at a time when hardship had increased for the Middle Eastern country's unarmed citizens and refugees.

"(The international community) has shown inertia, hypocrisy and tolerance of the cycle of violence and blood," PASOK's shadow spokesman for foreign and defence affairs, Christos Papoutsis, said in a statement.

He also charged Israeli forces in Lebanon with repeatedly violating international law and stepping up their bombings before Tel Aviv and Beirut had announced their position on the UN resolution.

The Communist Party of Greece complained that the document failed to condemn Israel's offensive, carried no provision for an immediate end to the attacks, and did not seek an unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

"On no account must Greece take part in the force of 15,000 soldiers that the UN will send," central committee member Panayiotis Mentrekas said in a statement.

The Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology called the resolution unjust and biased in Israel's favour as it failed to close the door to repeat offensives that could be classed as self-defence. Also, the text did not call on Israel to grant compensation for the destruction it wrought.

[02] Athenians flee city on holiday exodus

Holidaymakers in tens of thousands of automobiles left Athens, stepping up a traditional migration that began early in August and leaves the capital deserted each year.

Movement was brisk at the Attica ports of Piraeus and Rafina with thousands of vacationers estimated to be sailing this weekend in hundreds of island ferry departures.

In the north, residents of Thessaloniki and Kavala also headed out of the city, many opting for the north Aegean island of Thassos.

Traffic police were on alert at access points to the country's two main motorways that link Athens to the Peloponnese and to Thessaloniki in the north.

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