Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] 11th annual Symi Symposium begins Sunday evening

[02] Fire blazing near Lamia, on Skyros

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] 11th annual Symi Symposium begins Sunday evening

Earlier, Papandreou will address a meeting of local party cadres from Halkidiki, to take place in Ierissos.

The four-day conference, which ends on Thursday and is titled this year "Turning point: The courage of Change", will focus on the economic crisis and oil prices, the food crisis, climate change, growth, the global democratic deficit, international organizations and institutions, organized crime, and developments in the European continent.

The conference proper opens on Monday morning, with the discussion focusing on the topic "Oil at 200 dollars, apples at 10 dollars, credit, no: answers to the global shortages and economic recession", while the afternoon session will deal with the topic "organized crime worldwide".

Tuesday's morning session will focus on "a new social contract: re-designing the Welfare State in the 21st century", while the afternoon session will deal with the theme "Europe in crisis once again".

Wednesday's morning session will discuss "Global governance in the 21st century: Ideas for re-establishing multilateral international institutions," and the afternoon session will focus on "Barrack Obama's impact in America and the World".

Thursday's morning meeting will focus on "Greek development: The battle against climate change and Global Economic Growth", while the afternoon session, while the closing ceremony in the afternoon will include a presentation of the conclusions of the Symposium.

On Friday, the participants will visit Mt. Athos.

Caption: Main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou. (ANA-MPA).

[02] Fire blazing near Lamia, on Skyros

The fire in Viotia was developing on three fronts, approximately half a kilometer wide, and two of the fronts, which were moving towards the village, have been partially contained through drops conducted by fire-fighting planes, while the third front was burning out of control in a pine-tree forest, combated by ground and airborne forces.

Immense firefighting forces from central Greece have rushed to the Plataies fire, assisted by 2 Canadair scooping planes and two smaller aircraft.

Meanwhile, an extensive wildfire that broke out in a forested area at Trachy-Mavri Kantilia on Skyros, near the island's airport was still raging on Sunday, and according to initial estimates it had already burned 6,000 stemmas of pine-forest, but without endangering populated areas. A 75-strong force of firefighters with 29 fire engines from all over the country, as well as another foot force of 65 firemen from Athens and Thessaloniki, were taking part in the operation to extinguish the blaze, assisted by eight scooping aircraft and five firefighting helicopters, but efforts were hampered by strong winds in the area.

Four more fires broke out on Sunday in the prefectures of Corinth and Xanthi.

In Corinth, two fires broke out at noon on Sunday in the villages of Athikia and Kalentzi, within 10 minutes of each other.

Both blazes were abating several hours later, while a strong firefighting force was battling to place the flames under control, with land forces aided by Canadair scooping planes.

In Xanthi, two fires broke out on Sunday near the villages of Melissa and Simantra. The Melissa blaze, which was abating, has burned more than 80,000 stemmas of brush, while the Simantra fire has been contained. Firefighters were being assisted by two firefighting planes, water trucks and municipal landfill trucks, while firefighters from nearby prefectures also rushed to their assistance. No populated areas were threatened by either of the two blazes, according to officials.

Further, a fire broke out in the mountainous area of Kerameion on Saturday afternoon near Chania, on the island of Crete. The fire broke out in a sheep pen located a short distance from a populated area. Six fire engines, manned by a team of 15 firefighters, rushed to the site and managed to quickly extinguish the blaze. But the flames had quickly engulfed the sheep pen, before help arrived, burning a dozen sheep and goats, and several olive oil and cypress trees.

The cause of the fire was being investigated.

Caption: Canadair scooping plane dropping water on wildfire on island of Skyros. (ANA-MPA)

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

The indictment returned on the 2006 acquisition of the Athens-listed electronics retail chain Germanos S.A. by mobile phone operator Cosmote (subsidiary of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization-OTE), as a prosecutor filed felony charges on Friday over the acquisition against several individuals, amid chages by main opposition PASOK MPs that the price of the acquisition was four times higher than Germanos' market value, and the Siemens scandal dominated the front pages of Athens' newspapers on Sunday.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "I gazed in wonder on Greece twice from Space - The Greek 'Gagarin' (Yuri, Russian cosmonaut), Dr. Theodore Yurchikhin (Greek-Russian cosmonaut from the Black Sea area) the person of honor this past week in Athens".

APOGEVMATINI: "Simitis' (PASOK former prime minister and former party leader) three accusations against George (PASOK leader Papandreou)".

AVGHI: "Alogoskoufis (economy and finance miniser) issue arises - Obvious political responsibilities in Cosmote-Germanos deal".

AVRIANI: "SDOE (financial crimes squad) and prosecutor's swoop on OTE - Government-PASOK clash over the 'Germanos' acquisition".

CHORA: "They set up bogus companies for the C4I (Athens 2004 Olympics security system) - They divided the kickbacks amongst themelves and then disappeared - Who took the 20 million euros, and how", adding that all-night secret meetins were taking place at a building near the public order ministry between (then) PASOK ministers and party cardres with executives of SAIC-Siemens even before the tender for the Olympiad's security system was announced, between mid-2002 and early-2003.

ETHNOS: "The magic trick that vanished the kickbacks".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "From the Germans to 'Germanos' - The scandals pendulum".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "From 'Germanos' (also the Greek word for German) to Germanos - Siemens and Cosmote-Germanos nearing sideways the government, which is now facing fire from inside the ruling party".

KATHIMERINI: "Political storm forecast due to Siemens affair and economy - Quandaries for Karamanlis and Papandreou".

LOGOS: "Catharsis of political life is mandatory - The Siemens affair 'cracking' the two-party scenery".

NIKI: "Immense looting with 'Germanos' - Its acquisition by Cosmote a high-calibre scandal".

RIZOSPASTIS: "The burdens on the working mother and the working-class family must be ameliorated - KKE (Communist Party of Greece) positions on protection of motherhood".

TO VIMA: "They fear...new party, and are not mulling more expulsions - The European Parliament elections a nightmare for ruling New Democracy and main opposition PASOK".

VRADYNI: "60,200 new jobs - And subsidies for creation of new businesses".

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