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Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-01-20Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] 'Big 3' post victoriesAEK Athens continued to hold a slim lead atop the Greek first division (Super League) football standings over the weekend with a 1-0 away win on Saturday evening against a tough Atromitos Athens side. Rivals Olympiakos Piraeus and Panathinaikos Athens -- one and two points behind AEK, respectively -- also kept their championship hopes alive, with the former beating OFI Crete 1-0 away on Sunday and Panathinaikos rebounding from a 4-0 mid-week thrashing at the hands of Olympiakos, during a Cup qualifier, to beat lowly Ergotelis 1-0 at home later in the evening.In other action over the weekend: Aris Thessaloniki - Apollon Kalamaria 2-2 Asteras Tripoli - Xanthi 0-0 Veria - Larissa 1-0 Levadiakos Livadia - Panionios Athens 1-0 Iraklis Thessaloniki - PAOK Thessaloniki - 1-0 Standings after 17 weeks of play: AEK 39 points Olympiakos 38 Panathinaikos 37 Asteras 30 Aris 29 PAOK 23 Panionios 22 Xanthi 22 Atromitos 21 Levadiakos 18 Iraklis 18 Veria 17 Larissa 16 OFI 15 Apollon 15 Ergotelis 12 Caption: Panathinaikos Athens striker Dimitris Salpiggidis (L), the scorer of the lone goal on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008, during the Panathinaikos-Ergotelis first division football match in Athens, attempts to take the ball from Ergotelis defender Darko Miladin. ANA-MPA / INTIME / SPYROS PANTAZATOS [02] Latest poll resultsRuling New Democracy (ND) party leads main opposition PASOK by 2.2 percentage points, according to a nationwide opinion poll published by the Sunday edition of an Athens daily.According to results, ND garnered 30.2 percent of voters' preference, as opposed to 28 percent for PASOK, followed by 8.2 percent for the Communist Party of Greece (KKE); 8.1 percent for the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) parliamentary group led by the Coalition of the Left party (Synaspismos), and 3.8 percent for the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party. Four percent of the respondents opted for other parties, whereas "no reply" responses reached 14.6 percent. Roughly 72 percent of respondents said they believe main opposition PASOK was not heading in the right direction, with 39.6 percent of all respondents, and 38.1 percent of PASOK voters, believing that the so-called 'trend' within the party, headed by recent leadership contender and former minister Evangelos Venizelos was gaining in strength, while 46.1 percent of respondents believe the opposite. In reference to the ongoing and heated Zachopoulos affair, 87.4 percent of respondents said they believe that corruption is a long-standing problem in the country, while 66.2 percent believe that nothing can be done to contain the problem -- with 32.7 percent holding the opposite view. Also, 52.8 percent of respondents believe corruption is a political issue; 26.2 percent that it is a social issue, and 19.2 percent that it is a financial issue. Furthermore, an overwhelming 78.8 percent of respondents criticised the stance maintained on the Zachopoulos affair by both ND and PASOK, while positions of other parties were also deemed as negative: KKE (62.8 percent), SYRIZA (55.9 percent), LA.OS (60.2 percent), reporters (69.7 percent), media owners (74.2 percent), and judicial officials (51.6 percent). Additionally, 42 percent of respondents said a government under Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis can better tackle problems faced by citizens, whereas 32.9 percent believe this holds true of a PASOK government led by Papandreou. The telephone poll was conducted by MRB polling firm between Jan. 16-17 on a sample of 1,002 respondents, and published by the "Eleftheros Typos" daily. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |