Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] New Archbishop elected

[02] Synaspismos Congress begins

[03] FM inaugurates Forest of Sculptures

[04] Inauguration of Agrotica 2008

[05] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] New Archbishop elected

Ieronymos was elected to the helm of the Autocephalus Orthodox Church of Greece by the Holy Synod in the second round of voting.

Church bells at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral, where the Holy Synod convened early Thursday morning to elect the new Archbishop began ringing joyously as the lamp outside the Cathedral was lit to announce that a new Archbishop has been elected.

[02] Synaspismos Congress begins

The Congress will conclude on Sunday with the election of a new party leader.

The two candidates for the party leadership are 60-year-old veteran Left politician and MP Fotis Kouvelis, and 34-year-old Political Secretariat member responsible for education and youth affairs Alexis Tsipras, a former secretary of the party's youth organisation.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of outgoing Synaspismos leader Alekos Alavanos

[03] FM inaugurates Forest of Sculptures

The famed Forest of Sculptures collection was a gift from the late collector Simon Spierer to the Hessisches Landesmuseum (Hesse State Museum) in Darmstadt, Germany, comprising forty sculptures by such artists as Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti and Max Ernst, tracing 20th century sculpture from late art deco to postmodernism.

In its first showing showing outside of Darmstadt, the collection will be on exhibition in Athens through April 14, after which it will travel to other capitals throughout Europe.

Speaking at the opening, Bakoyannis said that the exhibition's showing in Athens comprised strong proof that the Greek capital was capable of attracting international interest.

The exhibition opens with a portrait of Spierer by Andy Warhol, and contains impessive sculptures by Armitage, Arp, Bill, Bourgeois, Brancusi, Cardenas, Caro, Cesar, Cragg, Croissant, Ernst, Fernagu, Fontana, Giacometti, Gonzalez, Herworth, Kito, Lobo, Masson, Melotti, Moore, Noguchi, Pan, Penalba, Perrot, Petters, Pomodoro, De Pury, Reggiani, Richier, Rohm, Romeda, Spoerri, Stankiewicz, Trubbiani, Turnbull, Uecker, Williams, and Greek artists Takis and Avramidis.

While many of the works have human form, such as Moore's "Three Quarter Figure", others like Lucio Fontana's "Torso of a Horse" and Graham Williams' "Folded Steel Leaves" follow other lines.

Caption: Anthony Cragg's "Manipulations", one of the works at the Forests of Sculptures exhibition that opened in Athens on Wednesday in it's first foreign showing. EPA/Frank May

[04] Inauguration of Agrotica 2008

Kontos said that his ministry has been setting and implementing a substantive reform in the agricultural sector over the past years, a reform in the framework of which changes are being scheduled to support agricultural income in the new and strongly competitive environment that is being shaped both inside and outside the country's borders.

He added that securing the preconditions to further improve the quality of Greek agricultural products and highlight their comparative advantages is another goal.

Kontos further stressed that for the first time and under difficult conditions a strategy has been shaped for the country's main agricultural products, tobacco, cotton, olive oil and grain.

Lastly, he added that a "struggle" to support them has been waged and is being waged on a daily basis, while Greek stockbreeding has been removed from the sidelines and placed in an orbit of recovery with a package of important measures that provide a solution for longstanding problems in the sector.

Caption: View of the exhibition Agrotica 2008 in Thessaloniki on Wednesday 6 February. ANA-MPA/NIKOS ARVANITIDIS

[05] Athens Newspaper Headlines

The election of a new Archbishop of Athens and All Greece on Thursday by the Holy Synod, and the expected release of the case file on the Zachopoulos affair to the lawyers of the persons involved dominated the headlines on Thursday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "6,500 jobs under Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) programs in Attica prefecture".

APOGEVMATINI: "(Former Education Minister Marietta) Yannakou's leg was amputated - Tragic development in her health".

AVGHI: "Expectations and hopes prevail over Synaspismos' congress - 5th party congress opens on Thursday with address by leader Alekos Alavanos".

AVRIANI: "(Main opposition) PASOK former Ministers point finger at one another over the scandal concerning the security of the Athens Olympic Games - Former Minister Vangelis Malessios' letter 'burns' former Prime Minister Costas Simitis and sets fire to PASOK".

CHORA: "Work for 6,500 unemployed - New programme by OAED".

ELEFTHERI ORA: "We (the newspaper) had predicted Christodoulos' election (as Archbishop) and now we predict that Metropolitan of Sparta Efstathios will be new Archbishop".

ELEFTHEROS: "They're manipulating for a triple name for FYROM - The UN's negotiator, American Matthew Nimetz, will present the proposal in Athens".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Political 'tsunami' overwhelms the parties ahead of announcement of charges (against specific persons involved in the Zachopoulos affair) - War in parliament among PASOK - KKE - SYRIZA and government".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Warning bell for Karamanlis - Social security reforms, scandals paralyzing the government."

ESTIA: "The election of a new Archbishop - The Archbishop will be called on to play significant role."

ETHNOS: "The release of the Zachopoulos case files under the shadow of the election of a new Archbishop - The file opens at the most suitable time for the government".

KATHIMERINI: "Ieronymos (Metroplitan of Thebes) and Efstathios (Metropolitan of Sparta) the favorites - The election of a new Archbishop is expected to be concluded at noon."

LOGOS: " 'Jihad' over the succession - 'Zero hour' for the election of a new Archbishop".

NIKI: "For whom the bell tolls - Overnight behind-the-scenes negotiations over the election of Archbishop."

RIZOSPASTIS: "State-controlled, socially-oriented energy sector that meets the people's needs".

TA NEA: "Economy Ministry to freeze the planned increases in real estate objective values".

TO VIMA: "PASOK members give hands, while in ruling party New Democracy they're 'stabbing' each another - Souflias (Enviroment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister who is opposed to the government's plans on social security reforms) a problem in the government".

VRADYNI: "The standard is high for the election of the new Shepherd - Holy Synod elects on Thursday a new Archbishop".

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