Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-10-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] Candidates launch campaigns

[02] Bartholomew in New Orleans

[03] ASE opening: Decline

[04] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] Candidates launch campaigns

The fourth candidate is Thessaloniki prefect Panagiotis Psomiadis.

The official deadline set by ND's Extraordinary Congress Organising Committee for the submission of 50 signatures by Congress delegates (electors) endorsing the candidacies expires at 8:00 p.m. Thursday..

The chairman of the organising committee for the party's upcoming extraordinary Congress, Dimitris Sioufas, on Wednesday stated that no specific date has been set for the election of a new party leader, adding, however, that the election process must be completed by December 14.

The ND extraordinary congress will be held on November 7.

Outgoing ND leader Costas Karamanlis has accepted the agreement reached by the four official candidates for the party's leadership, according to which, the new president will be elected by the party members within a month following the Nov. 7 congress, Sioufas stated.

He also added that he has already clarified that changes are necessary to be made in the party's founding charter following the unanimous agreement of the four candidates. ND's central committee will undertake to introduce suggested amendments at the extraordinary congress for approval, thus clearing the way for the election of a new party leadership.

[02] Bartholomew in New Orleans

Bartholomew, who has been dubbed the "Green Patriarch" because of his environmental sensitivities and initiatives and interest in the intersection of faith and the environment, has been organising the Symposium since 1995, which focuses each time on a specific body of water and the problems faced by the surrounding communities and ecosystems. Previous Symposium themes have included the Aegean Sea, the Nile Delta, the Amazon, the Danube River and the Arctic Ocean.

The 8th Symposium, titled "The Great Mississippi River: Restoring Balance" and taking place over the next five days on a steamboat sailing on the Mississippi River, brings together environmental scientists, theologians, environmentalists, business leaders, public officials and media representatives to discuss the problems and challenges facing both the River and the area, nearly three years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The Ecumenical Patriarch had visited New Orleans in January 2006, just four months after the hurricane and ensuing massive flooding.

In his opening address, the Ecumenical Patriarch described the 8th Symposium as "historical" and "special", noting that the Mississippi River was a "microcosm of our planet", in whose waters one can observe many of the global environmental problems, and stressed that "we are here to hear its story, and learn from its history".

Messages from Pope Benedict and former US vice president and Nobel laureate Al Gore were also read out.

"Our decisions, individual or collective, determine the future of the planet. We have extended our domination over nature to such a point that we touched the absolute boundaries of survival," Bartholomew said.

"We have lost half of the great forests of the world due to the demand for wood, but also for their conversion into expanses for cultivation. The quantity of water in some of the biggest rivers of the world has been substantially reduced to human activity, with the result that they don't even reach the sea. But even the water that does flow into the sea now conveys chemicals and industrial waste, as well as the trash it collects along the way. Instead of living off the surplus of the natural resources, we are wasting the environmental capital and destroying the natural sources of the Earth as if there is no tomorrow. The dilemmas we face are problems created by human beings. We must keep in our thoughts the fact that we are all on the same fragile ship of life," he added.

Archbishop Demetrios of America also delivered a greeting to the Symposium, referring to "the wounds caused to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina" and stressing that "many years will be needed to heal them".

Caption: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrives at Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans on Wednesday 21 October 2009. ANA-MPA/DIMITRIS PANAGOS

[03] ASE opening: Decline

Individual sector indices were moving mostly downward, with the biggest gains in Health, up 1.43 percent; Mass Media, up 0.96 percent; and Commerce, up 0.57 percent.

The biggest losses were in Industrial Products, down 1.84 percent; Banks, down 1.83 percent; and Telecoms, down 1.76 percent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was down 1.62 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was down 0.2w percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was down 0.14 percent.

Of the stocks moved, 37 were up, 77 were down, and 23 were unchanged.

[04] Athens Newspaper Headlines

Government spokesman George Petalotis statement terminating the STAGE (EU subsidised work experience acquisition program) contracts in the public sector, the process for electing a new leader in main opposition New Democracy (ND) party and the substantial changes in the taxation system, dominated the headlines on Thursday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Government prepares harsh measures - End to the promises".

APOGEVMATINI: "100,000 employees in the public sector and local governments losing their jobs - Government sinks into despair thousands of families".

AVGHI: "As soon as possible! Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou announced in English the legalisation of non-state colleges".

AVRIANI: "The Europeans and Americans are responsible for the country's huge deficits".

CHORA: "The candidates for ND's leadership unsheathed their knives".

ELEFTHEROS: "40,000 STAGE employees will be fired - The government spokesman announced that their contracts will not be renewed".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "In 10 days we will have a draft of the 2010 State Budget".

ESTIA: "This is how the tax evasion will be intercepted - Restoration of the people's confidence in the state".

ETHNOS: "Favoritism....hirings through the sieve - The pre-election political favors that increased the expenses are being reviewed".

KATHIMERINI: "Changes in taxation will start in 2010 - Stage contracts will not be renewed in the public sector".

LOGOS: "Election fever increases in ND".

NIKI: "They should be ashamed! ND sank Greece, and her cadres are impudent".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Stable, permanent jobs in public and private sector - Preposterous manipulation through Stage programmes".

TA NEA: "Thousands of contract employees in the public sector will be fired - Government imposes severe measures".

TO VIMA: "The 2010 new taxes will be decided through dialogue".

VRADYNI: "Tax storm on employees, pensioners and professionals".

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