Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-11-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] ND leadership race: Avramopoulos backs Samaras

[02] 50th anniversary of ECHR marked in Greece

[03] Greeks among Europe's most net savvy users

[04] Pireaus port strike illegal

[05] ASE opening: Rise

[06] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] ND leadership race: Avramopoulos backs Samaras

Caption: Candidate for New Democracy leadership Antonis Samaras (R), ND former candidate for leadership Dimitris Avramopoulos (C), and candidate Dora Bakoyannis (L).

[02] 50th anniversary of ECHR marked in Greece

Athens Bar Association president Dimitris Paxinos spoke of the immense prestige at both European and international level of the ECHR, which has jurisdiction in the 47 Council of Europe member states, calling it the guardian of the hopes of each and every European citizen and stressing its role in the implementation of a supra-national legal culture capable of negating state arbitrariness.

Paxinos stressed that human rights are the foundation of justice in a world without discriminations that promotes the ideal of humanity.

Kastanidis noted the "multiform reality of the fundamental human rights enjoyed by the people, and by Europe, from the founding and function of the ECHR for the past 50 years, influencing lawful practice", and stressed that Greece is consistently oriented, with devotion, to the work of the ECHR, as it is the most recognised court that honors the legal culture.

ECHR chief Costa also spoke of the Court's prestige and its contribution to enriching the national legislations, presenting several examples concerning France and its convictions by the Strasbourg-based Court, which he said had greatly influenced the revision of its legislation and its adherence to the ECHR rulings.

ECHR Greek vice-president Christos Rozakis noted the Court's role in the creation of a new area of harmonisation of the protection of rights Europe-wide. Although every case is unique and concerns specific petitioners, a kind of uniform European public order, founded on the rationale of European unification, is gradually built through this case-law, he added.

ECHR Greek section head Marialena Tsirly noted the corrective role of the Court in the improvement of national legislation, as well as in cases of Greek petitioners and convictions against Greece.

[03] Greeks among Europe's most net savvy users

Further, 33 percent of Greek net users update their profile on a daily basis, compared with the European average of 15 percent, while 37 percent of Greek net users monitor their friends' profiles daily (against a European average of 19 percent).

The results of the survey, conducted by InSites Consulting in collaboration with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)-Interactive Communication Organisation and the IABs of 16 countries, including Greece, were presented Monday night to the members of IAB Hellas.

The profile of the Greek net user shows a very active, social and aware user, according to the survey, which further noted that 66 percent of Greek net users log onto the we daily (against European average of 53 percent), while 24 percent remain actively online for more than four hours daily against a European average of 17 percent.

Further, 19 percent of Greek net users also possess a "smart" mobile phone (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) and subscribes to a net access service via mobile (vs. European average of 15 percent), while 54 percent of the Greek users check their e-mails daily (against a European average of 37 percent).

Also, 35 percent of Greek users use instant messaging on a daily average (European average 25 percent), 21 percent view videos on YouTube daily (12 percent European average), 24 percent upload videos at least once a week (European average 12 percent), and 25 percent listen to the radio via internet daily (16 percent European average).

In addition, 36 percent of Greek net users employ search engines several times a day (European average 22 percent), while 67 percent use search engines at least once a week in search of products and services for purchase (European average 59 percent), while 64 percent use the engines to find sales points (European average 56 percent), and 69 percent trust the results of the search engines.

To the question "which sources of information (online and offline) they have more confidence in when searching for brands, products and services, the comparison websites topped the list of Greek net users' preference with 67 percent, followed by sites with user evaluation with 58 percent, and sites with expert evaluations with 46 percent. Contact with sellers was in fourth place with 41 percent, and the opinion of friends and/or acquaintances was fifth in preference with 39 percent.

The average Greek web user has made online purchases seven times in the last year, compared with the European average of eight times, while the UK topped the list with 10+ times in the past year. Also, 82 percent of the Greeks who have purchased online are likely or highly likely to do so again.

Further, 60 percent of Greek net users fell that web surfing would be more pleasant of the advertisements were more adapted to their profile (European average 47 percent), while 65 percent state their willingness to receive communications from the companies of which they are already customers.

In addition, 70 percent of Greek net users find the proposed products and services from sites they visit regularly as "useful", while 50 percent find the paid advertisements on search engines "useful". Also, 25 percent forward to friends or upload on video sharing sites at least once a week the advertisements they found to be interesting.

Also, 72 percent of Greek web users find online advertisement less annoying than on other media, while the most attractive element of an online advertisement, for the Greek user, is a smart concept and multimedia elements (sound and video).

Finally, 59 percent of Greek net users are not annoyed by advertisements on social networks (European average 32 percent), while 37 percent are not averse to the use of their data for more optimum targeting of the advertisements (European average 26 percent).

IAB Hellas was founded in 2001 and is the sectoral association in Greece for companies involved in all forms of digital and interactive market. It is a member of the relevant global network and a member of IAB Europe, which today numbers some 70 members.

[04] Pireaus port strike illegal

The ruling came after the countryâs chambers of commerce and 48 businesses filed a class action lawsuit against the 1,500 striking dockworkers in the port of Piraeus, claiming that their financial interests are being hurt. The dock workers union is opposing implementation of a contract giving Chinese multinational Cosco concession of the Piraeus container port -- one of the biggest direct foreign investments in Greece over the recent period.

The dockworkers union OMYLE will convene later Tuesday to decide its future steps.

[05] ASE opening: Rise

Individual sector indices were moving mostly upward, with the biggest gains in Commerce, up 1.82 percent; Technology, up 1.50 percent and Travel and Recreation, up 1.46 percent.

The biggest losses were in Insurance, down 2.89 percent; Public Utilities, down 0.17 percent and Chemicals, down 0.12 percent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was up 0.60 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was up 0.78 percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was up 1.36 percent.

Of the stocks moved, 81 were up, 27 were down, and 24 were unchanged.

[06] Athens Newspaper Headlines

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou's meetings with EU representatives on the economy, ECB president Jean Claude Trichet's and EU commissioner Joaquin Almunia's demand to personally supervise the 2010 State Budget expenditures, the Piraeus port dockworkers' strike and China's discontent, the changes in public sector hiring and the situation in main opposition New Democracy with opinion polls indicating that the election of the new party leader will be a derby between Dora Bakoyannis and Antonis Samaras dominated the headlines on Tuesday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Government's pro-popular policy leaves 130,000 contract employees jobless".

APOGEVMATINI: "Removal of religious symbols from courtrooms was demanded on Monday by the representative of the Hellenic Observatory of the Helsinki Agreement".

AVGHI: "European Commission auditors settle in Athens to monitor the course of State Budget".

AVRIANI: "Greece enters into state of severe surveillance - Papaconstantinou struggles to avoid the worse".

CHORA: "The underground war in ND is raging"

ELEFTHEROS: "Sweeping changes in hiring policy in public sector".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Ministers sidelined - The end of the 'all together' strategy".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Tear down the Cyprus Wall - George Papandreou: The Europe of freedom does not accept occupation troops on Cyprus".

ESTIA: "Eleftherios Venizelos (late Greek statesman) shows the way to solving the fiscal deficit".

ETHNOS: "More than 200,000 Greek have contracted the new flu".

KATHIMERINI: "China's resentment over Piraeus port strike - Court decision is expected".

LOGOS: "Zero hour for Piraeus port - The clash over the strike is send to justice".

NIKI: "Golden boys finish - National Radio and Television Foundation (ERT) CEO Christos Panagopoulos tendered his resignation".

RIZOSPASTIS: "We struggle for the Socialism that sooner or later will become a reality".

TA NEA: "6,500 hiring via the ASEP (public sector hiring examinations board) - New law to be tabled the end of November".

TO VIMA: "Almunia and Trichet demand immediate measures".

VRADYNI: "217,000 new unemployed in one month - Rise of unemployment tremendous - It skyrocketed to 13 percent".

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