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Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-04-28Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] WHO to award PM for tough anti-smoking stanceRUSSIA (ANA-MPA - Th. Avgerinos) The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday announced that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is to receive a World No Tobacco Day Award for his steadfast campaign and tough anti-smoking legislation in Greece.The decision was announced in Moscow during the first global health ministers' conference on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), for which tobacco use is a major risk factor. The World No Tobacco Day awards are given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to reducing tobacco use and part of the reasoning used for presenting the award to Papandreou was the "political courage" he displayed in passing potentially unpopular measures at a time when the Greek government was also adopting strict austerity measures to exit the economic crisis. The award will most likely be presented when the WHO officially inaugurates its first special bureau for NCDs for southeastern Europe in Athens on June 3. More details on the subscriber's page of ANA-MPA | Subscription request form [02] Bank borrowing from ECB further reduced in FebruaryThe dependence of Greek banks on the European Central Bank continued to drop in February, according to figures released by the Bank of Greece on Thursday. These showed that sums borrowed by Greek banks from the ECB fell to 90.4 billion euro in February 2011, from 94.4 billion euro in January 2011.The Bank of Greece has asked highstreet banks to submit plans that will gradually 'wean' them from dependence on capital supplied by the ECB by mid-May. More details on the subscriber's page of ANA-MPA | Subscription request form [03] Papoulias to inaugurate Nebojsa TowerPresident of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Serb President Boris Tadic will jointly inaugurate the landmark Nebojsa Tower in Belgrade on Friday. The recently renovated tower was the prison in which Greek independence struggle hero Rigas Velestinlis (also known as Ferraios) was put to death by Ottoman Turkish authorities in 1798.Following the inauguration ceremony, Papoulias will be shown around all four levels of the new museum and then have a private meeting with his Serb counterpart, after which there will be a dinner in honour of the Greek delegation. Papoulias will be accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis and his itinerary during his stay in Belgrade will include a visit to the Serb Patriarch. The renovation of Nebojsa Tower was funded by Greece and the municipality of Belgrade and carried out over two years, at a cost 1.8 million euros. The Greek state, via the Greek foreign ministry international developmental aid service 'Hellenic Aid' has paid 1.38 million euro toward the project. The tower will serve as a museum exhibit site featuring exhibits related to the life and work of Rigas Feraios and also to the Serbs own struggle for independence from Ottoman rule. The second storey of the four-storey tower will be devoted to Feraios and the Greek revolution. Other exhibits will focus the tower's use as a prison at the end of the 18th and the start of the 19th centuries. Nejbosa Tower is a medieval structure built by Hungarians on the ruins of an older Roman tower dating from the 1st century A.D. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history. Rigas Feraios was imprisoned there for roughly seven months before he was put to death by Turks, becoming one of the first martyrs of Greece's struggle for independence. More details on the subscriber's page of ANA-MPA | Subscription request form Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |