Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-07-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] FM on Gaza initiative

[02] Man arrested at Athens airport with packages of cocaine in stomach

[03] Support to enterprises

[04] Deregulation of taxis

[01] FM on Gaza initiative

In a brief meeting with the press, Lambrinidis pointed out that Athens is in consultation with the UN and the international community on the issue.

As regards his upcoming visit to Berlin on July 5-6 and Vienna on July 7, he underlined his intention to tour the European countries that "are on the front line in terms of diplomacy" and their people do not understand the efforts made by Greece.

On his part, foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said that this is "a time of responsibility" referring to developments in the Middle East and also in terms of the safety of the people who participate in the "Free Gaza" flotilla.

On the Greek initiative for the immediate transport of humanitarian aid to Gaza, he said Lambrinidis had a telephone communication with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The foreign ministry general secretary will meet on Tuesday with Arab ambassadors.ana-mpa

Meanwhile, an effort is being made to be in contact with the "Free Gaza" flotilla to have the humanitarian aid loaded over to Greek vessels.

Delavekouras reminded that Athens believes that the Gaza blockade should be lifted and that a peaceful solution should be found.

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[02] Man arrested at Athens airport with packages of cocaine in stomach

The man was arrested at Eleftherios Venizelos airport in Athens at noon on Sunday, while he was in the arrivals lounge where he had only just arrived by air from Lagos, Nigeria, via Dubai.ana-mpa

The man was considered suspicious of carrying drugs with the swallowing method and with his explicit consent he was led to a hospital on duty where during his treatment he gradually expelled 75 packages of cocaine having different weights.

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[03] Support to enterprises

The programme will begin from September and will cover enterprises operating for at least five years in the sectors of manufacturing, green economy, home building, transport and high value added services which have been mostly hit by the crisis. ana-mpa

The plan will cover also enterprises with negative balance sheets employing at least one worker on the precondition that they have tax and social insurance clearance and that they will maintain their job positions. Another precondition is that enterprises should have received any state support more than 200,000 euros in the last three years. The ministry expects around 20,000 to benefit from the programme.

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[04] Deregulation of taxis

Deregulation of the specific sector came into effect on July 2, with individuals interested in acquiring a taxi licence now required to merely file an application with regional authorities. The amount of the application fee will be decided within the next three months, and according to Ragoussis, it will be very low. Conditions for acquiring a taxi licence, i.e. a clean criminal record by the applicant, will also be announced soon.

Ragoussis also announced that public transport means in Athens will soon offer free Wi-Fi wireless internet access to commuters.

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