Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-12-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] State to challenge decision on property tax in electricity bills

[02] Greek GDP shrinks 7.2% in Q3

[03] Double murder in village near Lamia

[04] Shoot-out with armed robbers

[05] Former Minister's cars targeted

[06] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies

[07] Gov't, banks discuss bond buy back programme

[01] State to challenge decision on property tax in electricity bills

Following a class-action suit by consumer groups and federations, the Athens First Instance Court ruled on Tuesday that collecting the extraordinary surtax through PPC was illegal and provisionally executable, meaning that the PPC has to stop collecting the surtax, even if an appeal was lodged by the state, until a higher court ruling is issued.

The state will appeal the application of the ruling and take the case to the Supreme Court in an effort to overrule it, while PPC instructed its cashiers on Wednesday to accept payment for the electricity consumption part of the bills, not the tax attached.amna

If the Supreme Court upholds the Athens court's ruling, the state will have to find an alternative way of collecting the tax.

[02] Greek GDP shrinks 7.2% in Q3

The EU executive's statistics arm, in a report released here, said the Greek economy shrank by 7.2 pct in the July-September period, compared with the same period in 2011, after shrinking by 6.3 pct in the second quarter and 6.7 pct in the first quarter of 2012.

In the Eurozone, the Gross Domestic Product shrank by 0.6 pct in the third quarter, while in the EU-27 the GDP shrank by 0.4 pct, after recording negative growth rates of 0.5 pct and 0.3 pct in the second quarter, respectively.amna

Greece recorded the highest drop in GDP in the third quarter in the European Union, followed by Portugal (-3.4 pct), Slovenia (-2.9 pct), Italy (-2.4 pct), Cyprus (-2.3 pct), Spain and Hungary (-1.6 pct), Czech Republic (-1.5 pct) and the Netherlands (-1.4 pct).

On the other hand, Latvia (5.3 pct), Estonia (3.4 pct), Lithuania (3.3 pct), Slovakia (2.5 pct) and Poland (1.9 pct) recorded the highest GDP growth rates.amna

Eurostat said that investments fell by 0.7 pct in the Eurozone in the third quarter, after falling by 1.8 pct in the second quarter, while in the EU-27 investments fell by 0.6 pct and -1.7 pct respectively.amna

Household consumption was stable in the Eurozone, rising by 0.1 pct in the EU in the third quarter, while exports rose by 0.9 pct in the Eurozone and imports edged 0.2 pct higher in the July-September period.

[03] Double murder in village near Lamia

An 18-year-old boy who was living with his 89year-old grandmother for reasons as yet unknown argued with her and afterwards stabbed her to death.

A 74-year-old neighbour who heard the woman's screams went to see what was happening, was rushed by the young man, who was in a manic rage, and was fatally stabbed with the same knife.amna

The neighbour's wife also went also to see what was happening and the 18-year-old attacked and seriously injured her.amna

The woman was rushed to Lamia hospital.

Police managed to subdue the perpetrator and arrest him after more than half an hour, and took him to Lamia hospital where he remains under guard and still in a manic rage.

[04] Shoot-out with armed robbers

The four armed robbers broke into a one-family house in Nea Erythrea at about 3:30 a.m. and fled with a briefcase containing an undisclosed amount of cash. The residents got wind of the break-in and immediately alerted the police.amna

Officers in a police patrol car caught up with the robbers' car a short distance away, and the robbers opened fire on the police, who returned the shots while in pursuit.

The robbers abandoned their car in the Ekali area, where they stopped Triantafyllopoulos, who was driving by at the time, forced him to get out of the car, a Porsche Cayenne, and attempted to flee in the journalist's car, but in nearby corner the car overturned and fell into a ditch.

The robbers fled on foot under cover of the dark.amna

A strong police contingent has surrounded the area, in the belief that the suspects could not have gotten far away and are in hiding nearby.

[05] Former Minister's cars targeted

The two cars were seriously damaged from the explosion and the fire that followed. The Fire Brigade put out the blaze.amna

Police have launched an investigation to find the perpetrators.

[06] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies

The Finance Ministry's deliberations with delegations of the three parties that support the coalition government on the new tax bill and the skyrocketing of unemployment in Greece, dominated the headlines on Friday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Breather for families with more than 3 children".

AVGHI: "Government declares war on small and medium size enterprises".

DIMOKRATIA: "Who and what they will pay".

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: "The most unsuitable".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Who gain and who lose from the new taxation system".

ESTIA: "Taxes have devastated the economy".

ETHNOS: "Salary earners again will bear the cross".

IMERISSIA: "Tax-sensible turn - Extreme regulations withdrawn".

KATHIMERINI: "Improvements in new tax bill".

LOGOS: "Explosive mix of poverty and unemployment".

NAFTEMPORIKI: "Recession, unemployment strangling the Greek economy".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Popular uprise against the tax bill".

TA NEA: "Face-lift to income tax rates".

6 DAYS: "The great massacre after the supposed retreat".

[07] Gov't, banks discuss bond buy back programme

The boards of Greek commercial banks will convene early on Friday to decide on their participation in the program, with 100 pct of their Greek state bond portfolios. amna

During the meeting, the Finance minister referred to a legislative move which will clear the banks' boards from any legal responsibilities resulting from participating in the buy back programe.

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