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The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 02-08-19The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>CONTENTS[01] Weather forecastScattered showers, mainly on the mainland, are forecast on Monday for Greece. Northerly and north-easterly winds, moderate to strong – possibly reaching gale force intensity during the night – on the seas. Temperatures between 17C to 28C in the north; 19C to 31C in the rest of the mainland and 22C to 30C on the islands.Cloudy with a chance of rain in Athens, 22C to 31C. The same for Thessaloniki, 20C to 28C. (19/8/2002 12:00:00 μμ) [02] Greece hit by floodsThe National Meteorological Serviced forecasts strong thunderstorms until Friday, while according to statements made to NET 105.8 Fire Brigade chief Panayiotis Fourlas said that the state mechanism is on the alert to deal with the thunderstorm that may hit Attica.Meanwhile, the strong thunderstorm that hit Athens yesterday caused serious problems, among which was the overflow of Kifisos river that caused chaos in the Southern and Western suburbs. At the same time the Fire Brigade received more than 1,000 calls from the areas of Faliron, Moschato, Petroupolis, Kolonos, Ilioupolis, Ilion, Liosia, Dafni and the centre of Athens for help. There were also problems with the supply of energy power, since damages were caused to substations of the Public Power Corporation. According to statements made to NET 105.8, by the Public Power Corporation Manager Grigoris Antonopoulos all damages have been restored. Commenting on the damages, New Democracy Environment and Public Works spokesman Savvas Tsitourides said that the extreme weather conditions could not constitute an alibi for the government failure to deal with the problems. Finally, heavy rainfall was observed at the prefectures of Thessaloniki, Argolis and Corinth yesterday causing the flooding of basements at houses and shops. (19/8/2002 12:03:00 μμ) [03] Europe still suffering from adverse weather conditionsIn Europe the adverse weather conditions that prevailed during the last days continue causing problems. In Germany, the floods of river Elva have spread to the north bringing down all water dams at Saxony-Anhald that have been declared into a state of emergency. At the same time, 40,000 inhabitants in Vitenbergue have been evacuated, while in Moulde, Biderfeld the water level has reached 1.5 metres. Finally, 2,000 people have been evacuated from Norwest Magdembourgh for precautionary reasons.In the meantime, the European Union has pledged to release funds to help central European countries recover from the devastating effects of floods that have killed more than 100 people. Commission President Romano Prodi made the announcement at a meeting in the German capital, Berlin of leaders of four of the countries worst affected. The monies were to come from unspent funds from the EU's structural budget - although no exact figure has been released. The cost of the devastating floods is still largely unknown, but is expected to run into tens of billions of dollars. In Chech, the authorities have ordered the evacuation of two suburbs in Prague, where buildings are in danger of collapsing, while a multi storey building has already collapsed in Karlin. Finally, Asia seems not to have escaped torrential rain that caused the death of 322 people in China, Vietnam and Mali. (19/8/2002 12:05:00 μμ) [04] Reserved optimism about inflation by ChristodoulakisIn an interview with the newspaper "To Ethnos", Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis has warned that the government will not proceed with any salary raises in view of the coming elections. Additionally, he criticizes the policy according to which more votes could be won if salary raises and other benefits were offered.Regarding the course of the Greek economy, Mr Christodoulakis appears reservedly optimistic and especially worried for the course of inflation. Referring to farmers he says that according to the European Union framework, they constitute a priority for the government. At the same time, he states that there should not be the illusion that Greek tax payers will be subsidizing the prices of agricultural products. (19/8/2002 12:07:00 μμ) (19/8/2002 12:08:00 μμ) The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |