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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 99-04-28Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, April 28, 1999TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] WOMAN KILLED DURING TERRORIST ATTACK IN ATHENS LAST NIGHTAthens, April 28 (MPA)The terrorist organization “Revolutionary Nuclei” has claimed responsibility for last night’s explosion at the lobby of the “Intercontinental Hotel” in Athens, occurring shortly before midnight, which killed a 39-year- old woman and injured a 28-year-old man.Both victims were employed by a computer company, installing facilities in light of today’s “Economist” conference to be held at that hotel. The terrorists issued a declaration wherein they claim that the deadly attack is aimed against the United States, NATO and the new order of things. The same organization also claimed responsibility for an additional eight explosions, starting from October 1996. Government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas has condemned the attack. A.F. [02] MORE CIVILIANS KILLED FROM NATO RAIDS IN YUGOSLAVIABelgrade, April 28 (MPA)More civilians were killed last night during NATO aircraft raids in a densely-inhabited region of the city Surdulica.According to reports, dozens were killed and a great number of others, mostly women and children, were injured during the strike. Belgrade was also subject to bombardment during the early morning hours. Gen. Wesley Clark, the supreme NATO commander in Europe, has announced that the air raids against Yugoslavia will intensify. Meanwhile, Greece’s Foreign Minster George Papandreou and the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan are traveling to Moscow today. A.F. [03] STUDENT BODY ELECTIONS HELD AT GREEK UNIVERSITIES TODAYThessaloniki, April 28 (MPA)Student body elections are being held at the Greek university campuses today, including the technical education colleges. The ballots will close at sundown and the primary results are expected to be announced shortly after 10 p.m. tonight. The National Council of Youth has announced that the elections should constitute the starting point for the reorganization of the student body movement throughout the country. A.F.[04] MPA PARTICIPATES IN HERMES TRADE EXPO NEXT WEEK IN NEW YORKThessaloniki, April 28 (MPA)The Macedonian Press Agency is to participate at the 7th Annual Business Development Trade Show and Exhibition in the United States (Hermes Expo International 1999) , to be held on May 7-8 at the New York Hilton. The event is expected to give the opportunity to Greeks living on both sides of the Atlantic to consolidate their communication channels. This marks the first the MPA has the opportunity to take part in such an organized show, which will illustrate the agency’s multifaceted activities in the media sector, and especially its singular commitment to the Greek community abroad. This year’s event will also feature the participation of ventures from Albania, Romania and other Balkan countries. Greece’s Undersecretary of Sports Andreas Fouras will inaugurate the event and has expressed the hope that the participation of the General Secretariat of Sports and representatives of the Greek business sector will contribute to the further advancement of Greek products and services in the U.S., as well as to the promotion of Greece’s sports infrastructure, especially in light of the Athens-held Olympic Games of 2004. The Archbishop of America Spyridon will also attend the inauguration ceremony. Greek businesses interested in serving the needs of the Greek American community and establishing an initial strong foothold in the massive American market, the exhibition is certainly worth attending as a number of joint-venture seminars will be held, which can provide fertile ground for such investments. A.F.[05] GREEK FM IN MOSCOW TO MEET WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPARTMoscow, April 28 (MPA)Greece’s Foreign Minister George Papandreou departed for Moscow today where he will conduct a working visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. Mr. Papandreou will discuss the latest developments in Kosovo with Mr. Ivanov, vice-premier Valentina Matvienko and the Russian president's special envoy on a Yugoslavia settlement Viktor Chernomyrdin. Tomorrow, Mr. Papandreou will have talks on the Kosovo situation with the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan who will be in the Russian capital at that time. Mr. Papandreou will depart for Tbilisi on Friday where he will participate in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation where Greece will hold the rotating presidency as of May 1, 1999. Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas noted on Tuesday that the Greek government maintains an open communications channel with Moscow "to concert efforts, aimed at a search for a political settlement of the Yugoslav crisis". Mr. Papandreou's visit to Moscow at a time when Mr. Annan will be there, is "a lucky coincidence" which will enable the Greek and Russian governments to make efforts together with the United Nations to settle the Kosovo crisis politically, the spokesman emphasized. A.F.[06] NATO MIGHT STOP THE RAIDS IF SERB TROOPS LEAVE FROM KOSOVOWashington, April 28 (MPA)NATO might consider suspending its bombing of Yugoslavia while Belgrade is withdrawing its troops from Kosovo, the US State Department spokesperson James Rubin said Tuesday.“When authentic information about the withdrawal of the Serb forces arrives than a pause in conducting bombardments might be considered,” the US spokesman said. Mr. Rubin underlined that the NATO alliance reserves the right to resume air strikes in full scale if the suspension of bombardments do not result in full withdrawal of troops from Kosovo. A.F. [07] SECURITY COUNCIL TROUBLED OVER HUMANITARIAN SITUATIONUnited Nations, April 28 (MPA)The U.N. Security Council has expressed its deep concern in view of the worsening humanitarian situation in Yugoslavia, Alain Dejammet, this month's Council President, stated yesterday after the close of the Council's closed-door consultations.At the same time, the Council members came out in support of the activities of humanitarian organizations in Kosovo and adjacent areas, and welcomed, in particular, the latest efforts and initiatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Dejammet pointed out. A.F. [08] YUGOSLAV DELEGATION TO MEET WITH N. GREECE BUSINESSMENThessaloniki, April 28 (MPA)A delegation from the Economic Chamber of Yugoslavia is to be in Thessaloniki next Wednesday for a meeting with businessmen from northern Greece, in order to review the damages suffered by the sector from the conflict in Kosovo.Among the subjects to be discussed will be the difficulties faced by Greek manufacturers and businessmen who are active in Yugoslavia. The participants will brief one another on the consequences of the war, not only borne on the Greek businesses active in the neighboring country, but in Northern Greece’s tourism industry and exporting - transporting ventures. A.F. [09] SERB PARTY OF RENEWAL SAYS: NO NATO TROOPS IN YUGOSLAVIAStrasbourg, April 28 (MPA)The Serb party of renewal agrees to a political settlement of the Kosovo problem, but not to the deployment of NATO forces in Yugoslavia's territory as a result of such a settlement, Milan Bozic, one of the leaders of the Serb Party of Renewal, member of parliament, stated. According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Mr. Bozic stated that "there will certainly be a need for foreign presence in some form as the final stage of settlement, but we cannot put up with the deployment of NATO troops in Yugoslav territory. " He expressed consent to Russian servicemen participating in foreign troops that may be deployed in Yugoslavia and believes that such forces must be under the United Nations aegis. Mr. Bozic, representing the party led by Vuk Draskovic, said that there is now complete unity regarding the Kosovo crisis among Yugoslav political parties and movements. A.F.[10] TWENTY BODIES EXTRICATED SO FAR FROM RUBBLE IN SURDULICABelgrade, April 28 (MPA)Twenty bodies of civilians were extricated from under the debris of dwelling houses, blasted by 11 bombs dropped by NATO aircraft on the city of Surdulica yesterday. According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, there were women and children among the dead, while another 20 people were placed at the city hospital with severe injuries. A.F.[11] 400 KILLED, 4,000 INJURED SO FAR BY NATO’S RAIDS IN YUGOSLAVIABelgrade, April 28 (MPA)Over 400 civilians have been killed and another 4,000 were injured since the start of NATO’s raids against Yugoslavia and as of yesterday, according to the Serb Minister of Health Leposava Milicevic. Ms. Milicevic pointed out that the number of civilian casualties cannot be exact as, in many cases, body identification is nearly impossible. The NATO raids, according to the Minister, have also borne their toll on the general public’s health and psychological state of being, as, in Belgrade alone, cardiac arrests have increased by seven percent. Yugoslav hospitals have underwent extensive damages from the bombings, in addition to medical supplies, water and electricity shortages. A.F.[12] ECONOMIC CONFERENCE HELD ON “DAY AFTER” KOSOVO CONLFICTAthens, April 28 (MPA)The consequences borne on the Greek economy by the war in Kosovo, are to be addressed in an economic conference next week, hosted by the National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou and which will feature the participation of forty-nine representatives from the country’s banking and business sectors. The participants will discuss the impact of the military operations in Yugoslavia and the plans for economic restructuring of the region after the crisis. Among those invited to the meeting are National Bank of Greece, Commercial Bank of Greece, Alpha Credit Bank, EFG Eurobank, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, Bank of Piraeus, Thrace Paperworks, Delta Dairy, Asprofos, Medical Center, Intracom, the Federation of Greek Industries and chambers of commerce and industry. A.F.[13] RUSSIAN FM OPTIMISTIC: KOSOVO WAR WILL END BEFORE SUMMERMadrid, April 28 (MPA)Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov predicted that a UN-monitored peace pact between NATO and Yugoslavia would soon put an end to NATO’s air raids, a Spanish newspaper reported Wednesday."I am sure that there will be a process of pacification before the summer," Mr. Ivanov told the Spanish daily El Mundo. He further stated that he doesn’t believe NATO will attack Russian ships transporting oil to Yugoslavia, as such act would bar severe consequences, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. Mr. Ivanov stated that Russia was opposed to an embargo on oil deliveries to Yugoslavia, saying this would be "illegal, since sanctions against a sovereign country can only be imposed with the approval of the UN Security Council." A.F. [14] SECI TO BE SIGNED TODAY IN ATHENS BY ELEVEN MEMBER- STATESAthens, April 28 (MPA)The South-East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), aiming to facilitate trade and transport in the region, is to be signed in Athens today by the Transportation Ministers of the 11 member-states. The SECI members are Greece, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Moldavia. SECI’s primary goal is to lay the groundwork for expanded economic cooperation among the S.E. European states, while the Greek government will aim to take a leading role as a factor of peace, stability and development in the Balkans. A.F.[15] BALKAN FRIENDSHIP CENTERTO BE FOUNDED IN EVROSAlexandroupolis, April 28 (MPA)A Cultural Center of Balkan Peoples Friendship is to be founded at the city of Petrota, in Evros, following a meeting held yesterday in Bulgaria’s city of Lioubimets between the Greek and Bulgarian task groups.The mayor of Trigono Ioannis Grammenides led the Greek delegation, whose talks with the Bulgarians concerned the course of parallel action and the organization of joint events in August. A.F. Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |