In Brief
TSUNAMI SUPPORT
Military aircraft sets off for Indonesia A Greek C-130 transport aircraft is due to set off for the Indonesian province of Aceh today carrying a water-purifying system and the personnel to set it up, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. Apart from the water-cleansing devices themselves and tons of drinking water, the aircraft will carry a six-member team of microbiologists and engineers who will help teach local authorities how to cleanse their water to prevent the spread of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery, the ministry said. Le Pen in town French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Saturday warned against Turkey’s potential membership in the European Union, saying such a move would threaten «the very existence» of Greece. «Turkey will increase its settlements in Cyprus and will begin to colonize Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean,» Le Pen warned during a news conference in Athens hosted by the extreme-right Hellenic Front. Protesters on Saturday morning staged a small anti-fascist rally in Korai Square. Also on Saturday, around 100 suspected anarchists vandalized the offices of the far-right-wing Chrysi Avgi organization in Thessaloniki. FYROM ties Greece has shown the best intentions toward finding an official name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) but should not use its international alliances to exert pressure on its tiny northern neighbor, FYROM President Branko Crvenkovski said in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini. «This kind of approach means that Greece… is using its position in the European Union and NATO to exert pressure. I would even use the word blackmail,» Crvenkovski said. Eurovision entry Singer Elena Paparizou has been selected without any competition, and without even having prepared a song, to represent Greece in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest which is to take place on May 21 in Kiev, state broadcaster ERT announced on Saturday. Paparizou clinched third place for Sweden in the 2001 Eurovision contest as part of the duo Antique.
