ATHENS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Greece's political leadership and ordinary citizens flooded the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral on Wednesday to pay respects to former conservative Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis who passed away on Monday aged 98.
His body had lain in state in the cathedral for several hours before the funeral service was held with the honors reserved for a serving prime minister.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos nike air max plus wholesale , Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, current Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras, leaders of Greek political parties, MPs and former prime ministers expressed their condolences to the family of the deceased in front of the flag-draped coffin.
Konstantinos Mitsotakis had served as prime minister between 1990 and 1993. He had promoted austerity measures and economic reforms nike air max plus 97 wholesale , warning that without them Greece would someday be forced to resort to International Monetary Fund (IMF) for aid.
In 2010 the debt-laden country signed a bailout program with IMF and European lenders to avoid default.
On Wednesday Pavlopoulos bid farewell to "a great leader who left his mark in Greek politics for over 50 years."
Mitsotakis was elected in 1946 for first time in parliament, and with the exception of the seven-year rule of a military junta between 1967 and 1974 when he was in exile, was an MP until he retired from active politics in 2004.
The late prime minister was "ahead of his time and did not fear political cost when making decisions," Anastasiades said while delivering a speech.
"You taught us to respect the truth nike air max flair wholesale , seek unity and never forget that Greece's position is at the center of Europe..." Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the son of the deceased leader said during the service.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the main opposition New Democracy party since 2016. His sister Dora Bakogiannis, a former foreign minister nike air max zero wholesale , and his two other sisters had requested that the funeral would not be at public expense.
Under Greek legislation, the cost of the funerals of late former prime ministers is covered by the state as part of the honors reserved for the political leaders.
Among foreign officials who conveyed condolences to the family were European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who praised the late prime minister's dedication to Greece's European course, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
During his term in office as prime minister and in earlier years when he was serving at ministerial posts Konstantinos Mitsotakis supported dialogue with the neighboring country to resolve chronic differences.
His body will be taken to his birthplace nike air max 93 wholesale , Chania, on Crete island, for burial on Thursday.
The late PM had requested before his death that instead of wreaths and flowers, mourners should make a donation to environmental groups that plant trees on Crete's Lefka Ori mountains nike air max plus tn wholesale , according to AMNA.
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Zhang Zhixiang (1st R) trains students on China's first standard rugby field at China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing， capital of China， Nov. 24， 2016. Zhang Zhiqiang， who is considered China's most successful rugby player， is the coach of CAU rugby team. Under Zhang's guidance， the team took the championship last month at the national college rugby sevens tournament in Zhuhai， south China' s Guangdong Province. (XinhuaWu Kaixiang)
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TOKYO - Japan and the United States are exploring the possibility of Tokyo acquiring offensive weapons that would allow Japan to project power far beyond its borders, Japanese officials said, a move that would likely infuriate China.
While Japan's intensifying rivalry with China dominates the headlines, Tokyo's focus would be the ability to take out North Korean missile bases cheap nike tn shoes wholesale , said three Japanese officials involved in the process.
They said Tokyo was holding the informal, previously undisclosed talks with Washington about capabilities that would mark an enhancement of Japan's military might.
The talks on what Japan regards as a "strike capability" are preliminary and do not cover specific hardware at this stage, the Japanese officials told Reuters.
Defense experts say an offensive capability would require a change in Japan's purely defensive military doctrine, which could open the door to billions of dollars worth of offensive missile systems and other hardware. These could take various forms cheap nike air max tn , such as submarine-fired cruise missiles similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.
U.S. officials said there were no formal discussions on the matter but did not rule out the possibility that informal contacts on the issue had taken place. One U.S. official said Japan had approached American officials informally last year about the matter.
Japan's military is already robust but is constrained by a pacifist Constitution. The Self Defense Forces have dozens of naval surface ships, 16 submarines and three helicopter carriers, with more vessels under construction. Japan is also buying 42 advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets.
Reshaping the military into a more assertive force is a core policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He has reversed a decade of military spending cuts, ended a ban on Japanese troops fighting abroad and eased curbs on arms exports.
Tokyo had dropped a request to discuss offensive capabilities during high-profile talks on revising guidelines for the U.S.-Japan security alliance which are expected to be finished by year-end nike air max 180 wholesale , the Japanese officials said. Instead, the sensitive issue was "being discussed on a separate track", said one official with direct knowledge of the matter.
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