Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-26
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 26/03/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Rain storm whips through Greece
- Cabinet meets on weather
- Britain wants Greeks arrested on arms charges
- Investigation ordered into curfew
- Government condemns racism
- Papantoniou happy with Commission report
- Ship adrift off Peloponnese
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Rain storm whips through Greece
Greece is experiencing the worst rain storm of the winter as extensive
flooding causes power shortage and black-outs, traffic snarls and even
flight cancellations.
The government has ordered schools closed for the day, while the fire
department has been receiving calls from people trapped in flooded areas,
particularly in the suburb of Liosia, which has been flooded since early
yesterday evening.
Athens airport is closed to both domestic and international flights.
The weather has affected the power stations around the capital and
elsewhere in Greece with black-outs being reported all over the country,
bringing trolley buses to a standstill in Athens and causing problems to
the city rail network.
In the Peloponnese, villages have been cut-off in the districts of Achaia,
Ilia and Arcadia. Over 300 cars were blocked in the Artemisios tunnel on
the Corinth-Tripoli highway this morning, which was blocked by snowfalls.
Snow-chains were required on vehicles within Tripoli itself.
The weather bureau expects conditions to improve over the next 12-18
hours.
Cabinet meets on weather
The Cabinet scheduled an emergency meeting for 4 p.m. local time today to
discuss measures to deal with the problems caused by the heavy rainfall and
storms which plunged large areas of the country into darkness.
The general blackout, which began at 2 p.m., has affected the region of
Attica and the island of Evia.
Britain wants Greeks arrested on arms charges
Six Greeks arrested in Germany and Italy are believed by British police to
be members of a major international arms trafficking ring and have
requested their extradition, according to an ANA despatch from London
today.
Four have been arrested in Germany and are currently being detained in
Frankfurt while the other two were apprehended in Italy.
German police named the four as Christos Ieronymidis, 45, a resident of
London, Michail Karakostas, 41, of Athens, Peter Daskas, 49, a resident of
Italy and Fotis Plantanidis, 41, a resident of Serbia.
The other two, Michail Valsamidis and Nikos Sechopoulos were arrested in
Bari and Rome respectively early Tuesday.
An ANA despatch from Rome said the two had been charged with forming an
armed gang and arms smuggling. Quoting the Italian police, it said they had
been arrested after being notified by the British police who were working
with their German colleagues.
According to the Italian police, it added, the arrested were members of a
major gang which planned to smuggle into Britain arms from Serbia for the
purpose of selling them to various terrorist organisations.
The deal involved 50 tonnes of illegal arms worth an estimated 5 million
dollars from Serbia which had been loaded on the freighter "Dimitrios" at
an Adriatic port. Ieronymidis and Sechopoulos had arranged a meeting to
inspect the shipment, which Italian police had apparently been tipped off
about.
The meeting however did not eventually take place and the two Greeks were
arrested by Italian police fearing that they would disappear.
The London despatch said the British police were seeking the extradition of
Ieronymidis and Sechopoulos because they are permanent residents of
London.
A police spokesman in London said the arrest of the six reflected the good
cooperation between European authorities in enforcing international
law.
Investigation ordered into curfew
A public prosecutor today launched an inquiry into allegations that a small
northern Greek village had imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew for aliens living
and working in the region.
The inquiry was ordered by Vassiliki Theodorou, the prosecutor of Pieria,
under whose jurisdiction the village of Kato Keramidi, which imposed the
curfew, falls.
Ms. Theodorou today began questioning the Kato Keramidi community president
Vassilis Kourkoutas and members of the community council, which also
decided to set up "vigilante groups" in the village.
The community council, following what they called a surge in crime over the
past few weeks, announced on Tuesday that they were implementing "radical
measures" with respect to illegal immigrants in their area, including a
curfew targetting tansient aliens.
They also said that the village's stadium would now be the only assembly
point for anyone wishing to find work or be hired, while villagers
employing illegal immigrnats would be responsible for recording their
foreign workers' exact identity information, their health coverage and
living standards. Villagers employing undocumented workers would be held
responsible for the latters's actions.
Prefectural and police authorities in Pieria prefecture have called the
community council's decisions "illegal".
Government condemns racism
Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas later condemned what he called
phenomena of racism and xenophobia which had been "manifested in recent
days either by citizens or the mass media", while noting that the phenomena
were on "a limited scale".
Reppas said the government would not allow a "mediaeval" attitude to
prevail in Greek society and called on the mass media not to use such a
high tone "for the sake of audience ratings and unjustifiable profitability".
Referring specifically to the Kato Keramidi curfew, the spokesman said
"they cannot take the law into their own hands", adding that the instances
of crime in the region did not justify "that kind of response".
Reppas termed the response "unacceptable and reproachable", maintaining
that it served only selfish objectives.
The spokesman said Prime Minister Costas Simitis had given instructions for
the police to increase their patrols and for the draft law on the formation
of a border guard force to be tabled in Parliament next week.
The premier had also asked for the "more vigorous" deportation of
foreigners found to be in the country without the necessary legal
documents.
Papantoniou happy with Commission report
The European Commission's forecasts on the course of the Greek economy in
1998, released in Brussels on Wednesday, "approaches, more than ever in the
past the predictions and targets of the Greek economy," National Economy
and Finance Minister Yannos Papantoniou said today.
The report "confirms the credibility" of Greece's economic policy,
Papantoniou told reporters after a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister
Costas Simitis and also attended by Bank of Greece governor Lucas Papademos,
on developments in the Greek economy after last week's entry of the drachma
into the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and accompanying 14 percent
devaluation of the national currency.
Papantoniou added, however that "significant effort" was necessary "so that
we may be able to attain that target", by adhering "firmly and consistently
to the policy we have announced and are implementing".
He said after the two-hour meeting that the markets "have reacted in a very
positive manner".
The meeting also examined another Commission report on the course of
convergence of the Greek economy with the other EU member states, which
report, Papantoniou said, "in essence takes as a foregone conclusion
Greece's entry in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on January 1,
2001".
Replying to press questions, Papantoniou anticipated that inflation would
fall to 1.5-2 percent at the end of 1999, while it would be running at an
average annual rate of 3 percent, against a Commssion forecast of 3.5
percent.
With such an inflation rate, he said, "we can join EMU".
Ship adrift off Peloponnese
A Panamanian-flag freighter was adrift off Leonidion, in the eastern
Peloponnese near Sparta, after developing engine trouble, but the Ministry
of Merchant Marine said its 10-member Greek and foreign crew were
safe.
The Ministry said the 1,628 grt "Theodora K.", with a cargo of 2,650 tons
of iron ore, en route from Halkidiki to Yugoslavia, developed engine
trouble some 7 nautical miles southeast of Leonidio when it ran into gale-
force winds of 9-10 beaufort.
It said that the crew of foreign Greeks and six foreigners were so far safe,
but there was fear the cargo would shift.
The Ministry ordered all nearby ships to the area and despatched a tugboat,
while a nearby Greek warship and the British "Discovery Bay" also rushed to
the freighter's assistance.
WEATHER
Cloud turning to rain, snow and rainstorms accompanied by gale force winds
are forecast throughout the country today, with an improvement expected in
the evening. Winds northeastly and southeasterly, strong to gale force.
Heavy rain and gales in Athens with snow expected on mountains around the
city and temperatures from 4C to 9C. Sleet or snow in Thessaloniki with
temperatures between 2C and 5C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Tuesday's closing rates (buying): U.S. dollar 318.521
British pound 533.379 Japanese Yen(100) 243.963
French franc 51.943 German mark 174.091
Italian lira (100) 17.672 Irish Punt 437.036
Belgian franc 8.437 Finnish mark 57.403
Dutch guilder 154.410 Danish kr. 45.656
Austrian sch. 24.740 Spanish peseta 2.052
Swedish kr. 40.168 Norwegian kr. 42.122
Swiss franc 213.414 Port. Escudo 1.700
AUS dollar 212.883 Can. dollar 223.855
Cyprus pound 596.192
(M.P.)
|
