Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-05-11
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 11/05/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- WEU ministerial summit begins today on Rhodes
- Acropolis to be made accesible to disabled
- 21 hikers found safe and sound
- New Archbishop chairs first meeting
- Kranidiotis: Athens will never accept recognition of pseudo-state
- Balkan military medicine sessions begin in Athens
- Tsohatzopoulos dismisses Ankara's claims of Greek support for PKK
- Restructuring of public debt through long-term state bonds
- Greek Soccer Championships
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
WEU ministerial summit begins today on Rhodes
Fifty-six foreign and defence ministers from 28 European countries today
began a two-day Western European Union (WEU) summit, with the participation
also of NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, on the island of Rhodes. A
joint meeting will be held today of the foreign and defence ministers of
the ten WEU member-states, of three countries with associate membership
status and five observers. Tomorrow, they will be joined by the foreign and
defence ministers of the ten associate members of central and eastern
Europe.
Acropolis to be made accesible to disabled
Greece's environment, town planning and public works ministry is working on
a 10-million-drachma plan to adapt the Acropolis site so that it is
accessible to the disabled, the elderly and other groups with special needs,
Minister Costas Laliotis said today. Announcing a pilot programme to make
life easier for the disabled, Laliotis said the ministry was working with
the Antiquities Department on a draft study that would allow the 10 percent
of the general population categorised as having special needs and the 43
percent - including the elderly, infants and pregnant women - which suffer
serious problems in moving around cities to visit the archaeological
site.
21 hikers found safe and sound
Twenty-one hikers were safe today despite spending the night in a gorge on
Mt. Parnes after becoming disoriented in thick fog. The hikers had set off
early Sunday morning and headed for the Kleista monastery but got lost when
fog descended and decided to spend the night in the gorge. Four hikers
meanwhile continued on to the monastery and reached a point on the mountain
where their mobile phones were able to access the network.
New Archbishop chairs first meeting
Newly elected Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece today
chaired his first meeting of the Holy Synod, the 12-member ruling body of
the Orthodox Church of Greece. Metropolitan Maximos of Serres described the
meeting as "historic", not only because it was the first time Christodoulos
presided but also because very important Church issues were discussed.
Opening the meeting, Christodoulos said there may have been disagreements
and differences of opinion prior to the election, following the death of
Archbishop Serapheim, "but now these are in the past and we shall go
forward united".
Kranidiotis: Athens will never accept recognition of pseudo-state
Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis reiterated that Greece would in
no way accept schemes leading to the recognition of the illegal pseudo-
state in Turkish-occupied Cyprus. "The basis of talks must be the bizonal,
bicommunal federation, and in no case shall we accept separatist or
partition schemes that lead to any direct or indirect recognition of the
pseudo-state," he said after Friday's meeting with special UN represent
ative for Cyprus Diego Cordovez.
Balkan military medicine sessions begin in Athens
National Defence Undersecretary Dimitris Apostolakis yesterday opened in
Athens the sessions of the 3rd Conference of the Balkan Committee of
Military Medicine. Participating in the sessions are delegates from
Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Greece.
Tsohatzopoulos dismisses Ankara's claims of Greek support for PKK
Turkey is "deluded" if it continues to believe that Greece supports the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos
said on Saturday. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos was responding to comments on Saturday
by his Turkish counterpart Ismet Sezgin, namely, that he would bring up the
issue of Greece's alleged support for the PKK when he visits Rhodes for a
Western European Union's (WEU) summit of defence and foreign ministers,
which opens today.
Restructuring of public debt through long-term state bonds
Finance Undersecretary Nikos Christodoulakis reiterated Athens' resolve to
implement announced institutional reforms and accelerate privatisations.
Speaking before dozens of US institutional investment executives at the
Harvard Club on Friday, he referred to the restructuring of Greece's public
debt through the issuance of long-term state bonds, and the recent
reiteration of confidence in Greece's creditworthiness by the Moody's
international credit rating agency.
Greek Soccer Championships
AEK-Kalamata 4-2 Ionikos-Panathinaikos 0-1
Athinaikos-OFI 0-2 Iraklis-Paniliakos 0-0
Kavala-Panionios 1-0 Veria-PAOK 1-3
Olympiakos-Apolon 5-3 Panahaiki-Proodeftiki 1-1
Ethnikos-Xanthi 1-0 Standings, points after 32 rounds:
Olympiakos 85, Panathinaikos 79, AEK 70, PAOK 67, Ionikos 58, Iraklis 48,
OFI 45.
WEATHER
The forecast for Monday is overcast with local showers and possibility of
storms. Winds moderate to strong in the northern Aegean. Athens will be
locally cloudy, with possibility of rain in the north and temperatures
ranging 15-20C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures of 13-18C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 306.875
British pound 502.805 Japanese yen(100) 231.513
French franc 51.711 German mark 173.402
Italian lira (100) 17.576 Irish Punt 436.877
Belgian franc 8.406 Finnish mark 57.044
Dutch guilder 153.834 Danish kr. 45.493
Austrian sch. 24.641 Spanish peseta 2.042
Swedish kr. 40.295 Norwegian kr. 41.426
Swiss franc 207.760 Port. Escudo 1.691
Aus. dollar 195.523 Can. dollar 213.597
Cyprus pound 587.601
(M.P.)
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