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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-06-15
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 15/06/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- U.S. envoy: Turks to blame for Cyprus impasse
- Airspace violations
- Greece urges dialogue on Kosovo
- Athens meeting on Balkan peacekeeping force
- Gov't will not backtrack on teacher exam
- Armenian defence official in Athens for talks
- Crisis management seminar
- Two killed in minefield
- Former FM Papoulias visits Syria
- Shipping exchange declines
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
U.S. envoy: Turks to blame for Cyprus impasse
US Ambassador in Athens Nicholas Burns said he considered Turkish Cypriot
leader Rauf Denktash, personally, and Turkey responsible for the impasse in
the Cyprus peace talks, adding that the US would not recognise Denktash as
a head of state. He also said the four islands in the Aegean recently
disputed by Turkey were clearly Greek, and praised Greece's foreign policy
in the Balkans, particularly on the Kosovo issue. In an interview with the
Athens daily "Exousia" published today, Burns further expressed great
respect for Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his government, said he
had a close cooperation with Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, and
reiterated the US position that the European Union should keep its door
open to Turkey.
Airspace violations
Turkish warplanes today infringed Athens Flight Information Region (FIR)
regulations while flying to the region near the island of Gavdos for
scheduled exercises in international airspace, according to press sources.
The 14 F-16 and F-4 jets infringed the Athens FIR in the area southwest of
Chania, Crete. The Turkish aircraft were identified by Greek fighter
jets.
Greece urges dialogue on Kosovo
Greece is in favour of every possible effort being made for dialogue to
resolve the Kosovo problem so that a solution may be found with peaceful
means, government spokesman Nikos Athanasakis said today. Athanasakis made
the statement when asked to comment on the participation of Greek air force
F-16 fighter jets in NATO air exercises to be held as a warning to ethnic
combatants in the troubled Serbian province. The spokesman however declined
to say whether Greece would take part in any military operations against
Serbia if these are ordered by an international organisation.
Athens meeting on Balkan peacekeeping force
Military experts from seven countries will meet in Athens from June 22-26
to discuss matters related to the creation of a multinational peacekeeping
force to prevent conflict in the Balkans. The decision to set up the force
was taken at a meeting of the defence undersecretaries of eight countries
of southeast Europe and the United States in Tirana last month. The Athens
meeting will be attended by delegations from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Turkey, Italy, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and
Romania. Representatives from the USA and Slovenia will be attending
as observers.
Gov't will not backtrack on teacher exam
The government said today that its new recruitment examination for state
school teachers which has caused four days of pitched battles between
police and protestors was "completely valid" and would not be repeated.
Participation in today's final day of the exam was over 60 perecent,
Athanassakis said. A total of 26,000 teachers had sat the exam, of which
between five and six thousand would be hired for the new school year.
According to the education ministry, a total of 46,400 teachers had
registered to take the examination. Unappointed teachers in Thessaloniki,
meanwhile, told a news conference today they would challenge the validity
of the exam in the courts with "a storm of lawsuits".
Armenian defence official in Athens for talks
Armenian Defence Undersecretary Lieutenant-General M. Abrahamian will pay
an official visit to Greece from June 17-20 to attend a graduation ceremony
of Armenian cadets at the army's officer training academy in Athens. During
his stay here, Abrahamian will have talks with defence ministry officials
on military issues of mutual interest. He will also visit a training centre
for tank crews and several archaeological sites in the Athens area.
Crisis management seminar
The National Defence General Staff has organised a seminar on crisis
handling - entitled "Athens '98" - to be held from June 30 to July 3 within
the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme. The objective of the
seminar is to brief participants on the means available to the international
community for averting or handling crises. So far, political and military
representatives from a number of countries have said they will be attending,
including from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Germany, Denmark, Canada,
Britain, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic.
Two killed in minefield
Two soldiers were killed and a third serious injured today near at the Kipi
border post in Evros when a mine exploded as they were clearing a
minefield. Sergeant Stephanos Pitikakis and soldier Christos Palyvidas died
on the spot, while soldier Ioannis Lygeros was in serious condition in
Alexandropoulos hospital with serious wounds to his right leg. The three
men belonged to the army's special mine neutralising squad.
Former FM Papoulias visits Syria
Ruling PASOK party MP and former foreign minister Karolos Papoulias paid a
three-day visit to Syrian June 12-15 at the personal invitation of Syrian
foreign minister Farouq al-Shara. During his stay in Damascus, Mr.
Papoulias had two lengthy discussions with Mr. al-Shara as well as talks
with defence minister Lt.-Gen. Mustafa Tlas and the Syrian parliament
president. He also called on Orthodox Patriarch Ignatios IV of Antioch.
Shipping exchange declines
Foreign exchange revenues from shipping declined by 5.5 percent in January,
it was announced today. Specifically, remittances by Greek seamen and
shipping enterprises in Greek banks fell to 170 million dollars in January
this year against 179.9 million dollars in the same month in 1997.
WEATHER
Fair weather is forecast for all parts of Greece today, with local clouds
in the afternoon in the central regions. Winds northwesterly, light to
moderate. Athens will be sunny with temperatures between 19-31 C. Same for
Thessaloniki, changing to overcast in the afternoon, with temperatures of
17-29 C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 305.526
British pound 498.678 Japanese yen(100) 211.812
French franc 50.404 German mark 168.957
Italian lira (100) 17.161 Irish Punt 426.362
Belgian franc 8.194 Finnish mark 55.629
Dutch guilder 149.961 Danish kr. 44.394
Austrian sch. 24.037 Spanish peseta 1.993
Swedish kr. 38.103 Norwegian kr. 39.918
Swiss franc 204.352 Port. Escudo 1.652
Aus. dollar 180.757 Can. dollar 208.221
Cyprus pound 571.967
(M.P.)
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