Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-08-04

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 04/08/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Burns says recent tension in Greek-US relations over
• Over 300 firefighters tackle blaze on Mount Penteli
• Masked robber holds up bank, steals Dr 10 mln
• Portuguese man arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin from Turkey
• Scout-master rescued from mountain ravine
• Long-distance bus driver arrested for transporting immigrants
• President calls for more women candidates in upcoming local polls
• Excessive heat claims lives of 11 senior citizens
• Gov't bill to ease entry into Athens bourse, boosting expansion
• Egnatia Bank wins sale tender for Bank of Central Greece
• Commission approves ECU 60 mln for projects in Greece
• World Basketball Championship
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

US Ambassador in Greece Nicholas Burns said on Monday that the recent tension in Greek-US relations was over, as shown by his meetings last week with Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and yesterday with Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis.

Mr. Burns said he had an "excellent" meeting with Mr. Kranidiotis at which a range of issues was covered, including Greek-Turkish relations, bilateral relations with the US and the Cyprus problem.

In statements to the ANA, Mr. Burns said Washington and Athens were working very closely "on all these problems and that was the basis for our discussion today".

Mr. Burns said his meetings with Mr. Pangalos last Thursday and with Mr. Kranidiotis yesterday "effectively put to a close the recriminations between our two governments over what we thought were unwarranted comments made about President Clinton".

Mr. Pangalos drew criticism from the US State Department when he charged that President Clinton's election campaign promises concerning a solution to the Cyprus problem had proved to be "a gross lie".

Mr. Burns said his meetings with Mr. Pangalos and Mr. Kranidiotis were "evidence" that the United States and Greece "can and will work together well in the future".

Over 300 firefighters tackle blaze on Mount Penteli

More than 300 firefighters, aided by two firefighting planes and local residents, on Tuesday were still battling a huge forest fire raging on Mount Penteli in northeastern Attica, that has reduced thousands of stremma of pine forest and brush to ashes.

The fire, which broke out Sunday night, burned several homes as it raged out of control Monday, fanned by strong winds that inhibited aerial access.

A senior Fire Brigade officer told the ANA that the firefighters' effort to control a blazing front stretching from Kotroni in Stamata, northeastern Attica to Vrana community in Marathon, depended largely on the wind.

Another fire was still raging at Keratovouni in Keratea, southeastern Attica.

New blazes had also broken out near the Lagonissi seaside resort town in eastern Attica, the Kalyvia municipality in Keratea, and in parts of Dionyssos.

Fires were also raging on Mt. Taygetos and at Krania on Mt. Olympos for the 12th straight day.

Public order minister George Romeos late Monday night attributed the Penteli fire to arson, while the government came under fire from the opposition for inefficient handling of the situation. On Tuesday he flew over the fire-devastated areas.

Meanwhile, the main opposition New Democracy party's newly wed leader Costas Karamanlis cut short a brief holiday/honeymoon and returned to Athens, where he will visit the fire-ravaged towns areas of Stamata, Rodopolis and Dionyssos today.

A blaze heading for Lagonissi was raging out of control fanned by strong winds and now threatening two communities after destroying a large expanse of bush and forest land in Kalyvia, Attica.

The fire, progressing on two fronts, was being combatted by firemen and local residents backed by two Chinook helicopters dropping water.

Local residents criticised the fire brigade, saying that the fire had been contained and could have been extinguished early this morning, but the absence of fire-fighting aircraft and fire-engines allowed the blaze to make its way down the mountain towards Lagonissi.

Masked robber holds up bank, steals Dr 10 mln

A masked robber brandishing a sawn-off shotgun on Tuesday threatened staff and customers at a branch of the Alpha Credit Bank on Mesogeion Avenue in Athens before making off with 10 million drachmas.

The robber burst into the bank just before it was to close and after grabbing the money from two counters made his escape in a car which police believe to have been stolen.

Portuguese man arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin from Turkey

A Portuguese man was arrested on Tuesday at the Kipi customs post on Greece's north-east border with Turkey after he attempted to smuggle 3.3 kilos of heroin into the country.

Fernando dos Santos Costas, 28, a resident of London, was travelling on a coach from Istanbul to Athens.

He told police that a Turkish drug trafficker had given him the heroin in Istanbul and he was to deliver it to an unidentified person in London. Costas told the police that he would have been paid 5,000 dollars in London.

Costas was due to appear before a public prosecutor in Alexandroupoli later today.

Scout-master rescued from mountain ravine

A scout-master who fell into a ravine where he remained for 15 hours was rescued early on Tuesday morning by a team of mountaineers from Metsovo, near the northwestern city of Ioannina.

Dimitrios Manikas, 32, a scout-master from Aghia Paraskevi, Athens was leading a group of scouts in the rugged area of Flega, Valia-Kalda, northern Greece when he lost consciousness and fell into the ravine yesterday afternoon.

The rescue team from Metsovo had to hike for hours to reach Manikas, who was suffering from cuts and bruises and extreme hypoglycemia. Among the team was a doctor who administerd first aid to Manikas.

The scout-master was then taken to Metsovo and from there to Ioannina hospital where he is being treated. Doctors at the hospital said he was out of danger and recovering well.

Long-distance bus driver arrested for transporting immigrants

A 23-year-old driver for the inter-city bus service (KTEL) was arrested in Yannitsa, northern Greece on Tuesday after he was caught using a coach to transport 46 illegal immigrants from Romania to Livadia.

Ioannis Tryfon, a resident of Skydra, had charged each of the illegal immigrants 150,000 drachmas for his moonlighting services.

President calls for more women candidates in upcoming local polls

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos called on all political parties on Monday to raise their women candidacy quota in the upcoming local administration elections.

During a meeting of the president with the Greek Women's Political Association yesterday, Europarliamentarian Anna Karamanou (PASOK) thanked Mr. Stephanopoulos for his sensitivity on the correct function of the democratic institutions in the country and remarked that Greece is deprived of the imagination, the ideas and the productive thought of women.

"The absence of female creativity from the democratic institutions and especially from the elected local administration posts is tragic," Ms Karamanou said.

New Democracy parliamentary representative Elsa Papadimitriou, also attending the meeting, maintained that the Greek Parliament is significantly lacking not only in numbers, but also in ways of thinking. "It is not merely about decreasing the democratic deficit, it is mainly about using the creativity and the ability of the 51% of the Greek people," she said.

Excessive heat claims lives of 11 senior citizens

Eleven senior citizens died last weekend in Thessaloniki from what doctors believe was from their exposure to excessive heat.

The victims, who died at the hospitals where they were taken, averaged above 65 years of age and they had been suffering from chronic cardiovascular and respiratory ailments.

Assistant forensic medicine professor Mr. Matheos Tsougas, who performed the autopsy on the bodies, said that all evidence led to suspicions of excessive heat behind the deaths.

"They were individuals with serious and chronic respiratory problems. This fact, together with high temperatures and humidity, created the basis for suspicion that they died due to the weather conditions during the past few days," said Mr. Tsougas and c alled the incident unusual.

Recently, temperatures in Thessaloniki soared to 38 Celcius while the discomfort rate index reached 29.5 with 26 being the normal maximum.

Doctors consider these weather conditions intollerable for patients with chronic cardiovascular and respiratory problems, advising against exposure to them and to remain inside air-conditioned environments.

Relative guidelines have also been provided by all prefectures as well as by the health ministry.

Gov't bill to ease entry into Athens bourse, boosting expansion

The government yesterday released a bill that eases restrictions on entry into the Athens Stock Exchange, allowing expansion of the bourse and better investment prospects for many firms currently barred from the market due to stringent listing requirements.

"The bill modernises the stock market and harmonises it with other stock exchanges in Europe," National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, who supervises the bourse, told a news conference.

Many companies were likely to seek listing from the autumn after the bill, which has been given to trade groups for comment, becomes law, Mr. Papantoniou said.

The bill is due to be given to parliament in September or October for debate and a vote.

Egnatia Bank wins sale tender for Bank of Central Greece

Egnatia Bank on Monday was declared the winner of a tender through the bourse to sell a controlling stake in Bank of Central Greece as part of the government's wide-ranging privatisation plan.

The board of directors of the parent company, Agricutural Bank of Greece, announced that it had accepted Egnatia's bid in the tender held on Friday.

The sale is part of the government's programme to partly or fully privatise state companies and banks in order to tighten up the public sector before Greece's entry into European economic and monetary union, expected by January 1, 2001.

On the auction block were 51 percent of common shares in Bank of Central Greece and 20.1 percent of preferred stock.

Egnatia, one of four domestic banks that took part in the tender, offered the highest bid at 17.3 billion drachmas.

Ranking second was Aspis Bank with a bid of 16.1 billion drachmas followed by Bank of Attica at 15.3 billion drachmas, and General Bank at 9.0 billion drachmas.

The purchase will give Egnatia a network of nearly 50 branches following the acquisition of Bank of Central Greece and its 24 branches.

Egnatia's assets will rise to 294.6 billion drachmas, deposits to 238.9 billion, loans to 163.7 billion, and equity capital to 24.2 billion drachmas. The number of staff will exceed 1,100 after the purchase.

Listed Egnatia Bank is to raise its share capital by the same or more as the price it will pay for Bank of Central Greece.

Commission approves ECU 60 mln for projects in Greece

The European Commission on Monday approved more than ECU 60 million for transportation and environmental projects in Greece, to be funneled through the Cohesion Fund.

The Commission approved ECU 27.6 million for the road network in Greece, which is allocated for the construction of the Egnatia motorway, connecting the western port of Igoumenitsa with the Evros prefecture Greek-Turkish border crossing at Kipi.

The more than 600 kilometre highway is part of the European network of highways and will facilitate East-West trade.

The Commission allocated ECU 2.1 million for the Soufli liquid waste plant and ECU 1.9 million for the Kastoria liquid waste plant, while for similar projects the Commission approved ECU 4.2 million for the community of Sarti, Chalkidiki, ECU 1.8 mill ion for the island of Leros and ECU 3.6 million for the municipality of Keratea, Attica.

World Basketball Championship

The second round of the World Basketball Championship entered its second day in Athens on Monday, with Italy bringing about the most stunning surprise of the championship by beating fancied Yugoslavia 61-60.

Results: Puerto Rico-Canada 94-81 Lithuania-Argentina 84-75 Australia-Brazil 75-63 Italy-Yugoslavia 61-60 Russia-Greece 60-48 United States-Spain 75-73

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.S.)

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article