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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-09-28
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 28/09/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Greece hails SPD win in Germany
- Simitis chairs meeting on Greek Security Council bid
- Papandreou to visit Poland
- CoE not considering Belgrade's application
- Black Sea studies institute begins meeting
- Gov't awaits inquiry on botched police raid
- No more gas in Thessaloniki
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Greece hails SPD win in Germany
Prime Minister Costas Simitis spoke with Germany's Chancellor-elect Gerhard
Schroeder shortly after midnight, and sent him a congratulatory telegram
expressing his pleasure at the latter's electoral victory, government
spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Monday. In his cable, Simitis said the
two governments could work together on social policy in Europe to combat
unemployment and in laying the foundations for a European common foreign
policy, Reppas added. He said Simitis sent similar messages to the
victorious SPD party's leader Oskar Lafontaine and Greens party leader
Joschka Fischer.
Simitis chairs meeting on Greek Security Council bid
Prime Minister Costas Simitis chaired a meeting on Monday with the
leadership of the foreign ministry to review progress on Greece's bid to
sit on the UN Security Council. Other issues discussed included the prime
minister's forthcoming meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz in
Antalya, Turkey next month at the summit of southeast European countries,
the first time Simitis and Yilmaz will have met since the first summit in
Crete last November. Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos briefed the
meeting, attended by Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou and
Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis, on the results of his talks at
the United Nations, where he attended the General Assembly.
Papandreou to visit Poland
Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou begins a two-day visit to
Poland on Tuesday where he will have meetings with the Police President
Aleksander Kwasniewski, Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek and a number of
other officials.
CoE not considering Belgrade's application
The Council of Europe is not seriously considering Yugoslavia's inclusion
in the organisation at this time, Alternate Foreign Minister George
Papandreou said on Monday during a meeting of the organisation's council of
ministers and parliamentary assembly on the island of Santorini. Papandreou,
representing Greece, the present Council of Europe president, said the
organisation had to continue its efforts to bring an end to hostilities and
in support of dialogue between the two sides. Last week, Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly President Leni Fischer threatened to bar Yugoslavia's
application for the Council of Europe if Belgrade did not desist from
military action in Kosovo.
Black Sea studies institute begins meeting
Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis on Monday presided over the
first meeting of the board of directors of an International Centre for
Black Sea Studies (ICBS) which will conduct research for its parent
organization, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The eleven members
of the BSEC are represented at the two-day meeting in Athens: Azerbaijan,
Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania,
Russia and Turkey. The BSEC approved a Greek proposal for the centre in
1996. The new centre, to be based in Greece, will aim at finding practical
ways to realise cooperation between member-states in the technological,
academic and economic sectors.
Gov't awaits inquiry on botched police raid
The government on Monday denied reports that Prime Minister Costas Simitis
was considering combining the interior and public order ministries or a
more general reshuffle in the wake of the botched police raid last week.
"Nothing like this is being considered by the prime minister," government
spokesman Dimitris Reppas told reporters. Reppas was speaking to reporters
after an eventful weekend, in which the man at the centre of the hostage
drama which led to the resignation of the chief of police and left 12
people - including the police chief and one of the hostages - in hospital
died suddenly while in a prison hospital.
No more gas in Thessaloniki
Hand-written signs saying "No more gasoline" went up in hundreds of filling
stations in the northern Greek capital Thessaloniki as a strike by tanker
truck drivers in northern Greece entered its second week. The tanker truck
drivers, who are protesting the deregulation of their closed-shop
profession which would allow major oil companies to extend their activities
to distribution as well, are due to meet Tuesday with Transport Ministry
officials. Later reports said drivers in the northern city had converged on
petrol stations as news that the petrol supply was drying up broke.
Striking tanker truck drivers allowed some 35 trucks to deliver fuel to a
number of stations as a goodwill gesture.
WEATHER
Cloud will increase in the Ionian and on the mainland today, spreading to
the rest of the country, with storms expected in the west. Winds southerly
moderate to strong. Scattered cloud in Athens increasing in the afternoon
with temperatures from 18-30C. Thessaloniki will be overcast with possible
rain and temperatures from 16-26C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Monday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 287.402
British pound 489.116 Japanese yen (100) 213.449
French franc 51.417 German mark 172.420
Italian lira (100) 17.435 Irish Punt 431.222
Belgian franc 8.357 Finnish mark 56.633
Dutch guilder 152.887 Danish kr. 45.291
Austrian sch. 24.497 Spanish peseta 2.030
Swedish kr. 36.525 Norwegian kr. 38.823
Swiss franc 208.439 Port. Escudo 1.679
Aus. dollar 169.344 Can. dollar 190.047
Cyprus pound 581.848
(M.P.)
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