Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-01-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Athens Bourse-Opening Hours

[02] Greece-Bulgaria-Defence

[03] Sirens-Test

[04] Athens Metro-Glitches

[05] Tsohatzopoulos-Cyprus

[06] Apostolakis-Slovakia

[01] Athens Bourse-Opening Hours

The Athens Stock Exchange on Monday is to extend its trading session by 45 minutes each day, opening as before at 10.30 am and closing at 2.15 pm.

In addition, the number of call auctions per session on stocks under supervision will be increased to five from four.

[02] Greece-Bulgaria-Defence

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Sunday held a working meeting in this northern port city with his newly appointed Bulgarian counterpart, Boiko Noev.

Sources said that the session was sought by Noev, formerly Bulgaria's permanent representative at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Tsohatzopoulos briefed the Bulgarian defence minister on the Balkans and NATO.

[03] Sirens-Test

A one-minute test of the country's early warning sirens was carried out on Sunday as part of a military exercise on paper codenamed Alexandros 2000, officials said.

Although no technical problems appeared, the volume of sirens was found to be low in major urban centres.

Heavy construction since the sirens were last tested muffled the sound, officials said.

[04] Athens Metro-Glitches

Thousands of Athenians flocked to the city's new metro for the second straight day, undeterred by a bomb hoax and a power cut.

Metro officials evacuated the Syntagma Square station after an unknown caller claimed a bomb had been planted there. The call turned out to be a hoax, and the station re-opened.

In another glitch, a train at the Pentagon station suffered a four-minute power cut when a passenger tampered with a safety switch.

[05] Tsohatzopoulos-Cyprus

Greek National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Sunday that he expected no substantive progress to emerge from a second round of UN-sponsored proximity talks on resolving the Cyprus issue.

"If Ankara remains intransigent on the Cyprus issue, then it is not only Greece that will have to change its stance before the European Union," Tsohatzopoulos told the Cypriot PIK television channel in an interview.

[06] Apostolakis-Slovakia

Deputy National Defence Minister Dimitris Apostolakis on Sunday began an official three-day visit to Slovakia for talks on defence cooperation.

Apostolakis will hold the talks on cooperation between the two countries' armed forces and defence industries with his Slovakian counterpart, Josef Pivarci.

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