Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-05-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] Prostitution-Arrests

[02] Cleric-IDs

[03] Earthquake-Kalamata

[04] Gov't spokesman-Karamanlis

[05] Karamanlis-Party Unity

[06] Karamanlis-Gov't-Church-IDs

[07] Tsohatzopoulos-Army-Drugs

[08] Tsohatzopoulos-IDs-Church

[09] Weather Forecast-Sunday

[10] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[01] Prostitution-Arrests

Two people were arrested for sexually exploiting women brought from abroad and forced to work as prostitutes, police said on Saturday.

The two, who were arrested on Friday in the Dafni area of Athens, were identified as Nikos Kastanakis, 44, and Stella Geronikolou, 52.

Police said Kastanakis had paid cash for three women - two Russian and one Albanian - from a migrant trafficker in the Thessaloniki area, and then handed them over to Geronikolou, who took them to a flat in Dafni that was used as a brothel.

[02] Cleric-IDs

A senior cleric on Saturday distanced himself from a dispute between the government and the Greek Orthodox Church over the former's decision to omit religion as a category of information on ID cards carried by the public.

Metropolitan Bishop Hieronymus of Thebes cautioned that cool-headedness and sobriety were needed in the affair, which he said was much ado about nothing.

"All this turbulence is nothing more than inhibitions on the part of both sides, the Church and the State," he said in an interview to a radio station.

[03] Earthquake-Kalamata

An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale was recorded in the sea off Kalamata in the Peloponnese at 6.08 am on Saturday, two seismological institutes said.

The undersea epicentre was 120 kilometres south of Kalamata, the same site as a recent 6.0 quake on the Richter scale that shook the area, according to the Athens National Observatory's Geodynamic Institute and Thessaloniki University's Geophysical Laboratory.

[04] Gov't spokesman-Karamanlis

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Saturday that Costas Karamanlis and the New Democracy (ND) party that he leads were mired in introversion, making them an absentee political force.

[05] Karamanlis-Party Unity

Costas Karamanlis, leader of the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party, on Saturday called on senior party officials and deputies to show unity and scotch what he called a plan to weaken ND.

[06] Karamanlis-Gov't-Church-IDs

Costas Karamanlis, leader of the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party, on Saturday accused the government of seeking a rift with the Greek Orthodox Church with its decision to remove religion as a category of information on identity cards carried by the public.

[07] Tsohatzopoulos-Army-Drugs

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday that the number of young people taking drugs for the first time in the army was the same as in the rest of society.

"The percentage of young people who take drugs for the first time while in the army is 12%-15%, the same percentage as in young people who begin drugs use at school or in their neighbourhood," Tsohatzopoulos said.

[08] Tsohatzopoulos-IDs-Church

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday that the government's decision to omit religion as a category of information on identity cards, which has angered the Greek Orthodox Church, would help to protect the public from a loss of privacy due to widespread computerisation of data.

[09] Weather Forecast-Sunday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Sunday turning to showers in the Peloponnese, Cyclades islands and Crete. Winds north-northeasterly, light to moderate. High winds are expected in parts of the Aegean.

[10] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Following are foreign exchange rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Mondays rates (buying)

Euro 334.373

U.S. dollar 366.445

German mark 170.962

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