Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-10-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] FM Papandreou-Israeli envoy-Middle East

[02] Defence minister-Destined Glory 2000-Statements

[03] Forgery-Vietnamese-Impersonation

[04] Astir Hotel-results

[05] ASE-close

[01] FM Papandreou-Israeli envoy-Middle East

Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Thursday discussed latest developments in the Middle East crisis with visiting Israeli Environment Minister and member of the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Dalia Itzhik.

Itzhik, is visiting Athens as a personal envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to brief the Greek government "at the highest possible level", foreign ministry sources said.

Itzhik called on Greece to take initiatives to contribute to detente in the Middle East and the resumption of peace talks due to its traditionally good relations with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the Arab world, as well as its recently upgraded relations with Israel.

On his part, Papandreou said that Athens will examine whatever possibilities exist, including the possibility of undertaking an initiative with Turkey for detente in the Middle East.

Papandreou, according to reports, has discussed the issue in a recent telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem.

[02] Defence minister-Destined Glory 2000-Statements

Greeces appropriate action should be to call for the immediate discontinuation of NATOs military exercise ?Destined Glory 2000?, if the unobstructed participation of all countries taking part in the exercise was not secured, Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Thursday.

He added that if the unobstructed participation of all countries is not secured then the exercise would loss all legal basis.

Tsohatzopoulos' statement came in the wake of a week-long attempt by Turkey to block the Greek Airforce war planes from using air corridors over the eastern Aegean Greek islands of Limnos and Ikaria, during their participation in Destined Glory 2000, despite the fact that the alliance planned and approved the use of the corridors.

Tsohatzopoulos also stressed that none of NATO members was willing to see the exercise of the alliance downgraded and transformed into a stage for Turkey to voice its claims against everyone else.

Thursdays exercise programme included a joint operation of Greek A7 Corsairs and RF4 with Turkish F-16 fighters in central Aegean, between the Greek islands of Skyros and Mitilini and was concluded without problems.

[03] Forgery-Vietnamese-Impersonation

A 54-year-old Vietnamese man was arrested on Wednesday and will face the prosecutor on Friday on charges of forgery and impersonating a doctor and an acupuncturist.

Tran Hon Siong was arrested literally on the act, as he prepared to perform acupuncture on a police officer, during a sting operation of the Athens police.

According to police, Siong was arrested in possession of a forged passport and certificates falsely showing him to be an acupuncture specialised doctor.

Police was notified of Siongs activities by several of his clients, who claimed that their health suffered as a result of Siongs services.

[04] Astir Hotel-results

Astir Palace Vouliagmeni Hotel on Thursday reported a 33 percent rise in its nine-month turnover to 8.6 billion drachmas, from 6.7 billion in the same period last year.

Gross profit, before amortisation and interest - rose 56 percent to 3.9 billion drachmas, up from 2.5 billion in the corresponding period of 1999.

[05] ASE-close

Equity prices rebounded strongly on Thursday, reversing a three-day sharp decline which pushed the market to the 3,600 level - the "fair value" level according to a prediction by Morgan Stanley in September.

Traders said buying interest intensified in the second half of the session with domestic and foreign investors seeking blue chip stocks, particularly in the banks sector.

Analysts said the rebound was a normal reaction of the market, following its fall to very attractive price-levels and an improved climate in European bourses. They remained cautious, however, over the market's ability to remain on an upward trend as liquidity remained at very low levels.

Shares in the construction sector came under heavy selling pressure as investors took early profits.

The general index ended 2.41 percent higher at 3,715.01 points, off the day's highs of 3,724.39 points and the day's lows of 3,622.56. Turnover was an improved 63.04 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 2.59 percent higher at 2,137.52 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 1.40 percent to 450.31 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 0.55 percent lower at 444.60 points.

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