Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-01-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Soccer: Greek National League-Results

[02] Weather Forecast-Monday

[03] Karamanlis-Papantoniou-Bourse

[04] Sports Awards

[05] Papandreou-Yilmaz

[06] Illegal Immigrants-Arrests

[07] Coalition of the Left-Environment

[08] Defence Ministry-InfoTech

[09] Public Sector-Opinion Poll

[10] Earthquakes-Readiness Drill

[11] Tsohatzopoulos-PASOK

[12] Weather Forecast-Sunday

[13] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[01] Soccer: Greek National League-Results

Results of Greek National League (formerly first division) soccer matches played over the weekend:

PAS Ioannina-Panathinaikos 0-4

Ethnikos Asteras-Olympiakos 0-1

Athinaikos-Ionikos 2-2

Panionios Athens-Paniliakos 0-1

Xanthi-Panahaiki 1-0

PAOK Salonika-Kalamata 7-1

Aris Salonika-OFI 2-0

Iraklis Salonika-AEK Athens 1-2

Standings, points after 16 rounds:

Olympiakos 41, Panathinaikos 38, PAOK 32, AEK 30, Iraklis 27, Ionikos 27, Aris 22, Ethnikos Asteras 21, Xanthi 21, Panionios 17, Paniliakos 15, Panahaiki 14, Athinaikos 12, OFI Crete 11, PAS Ioannina 10 and Kalamata 10.

[02] Weather Forecast-Monday

Cloud is forecast throughout the country on Monday, turning to showers in the Ionian, mainland Greece and the northern and eastern Aegean islands. Winds southerly, strong to very strong, with gale force winds at sea. In the north, temperatures will range from 6C to 13C; in the Ionian and on the rest of the mainland from 9C to 17C; and in the Aegean from 11C to 19C. Cloudy and possibly showery in Athens with temperatures between 11C and 17C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 7C to 13C.

[03] Karamanlis-Papantoniou-Bourse

The leader of the main opposition New Democracy party, Costas Karamanlis, on Sunday severely criticised the government for a long-lasting slump on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Addressing a party seminar, Karamanlis described the bourse's decline as "a crime" and repeated his call for the resignation of National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.

[04] Sports Awards

The Panhellenic Association of Sports Publications will hold its annual awards ceremony for outstanding athletes and teams at 1800 on Monday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium near Piraeus.

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos is to attend the event.

[05] Papandreou-Yilmaz

Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Sunday held a one-hour meeting with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz on the sidelines of a world economic forum being held in Davos, Switzerland.

The two officials mostly discussed relations between Turkey and the European Union, especially meeting commitments that stem from the neighbouring country's partnership agreement with the 15-nation bloc.

Yilmaz sought Greece's help in the transfer of EU knowhow.

The officials also said that their views on the Cyprus issue remained widely divergent.

Papandreou had accepted a invitation from Yilmaz to hold the meeting, which was originally scheduled for Saturday evening.

[06] Illegal Immigrants-Arrests

Police arrested two immigrant traffickers in northern Greece transporting 14 Palestinians and two Iraqis in separate incidents, border authorities said on Sunday.

At the Kipi border post in Evros, authorities on Saturday searched a truck that was found to contain a specially built metal container, housing 14 Palestinians, who reportedly paid 23,000 US dollars to be conveyed to to Athens.

Arrested was the driver, identified as Rica Keylan (phonetic spelling), 48, of Turkey, police said.

On a motorway linking Kipi to Alexandroupoli, a Turkish driver identified as Serif Top (phonetic spelling) was arrested on Saturday for transporting two illegal Iraqi immigrants, also destined for Athens.

[07] Coalition of the Left-Environment

The Coalition of the Left and Progress has signalled a shift towards a stronger pro-environmental line that may include a change of name, party officials said on Sunday

The coalition's central committee held a meeting on the environment on Saturday to prepare for a party congress that will debate a proposal to adopt the name 'Coalition of the Left and the Environment', the officials said.

[08] Defence Ministry-InfoTech

The Association of Northern Greek Information Technology Firms and the defence ministry are to collaborate in a project to set up an infotech centre in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Sunday.

A company to carry out the scheme has been set up with a share capital of 100 million drachmas, said the association's president, Anastasios Tzikas.

[09] Public Sector-Opinion Poll

Almost all Greeks think that the public sector is characterised by a high rate of corruption, according to an opinion poll published in a newspaper on Sunday.

A total of 92.5 percent of those polled believed that heavy corruption existed and 78.6 percent backed the government's decision to introduce mandatory means declaration for public sector workers said the poll, which was conducted by Kapa Research and carried in Ethnos on Sunday.

Of those who backed means declaration, 38.3 percent believed that the scheme would would greatly help to restrict corruption, and 34.9 percent said it would have a fair impact.

Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou ordered means declaration a few weeks ago, sparking the ire of the civil servants' umbrella union. A committee will be set up to protect the confidentiality of employees' means data.

Of those polled, 34.8 percent reported that they had witnessed instances of corruption by state sector officials; and 64.4 percent said they had not.

Ranking top for presumed levels of corruption were tax offices, followed by ministries, hospitals, education, the Public Power Corporation, the town planning division and local government.

[10] Earthquakes-Readiness Drill

Greece on Sunday staged its first earthquake readiness drill, centred in Atalanti, the scene of past temblors.

The exercise, which was monitored by earthquake experts from home and abroad, aimed to test the preparation of state services and identify any weak points in organisation and response.

Taking part were the state's special emergency squad, its earthquake protection organisation, the ambulance division and fire brigade. Sniffer dogs also took part.

The scenario for the drill was an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale that caused buildings to collapse, trapping residents under the rubble.

Also for the first time, a device being developed at the National Technical University of Athens was tested that is able to detect people trapped in fallen buildings.

"I am entirely satisfied with the way the exercise was conducted," fire brigade chief Panayotis Fourlas told reporters.

"A series of facts emerged that will be extremely useful in designing similar exercises throughout Greece and in the islands," Fourlas added.

The experts from Greece, France and the Upsala earthquake detection centre in Sweden have recently been studying the fault at Atalanti, near Lamia.

[11] Tsohatzopoulos-PASOK

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos acknowledged that the ruling PASOK party had strayed from some of the principles it set out in a 'contract with the people' in 1981 elections, but maintained that fundamental pledges had been kept.

"I know quite a few of you today feel disillusioned by politics and by politicians, and quite a few of you by PASOK. You told us that we had relegated to second place...the privileged relationship that we in PASOK established in our contract with the people in 1981," Tsohatzopoulos said in a speech in Thessaloniki on Saturday evening.

"And to a degree you are right. A non-stop drive in recent years to tackle major, difficult issues made us forget the simple, everyday things, but they are the things that affect our lives directly," the minister said.

At the same time, PASOK had carried out its main pledges.

"We kept to our commitments. We carried out those things we had pledged, or at least we tried to be timely in what we implemented when reality was shown to be tougher than we could manage," Tsohatzopoulos added.

[12] Weather Forecast-Sunday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Sunday, turning to showers in many areas. Storms are also expected in the west. Winds southerly, strong to very strong, with gale force winds in parts of the Ionian and Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 6C to 13C; in the Ionian and on the rest of the mainland from 9C to 17C; and in the Aegean from 11C to 19C. Cloudy in Athens with temperatures between 10C and 15C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 8C to 12C.

[13] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Monday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 366.319

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 535.273

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 045.299

Swedish kroner 037.951

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 313.881

Swiss franc 221.251

Norwegian kroner 041.172

Cyprus pound 584.446

Canadian dollar 243.566

Australian dollar 198.341

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