Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-02-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Book Presentation-Mt Athos

[02] Tender-Hotels-Attica

[03] Tanker spill - River - Kastoria

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

[05] CORRECTION:Greece-Olympic Village-tender

[06] Mideast - Israeli-Palestinian envoys - Athens

[07] Weather Forecast-Thursday

[08] ASE-close

[01] Book Presentation-Mt Athos

A presentation of a book by professor Pavlos Mylonas entitled "Atlas of Athos", featuring the architectural monuments of Mt Athos, took place at the Athens Academy on Wednesday night in the presence of President Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Mylonas, an architect and academician, began his architectural research of Mt. Athos in 1954.

The book has been published in four languages, Greek, Russian, English and German.

[02] Tender-Hotels-Attica

Development Minster Nikos Christodoulakis said on Wednesday that he was extending until February 21 the deadline in a tender for the construction of quality hotels in Attica ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games to be hosted by Athens.

Bidders in the tender requested the extension due to problems created by a strike of workers at the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Christodoulakis said.

He told reporters that bidding so far from home and abroad was robust with 55 investment proposals submitted for the construction of luxury A class hotels in the prefecuture, representing a total of 8,000 beds.

[03] Tanker spill - River - Kastoria

Some 35,000 residents of the Kastoria region, in northern Greece, have been temporarily left without drinking water after crude oil seeped from an overturned Albanian-licensed tanker truck into a local river tributary.

The driver of the vehicle was killed in the accident, while a passenger was seriously injured. Authorities on Wednesday afternoon used a crane to lift the tanker out of a stream leading to the Aliakmonas River, while diverting the water downstream in order to siphon off a resulting oil slick.

The affected communities included Kastoria, Orestiada, Aliakmonas and Agia Triada.

The victim was identified as Baskim Duka, 51.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

Thursday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 368.298

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 536.031

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 45.301

Swedish kroner 37.410

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 317.065

Swiss franc 220.137

Norwegian kroner 41.127

Cyprus pound 583.366

Canadian dollar 241.975

Australian dollar 195.093

[05] CORRECTION:Greece-Olympic Village-tender

In paragraph 1, please read "Greece" instead of "Greek" and "for the Olympic Games" instead of "after the Olympic Games", as incorrectly stated. In the same paragraph, drop the phrase "and its accomodation."

A corrected repetition follows.

Greece will hold an international tender for the construction of the Olympic Village for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Deputy Labour Minister Christos Protopapas said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters during a press conference, Protopapas said the project was well within deadlines, it proceeded in full transparency and was aiming to build the best Olympic Village ever.

Protopapas said the government was also considering the day after the Olympic Games, since the village would house 2,300 families according to a government-sponsored housing plan.

Protopapas said the project would focus on environmental protection, with the use of natural gas and underground electricity networks.

"It is an important social policy intervention," he said.

Workers' Housing Organisation chairman, G.Papavassiliou, said the tender would include four subcontracts, worth 24 billion drachmas each. Total investment of the project, in the 30-month construction period, is estimated at 100 billion drachmas.

The timetable of the project envisages: May 10, signing of contracts, October 2002, delivery of one-third of the houses, March 2003, delivery of another one-third, and August 2003, delivery of the remaining one-third.

Infrastructure projects are expected to be completed in November 2003. The Olympic Village will be officially delivered to the Athens 2004 Organising Committee in January 2004.

[06] Mideast - Israeli-Palestinian envoys - Athens

The struggling Mideast peace process came under scrutiny during a meeting here on Wednesday, with both the Israeli and Palestinian envoys speaking just hours after a bus driven by a Gaza man rammed into crowded bus stop south of Tel Aviv in an apparent revenge attack.

?Are we witnessing a historic missed opportunity for peace with the Palestinians?? Israeli ambassador Ran Curiel asked rhetorically, before adding: ?Does Israel have a viable partner for peace in the current Palestinian Authority?

?The major concessions offered by (then Israeli PM) Mr. (Ehud) Barak and the Palestinian reaction to them, unfortunately, revealed that the Palestinian vision for peace up till now doesnt accommodate the existence of Israel as a Jewish state,? he charged.

Conversely, Palestinian Authority envoy Abdullah Abdullah tersely noted that ?violence breeds violence?, before blaming consecutive Israeli governments for signing a series of peace deals over the years ?but never implementing even one?.

Abdullah pointed squarely at Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharons visit to the sacred Temple Mount or al-Haram al-Sharif site in Jerusalem last September -- when he was Israels opposition leader at the time -- as causing the latest wave of violence, adding that Sharons ?provocation? came despite what he called warnings by Yasser Arafat and the Clinton administration.

[07] Weather Forecast-Thursday

Rain is forecast in most parts of the country on Thursday, with the northern Ionian, Epirus, the western mainland and the Dodecanese islands staying dry. Scattered storms are forecast in the Aegean, and snow in parts of central and northern Greece. Winds northerly, moderate to strong, turning gale force in the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from -4C to 5C; in the west from 3C to 13C; and in the rest of the country from -1C to 10C. Rainy in Athens, with snow on mountains around the city. Temperatures between 4C and 9C. Possible light snow in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 1C to 4C.

[08] ASE-close

Equity prices moved cautiously higher on Wednesday with buying interest focusing on small and medium capitalisation stocks on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Dealers said the general index managed to claw back above the 3,200 level after eight sessions and expressed their satisfaction over the quick absorption of two waves of profit taking during the session.

The general index ended 0.47 percent higher at 3,211.32 points, with turnover a moderate 122.47 million euros, or 41.73 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.56 percent higher at 1,868.91 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index jumped 2.74 percent to 357.51 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks jumped 4.02 percent to 271.11 points.

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