Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-03-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] Russia-Greece-Exhibition

[02] Organised crime-Legislation-Drafting-Premier-recasts adds more

[03] Arrest-Cocaine-Import

[04] Passenger Shipping-Deregulation-Bill

[05] Weather Forecast-Friday

[06] Athens 2004 - Sydney executives - Hiring

[07] Greece - Turkey - Film week

[08] Foreign Exchange Rates-Friday

[09] ASE-close

[10] Radio & television licences - amendment withdrawn

[11] Defence minister - Tunisia visit

[01] Russia-Greece-Exhibition

MOSCOW (ANA) - Greeks in Russia are featured in an exhibition organised by the Greek embassy here, in light of the 10 years since the establishment of the Federation of Greek Communities in Russia.

The exhibition was inaugurated on Thursday and will last until April 10, at the Russian History Museum on the Red Square of the Russian capital, where a special event will be held in light of the congress of the federation.

The exhibition features artifacts and documents of the presence of Greece in the region from antiquity to the present, while documents of the Greek community in Moscow of the 19th century will be exhibited for the first time ever.

[02] Organised crime-Legislation-Drafting-Premier-recasts adds more

The draft of legislation proposed by the government for the confrontation of organised crime will be ready to be tabled in Parliament in approximately 10 days, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Thursday.

?We discussed with the inner cabinet on the plan, that the ministry of justice is preparing, on organised crime. Before the final draft of the plan, we sought this discussion so as to have the guiding directives of the prime minister and the members of the inner cabinet,? Justice Minister Michalis Stathopoulos said in statements after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

According to Reppas, Stathopoulos presented to the premier the basic principles of the policy for the protection of citizens against organised crime.

?We are ready now to forge ahead with the final draft, as well as the drafting of the report justifying the introduction of the bill. This will take a week. On March 12 the draft legislation will be made public,? Stathopoulos said.

Speaking on the disagreements expressed by law specialists, he said, ?there are some disagreements among lawyers, this happens very often. It is unavoidable. What I can reassure you on, however, is that this bill aims to protect the citizens from organised crime. It protects the citizen and does not limit the freedoms (of citizens).?

?All that is written on limitation of the freedoms of the citizen do not reflect reality,? he said.

[03] Arrest-Cocaine-Import

The Drugs Squad announced on Thursday that it arrested Tryfonas Karahalios, 36, for the transportation and importat into Europe from Venezuela of 25 kilos of cocaine.

He had also been sought by the police for his participation in to the theft of antiquities from the Museum of Corinth.

Karahalios had organised the import of the cocaine with two containers which contained cardboard.

The containers, through the Netherlands, were initially due to arrive in Cyprus and then to Greece.

[04] Passenger Shipping-Deregulation-Bill

The government on Thursday released a draft bill on deregulating the passenger shipping sector that it has sent to market players and political parties for feedback by March 12.

"We are in the final stretch before deregulation on November 1, 2002. The new institutional framework is of national significance, which is why we want a substantive dialogue with all those involved," Merchant Marine Minister Christos Papoutsis told reporters.

The measures to abolish the cabotage system of restrictions that kept operators from abroad out of the Greek domestic passenger shipping market will bring the country into line with European Union directives.

[05] Weather Forecast-Friday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Friday that may turn to showers in the northwest. Winds will be westerly, strong to very strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 0C to 14C; on the rest of the mainland and the Ionian from 5C to 16C; and in the Aegean islands from 9C to 17C. Mostly sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 7C and 16C. Partly cloudy in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 4C to 13C.

[06] Athens 2004 - Sydney executives - Hiring

Athens 2004 Olympics (ATHOC) organisers on Thursday announced the hiring of three top executives from the successful Sydney 2000 Games as consultants.

According to an ATHOC press release, the three Australian executives were named as David Richmond, Jim Sloman and John Quayle, billed as among the "Top 10" of Sydney 2000 officials.

Richmond was the general director of Australia's state-run Olympic Coordinating Authority, while Sloman was head of the Games' operations and the Sydney 2000 (SOCOG) deputy general director.

Finally, Quayle was general director of SOCOG's administration and management unit.

[07] Greece - Turkey - Film week

Greeces cinema centre will organise a Turkish film week, beginning on Friday, with 10 films produced over the last four years set for screening at an Athens movie theatre.

The event follows a similar film week in Turkey last autumn dedicated to Greek cinema, which was organised by an Istanbul-based production company that recently bought the broadcast rights in the Turkish market for five contemporary Greek films.

The Trianon movie house will host the event.

[08] Foreign Exchange Rates-Friday

Friday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 364.672

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 528.827

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 45.293

Swedish kroner 37.360

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 310.903

Swiss franc 219.343

Norwegian kroner 41.062

Cyprus pound 583.466

Canadian dollar 236.829

Australian dollar 192.557

[09] ASE-close

Equity prices continued moving lower on Thursday as domestic institutional investors remained sidelined on uncertainties over foreign institutional investors moves in the Greek market.

Traders said foreign funds were liquidating positions in the telecommunications sector in recent days, with Hellenic Telecoms' share price falling below the 15 euros level, losing 1.58 percent on Thursday.

Analysts said, however, that the Greek bourse was resisting pressures from a negative climate in other European stock markets.

The general index fell 0.59 percent to 3,110.59 points, off the day's lows of 3,103.28 points. Turnover was a low 134.06 million euros, or 45.681 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.65 percent to 1,776.93 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 fell 1.15 percent to 361.61 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks fell 0.30 percent to 317.22 points.

[10] Radio & television licences - amendment withdrawn

In the face of strong reactions from the opposition parties, the government decided to withdraw an amendment regulating the assignment of radio and television frequencies on Thursday.

The amendment the Press ministry had been inserted into a bill brought by Transport and Telecommunications Minister Christos Verelis on public transport administration in Thessaloniki.

It called for radio and television stations that had gained equal scores in the latest tender for radio and television frequency licences to opt for either shared use of the frequency or a public draw conducted by the National Television and Radio Council.

The amendment also said that if a new tender were held, those stations participating in the tender that were operating on November 1, 1999 would be considered legal operators until the new licences were issued, provided that was possible. If the number of participants in the tender was greater than the number of stations that could operate simultaneously, a special process would be decided that would allow the National Television and Radio Council to select which ones would operate during the transition period.

[11] Defence minister - Tunisia visit

Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos is on his way to Tunisia on Thursday for a two-day official visit.

The minister is to meet with his Tunisian counterpart Mohamed Jegham to discuss security issues in the wider region and bilateral defence cooperation.

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