Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-10-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[02] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Wednesday

[03] Four in 10 young children in Greece are obese, doctors say

[04] Greek stocks end sharply up on ASE

[05] State services meeting at health ministry on dealing with anthrax

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Indicative tourist buying rates

U.S. dollar 373.424

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 539.802

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 45.452

Swedish kroner 35.632

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 307.148

Swiss franc 228.262

Norwegian kroner 042.409

Cyprus pound 588.504

Canadian dollar 239.559

Australian dollar 191.615

[02] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Wednesday

Sunny weather is forecast on Wednesday, with scattered cloud in the east and south. Winds north-northeasterly, light to very strong, turning gale force in the Aegean and easing off in the evening. In the north, temperatures will range from 9C to 25C, in the west from 12C to 27C; and in the rest of the country from 14C to 26C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 17C and 24C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 13C to 24C.

[03] Four in 10 young children in Greece are obese, doctors say

Four in 10 Greek children below the age of 10 are obese, while 26 per cent of men and 17 per cent of women in the adult population are overweight.

This was announced during a press conference in Thessaloniki on Tuesday by the Greek Medical Society for Obesity, which noted that the problems were more acute in northern Greece, where 35.4 per cent of the population were overweight and 19.9 per cent were obese.

The press conference was held on the occasion of World Obesity Day on Oct. 24.

Commenting on child obesity, endocrinologist Themistoklis Tzotzas said that, on the basis of a survey of 2,500 Greek children aged six to 17, up to 5 per cent were obese and 22 per cent were overweight. Obesity was more common among young children than teenagers, and also more common in boys than in girls, who often subjected themselves to stringent slimming regimes.

[04] Greek stocks end sharply up on ASE

Equity prices ended Tuesday's session sharply higher supported by a positive climate in international markets and a decision by foreign investment firms to upgrade several Greek banks' stocks.

The geneeral index ended 1.83 percent to 2,303.71 points, with turnover a low 29.6 billion drachmas or 86.8 million euros.

The Wholesale, IT solutions and Publications indices scored the biggest percentage gains (2.69%, 2.58% and 2.56%, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.83 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 1.71 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index jumped 1.70 percent.

Broadly, advancing issues led declining ones by 290 to 41 with another 31 issues unchanged.

[05] State services meeting at health ministry on dealing with anthrax

Anthrax attacks did not appear to be a problem that concerned Greece directly at this time and there was no need for the public to panic, Health Minister Alekos Papadopoulos said on Tuesday, after a meeting at the health ministry involving Greek security forces, emergency services and other state agencies.

"We're more worried about practical jokers," the minister added, implying that the panic and disruption to state services that might be caused by a thoughtless hoax was most likely the biggest threat that anthrax posed for the country.

Represented at the three-hour meeting, which focused on ways of dealing with incidents of anthrax if they should arise, were the armed forces, the police, the fire department, the ambulance service, the Control of Special Diseases Centre, the Atomic Energy Committee and the Athens 2004 Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC).

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