Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-10-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Lalaounis jewellery exhibition to be presented in New York

[02] Stolen check lands Olympiakos striker in jail

[03] New defence minister meets with US ambassador

[04] Greek stocks start the week with gains

[01] Lalaounis jewellery exhibition to be presented in New York

NEW YORK (ANA - M. Georgiadou) - The Onassis Cultural Centre of the United States will host, at its base at the Manhattan Olympic Tower, an exhibition of jewellery and small sculptures from the collection of the Ilias Lalaounis Museum from November to February.

Present at the inauguration on November 1, will be representatives of the major museums of the area, art critics, the president of the Cultural Centre, Stelios Papadimitriou, Ilias Lalaounis and Ioanna Lalaouni-Tsoukopoulou.

[02] Stolen check lands Olympiakos striker in jail

A striker for Olympiakos Piraeus, one of two Greek football clubs participating in this season's Champions League, was arrested Monday on charges related to a stolen bank check.

Liberian international Zizi Roberts, 23, was arrested by police at a private bank in northern Athens while attempting to cash a stolen check sporting a face value of 25 million drachmas (around 73,000 euros).

According to reports, Roberts claimed he was given the check -- reported stolen last June -- by the top executive of another Athens football club -- Panionios -- to cover payments owed to him. Roberts was traded last season from Panionios, one of the weaker teams in the Greek first division, to league-leading Olympiakos.

Conversely, Panionios' Achilleas Beos denied Roberts' claim that he gave him the stolen check.

The Olympiakos player was being held at a Piraeus precinct at press time.

Olympiakos failed to qualified for the Champions League's second round, although it must defeat high-flying Deportivo Corunaon Wednesday at Athens' Olympic stadium to qualify for the UEFA tournament.

[03] New defence minister meets with US ambassador

Newly appointed Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou received US ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller on Monday, with talks focusing on Greek-American cooperation in the defence sector as well as recent developments in the fight against international terrorism.

In statements afterwards, Papantoniou clarified that there hasn't been any request from Washington for direct Greek involvement in the US-led campaign centering on Afghanistan, although Greece backs the US effort as part of a more-or-less ecumenical political volition to fight international terrorism.

Afterwards, Miller paid a courtesy visit to Greek army chief of staff Gen. Georgios Antonakopoulos, as military, training and weapons procurement issues dominated talks.

[04] Greek stocks start the week with gains

Equity prices ended moderately higher on Monday as recent positive reports by foreign investment banks on Greek blue chip stocks have created an optimistic climate on the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index ended 0.77 percent higher at 2,388.74 points, reflecting gains in the banks sector, with turnover a low 22.6 billion drachmas or 66.4 million euros. Traders said that with turnover at these levels the market could not move much higher.

The Retail and Bank sector scored the biggest percentage gains (1.72 percent and 1.52 percent, respectilely), while the Textiles, Food and Beverage sectors suffered the heaviest losses (0.70 percent and 0.48 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.08 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.33 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.87 percent up.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 172 to 121 with another 63 issues unchanged.

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