Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-02-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Thessaloniki night club shooting

[02] Conference on 'cultural journalism'

[03] Parliament presidents sign proclamation on cultures

[04] Mandela to visit Greece in June

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Tuesday

[07] Greek stocks end sharply lower on Monday

[01] Thessaloniki night club shooting

Two unidentified men opened fire in a night club in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, in the early hours on Monday and made their getaway without anyone being hurt.

Police later said Armenian nationals Ignatios Vahanelidis, 24, and Gamlet Agatsanian, 23, as well as another unidentified person, went to the night club "Calligula" with the purpose of forcefully taking away women working as striptease artists.

Vahanelidis stayed outside while the other two went inside and started firing Kalashnikov rifles into the air for intimidation, causing a panic among customers and employees.

However, police from a passing patrol car rushed to the scene and arrested Vahanelidis, while his two accomplices managed to escape. A car used in the attack and found nearby had also been stolen.

[02] Conference on 'cultural journalism'

A three-day conference dedicated to newspapers' cultural inserts was inaugurated at the Books' Arcade on Monday, while the conference's organiser and Educational Society's President George Babiniotis praised efforts made by newspapers in this direction.

Babiniotis said the conference was being held "for us to honour and realise the effort being made by newspapers on culture journalism and problems which possibly arise in the functioning of these inserts which, one way or another, are on a good path."

Speaking at the conference, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said his ministry was wanting to organise a useful dialogue on cultural inserts "but the Books' Arcade beat us to it."

[03] Parliament presidents sign proclamation on cultures

Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis, speaking on Monday during the signing of a finalised proclamation by the parliament presidents of the most ancient cultures of the Mediterranean (Egyptian, Greek, Persian and Roman), said "dialogue among cultures is the only reply to violence and terrorism from wherever it comes."

"Our parliaments' expressed will for their cooperation to proceed in the framework of dialogue among cultures constitutes a promising message for strengthening relations and mutual understanding among peoples," Kaklamanis said.

The presidents of the Greek Parliament, the Popular Assembly of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Advisory Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Italian Parliament also hailed the decision taken by the UN's General Assembly to proclaim 2001 as the world year of dialogue among cultures

[04] Mandela to visit Greece in June

Former South African president Nelson Mandela will visit Greece between June 18 and June 24, at the invitation of Foreign Minister George Papandreou.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.878

Pound sterling 0.614

Danish kroner 7.489

Swedish kroner 9.269

Japanese yen 116.6

Swiss franc 1.492

Norwegian kroner 7.809

Cyprus pound 0.580

Canadian dollar 1.397

Australian dollar 1.697

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Tuesday

Light cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, turning to rain in the west, centre and north, and storms in the northwest. Winds southerly, moderate to strong, turning very strong at sea. In the north, temperatures will range from 2C to 12C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 6C to 17C; and in the Aegean islands from 10C to 19C. Scattered cloud in Athens, with temperatures between 7C and 16C. Rain in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 6C to 12C.

[07] Greek stocks end sharply lower on Monday

Greek stocks suffered heavy losses in the first trading session of the week undermined by lack of buying interest and low liquidity in the market.

The general index ended 1.12 percent lower at 2,461.01 points, with turnover a low Dr 32.5 billion, or 95.3 million euros.

The Holdings, Wholelsae and Banks sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (2.54 percent, 1.52 percent and 1.42 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.33 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 1.27 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 1.20 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 290 to 47 with another 23 issues unchanged.

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