Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-06-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece's position on Euroforce ''understood in principle'' , Greek FM

[02] IOC President Rogge refers to preparations for Athens 2004 Olympic

[03] Journalists' union protests journalists' deportation

[04] Medi-copter crashes on Anafi mountain

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[06] Weather Forecast: Sunny skies on Tuesday

[07] Greek stocks end 0.22 percent lower on Monday

[01] Greece's position on Euroforce ''understood in principle'' , Greek FM says

LUXEMBOURG (ANA - M. Spinthourakis) - The Greek positions on the Euroforce issue have ''been made understood in principle'' as negotiations continue unabated, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said in Luxembourg on Monday, following a meeting of the European Union's foreign ministers in preparation of the Seville Summit, due to begin on Friday.

Papandreou stressed that no satisfactory solution was found yet for the problem that stemmed from a text submitted to the EU by Britain, the United States and Turkey allowing Ankara to have a say in the role of the Euroforce, despite the fact that it is not an EU member-state.

The Greek minister underlined that the Spanish presidency of the EU, which is concluding its six-month term, will continue its efforts until the Friday-Saturday Summit.

''If a compromise solution is not found until that time, then the efforts will continue after the Spanish presidency as well,'' Papandreou said, while Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique confirmed that efforts were continuing and stated that Greece was showing an especially constructive stance.

[02] IOC President Rogge refers to preparations for Athens 2004 Olympic Games

GENEVA (ANA - N. Robin) - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge in an interview to the Sunday edition of Le Matin referred to preparations for the the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, noting that ''on condition that they will continue the present pace of work, the Greeks will hold successfull Games.''

Rogge said that in the past there had been serious delays in projects in Athens which led to his predecessor Antonio Samaranch issuing the ''yellow card'' to Greece.

The IOC president said that since then, the dialogue between the Greek government and IOC has borne fruit, even though there are some problems concerning housing and infrastructure work in general.

[03] Journalists' union protests journalists' deportation

The Athens Journalists Union (ESHEA) protested strongly on Monday the deportation of two International Journalists Federation delegation journalists by the Israeli authorities.

The two, who are on a mission to the Middle East, are Greek journalist Mania Barsevski and Panayiotis Paschalis from Cyprus.

An announcement by ESHEA said the delegation includes journalists from Britain, France, Greece, Italy and Cyprus and is conducting an on-the-spot investigation on the living and working conditions of journalists in Palestinian territory and the operation of the media in the region.

It added that support for similar missions in the sensitive Middle East region, which can promote the spirit of peace and conciliation among peoples should be a given fact.

''The deportation of the journalists in question of the International Journalists Federation's delegation in no way contributes in this direction,'' the announcement said.

[04] Medi-copter crashes on Anafi mountain

A state medi-copter crashed into a mountain on the island of Anafi early Monday shortly after take-off, killing all five persons on board, including a heart patient it was transporting, the EKAB state ambulance service said.

The EKAB's Italian made Agusta 109 ambulance helicopter went missing early Monday shortly after taking off from Anafi to return to the island of Rhodes, transporting a 62-year-old woman, a doctor and the chopper's three-member crew.

The helicopter originally took off at 00:50 a.m. from Rhodes for Anafi to pick up the patient, and then took off at 2:10 a.m. to head back for Rhodes. The chopper was reported missing and an air and sea search was mounted when it failed to land at Rhodes as scheduled at 3:15. Wreckage of the medi-copter was spotted on the mountain of Anafi some four hours later.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.950

Pound sterling 0.643

Danish kroner 7.494

Swedish kroner 9.151

Japanese yen 118.0

Swiss franc 1.488

Norwegian kroner 7.474

Cyprus pound 0.584

Canadian dollar 1.471

Australian dollar 1.703

[06] Weather Forecast: Sunny skies on Tuesday

Sunshine is forecast in most parts of the country, with isolated storms likely in eastern Macedonia and Thrace, mainly on high ground. Winds north-northeasterly, moderate to strong, turning gale force in the Aegean from evening. On the mainland, temperatures will range from 18C to 33C; in the Ionian and the mainland from 19C to 35C; and in the Aegean islands from 23C to 31C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 24C and 35C. Scattered cloud in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 20C to 33C.

[07] Greek stocks end 0.22 percent lower on Monday

Greek stocks eased slightly on Monday as domestic investors ignored an improved climate in other European markets and remained largely sellers in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index fell 0.22 percent to end at 2,220.10 points, with turnover a low 72.1 million euros.

The Investment and Construction sectors scored the biggest percentage gais of the day (1.0 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively), while the Retail, Food-Beverage and Cement sectors suffered the heaviest losses (0.83 percent, 0.64 percent and 0.62 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.45 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.15 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index eased 0.07 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 159 to 130 with another 67 issues unchanged.

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