Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-08-16

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Alleged 'N17' leader requests stay in providing statement

[02] Skydra-Florina railway section closed due to renovation

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[04] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise across the board in slim trade

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunshine and rain on Saturday

[06] 3-million-year-old rhinoceros skull unearthed in N. Greece

[07] Weather Saturday: Partly cloudy

[01] Alleged 'N17' leader requests stay in providing statement

The alleged co-founder and leader of the notorious ?November 17? terrorist on Friday requested and was granted a stay until Tuesday to provide a statement to a relevant prosecutor.

Alexandros Giotopoulos, 58, was scheduled to provide a customary pre-trial statement to special appellate court prosecutor Leonidas Zervobeakos on Friday. The former is being held in solitary confinement at a maximum-security cellblock in Korydallos prison since his arrest last month.

An attorney for Giotopoulos later told reporters on Frida that his client had previously requested a 30-day extension for providing the statement, something that was not granted by the prosecutors office.

The Paris-born Giotopoulos has denied from the onset all charges filed against him or involvement with terrorism, while stressing that he does not even know any of the suspects recently arrested in the high-profile ?N17? investigation.

[02] Skydra-Florina railway section closed due to renovation

The Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) on Friday said that on Monday, 19 August, the Skydra-Kozani/Florina section of the Thessaloniki-Kozani/Florina, Northwestern Macedonia line will be temporarily closed for passenger transportation due to renovation works effected as part of an all-out railway-network renovation project that takes off on that date.

Effective 19 August and until work on that section is completed, all passenger trains on the Thessaloniki-Kozani/Florina line will travel between Thessaloniki and Skydra only, OSE said.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro until Monday released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.990

Pound sterling 0.645

Danish kroner 7.485

Swedish kroner 9.309

Japanese yen 116.2

Swiss franc 1.476

Norwegian kroner 7.433

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.543

Australian dollar 1.816

[04] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise across the board in slim trade

The Athens bourse finished higher on Friday, with players trading across the board.

The general share index gained 0.54 percent to end at 2,160.27 points. Turnover was 57.3 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.88 percent up; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 0.62 percent higher; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities 0.45 percent up.

Of 350 stocks traded, advances led declines at 224 to 52 with 52 issues remaining unchanged.

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunshine and rain on Saturday

Sunshine is forecast in most parts of the country, with scattered cloud on the mainland and northern Aegean that will turn to showers or brief storms, especially in the centre and north. Winds northerly, light to moderate, turning strong in parts of the south. In the north, temperatures will range from 18C to 28C; on the rest of the mainland from 20C to 33C; and in the islands from 23C to 32C. Temperatures in Athens between 23C and 34C; and in Thessaloniki between 22C and 28C.

[06] 3-million-year-old rhinoceros skull unearthed in N. Greece

Paleontologists estimate that a skull of a prehistoric rhinoceros discovered in northern Greece recently is approximately three million years old.

The fossil was found in the same region -- near the town of Milia in Grevena prefecture -- where the largest mammoth remains ever found were unearthed four years ago. Mammoths were precursors of modern-day elephants.

The skull was transferred to the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki.

[07] Weather Saturday: Partly cloudy

Partly cloudy in northern Greece and northern Aegean on Saturday, with a chance of rain. Sunny elsewhere. Northerly winds, weak to moderate. Temperatures in the north between 18C to 28C; 20C to 33 in the rest of the mainland; 23C to 31C on the islands.

Only a slim chance of afternoon rain in Athens, 23C to 32C. Cloudy in Thessaloniki, 22C to 28C.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article