Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-09-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] Environment minister comments on women's role in politics

[02] 80 illegal migrants located on islet near Aliveri

[03] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Sunday

[04] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Sunday

[05] Luxembourg FM congratulates Greece on breakthrough against terrorism

[06] World mayors summit in Athens ends with signature of Olympic cities

[07] PM continues Peloponnese tour by visiting Kalamata

[08] OA plane forced to land after 'running out' of fuel (RECASTS - adds)

[09] OA plane forced to land after 'running out' of fuel

[10] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[11] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Saturday

[01] Environment minister comments on women's role in politics

Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou visited the Aegean island of Samos on Saturday to address a meeting on the efforts being made to increase the participation of women candidates in local government elections.

She also discussed the need for a strict time frame and specific proposals for Greece's EU presidency in the first half of 2003, particularly for ensuring Cyprus' EU accession.

In her speech, Papandreou noted that Greece ranked 93rd in the world for the participation of women in Parliament, making programmes such as the 33 per cent minimum quota on local election tickets essential.

[02] 80 illegal migrants located on islet near Aliveri

Eighty illegal immigrants of Iraqi Kurdish origin were spotted on the islet Kavaliani near Aliveri early on Saturday.

Among them are 72 men, six women and two children.

The local coast guard is now searching for the boat that dropped the immigrants off on the islet and any other people involved in the case.

[03] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Sunday

Hot and humid weather with scattered cloud is forecast throughout Greece, turning to local showers and storms in the west, central and northern parts of the country. Parts of the mainland will be misty in the morning. Winds southwesterly, moderate to strong in the west, rising to very strong over the Ionian Sea, weak to moderate in the rest of the country. In the north, temperatures will range from 13C to 29C; on the rest of the mainland and Ionian from 15C to 31C; and in the Aegean islands from 16C to 30C. Temperatures in Athens between 17C and 31C; and in Thessaloniki from 15C to 29C.

[04] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Sunday

Hot and humid weather with scattered cloud is forecast throughout Greece, turning to local showers and storms in the west, central and northern parts of the country. Parts of the mainland will be misty in the morning. Winds southwesterly, moderate to strong in the west, rising to very strong over the Ionian Sea, weak to moderate in the rest of the country. In the north, temperatures will range from 13C to 29C; on the rest of the mainland and Ionian from 15C to 31C; and in the Aegean islands from 16C to 30C. Temperatures in Athens between 17C and 31C; and in Thessaloniki from 15C to 29C.

[05] Luxembourg FM congratulates Greece on breakthrough against terrorism

LUXEMBOURG (ANA - M. Psillos) The break-up of the terrorist group ''November 17'' by Greek authorities had been a huge success that was an example to others, especially because ordinary citizens had played an important part in achieving it, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Lydie Polfer told the ANA on Saturday.

''The break-up of 'November 17' was a very positive development,'' Polfer said and stressed the role of international cooperation in fighting terrorism.

''In Europe we are one family and cooperation is essential,'' the Luxembourg foreign minister added.

Polfer, who is also head of the ministers' council for the Council of Europe (CoE), was speaking on the sidelines of an international conference organised by the CoE on the role of local authorities in dealing with terrorism.

[06] World mayors summit in Athens ends with signature of Olympic cities charter

The Mayors of the World Summit ended in Athens' Asteria resort in Vouliagmeni on Saturday with a joint communique that stressed the vital role that cities will play in the future and the signature of an Athens Charter for Olympic Cities.

During the last day of the meeting, speakers stressed that cities were now the hubs of a global society undergoing revolutionary changes and key links in the world economy, generating 60 per cent of the global gross product, as well as being on the frontline of all the world's problems.

In the summit's final communique, the gathered mayors agreed to record their acceptance of 'city diplomacy' while the Athens Charter calls for a world union of Olympic cities under the aegis of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

[07] PM continues Peloponnese tour by visiting Kalamata

Prime Minister Costas Simitis continued his tour of Messinia and Arcadia in the Peloponnese on Saturday by visiting Kalamata, where he paid a visit to the city's new hospital and later addressed a large gathering at a Kalamata indoor basketball court.

While at the hospital, the prime minister talked about Greece' national health system, which he said was improving every year as problems were solved one by one.

He stressed the huge service provided to Greek people by the national health system, which each year processed 11 million visits to outpatient clinics, treated 1.7 million people in hospital and carried out more than 70 million medical tests.

All European state health systems were in some sort of crisis, Simitis added, but the Greek government was using everything it had in a systematic way to deal with the Greek system's problems.

Regarding Kalamata's two-year-old hospital, he said that it was one of the most up-to-date in the country, built to European specifications and that 47 million euros had been spent on its construction and equipment.

He pledged that central government would gradually provide more specialist staff and funds to set up additional facilities, such as an ER ward, an intensive care unit and a diabetes centre.

PM slams ND stance on terrorism

In his speech later on at Kalamata's basketball court, Simitis was highly critical of both main opposition New Democracy and sections of the media for their handling of the terrorism case, while he appealed to progressive forces from all parties to rally together in the upcoming local government elections.

[08] OA plane forced to land after 'running out' of fuel (RECASTS - adds)

A short-haul Olympic Aviation plane carrying out a domestic flight between Iraklio, Crete and Thessaloniki was forced to make an emergency landing late on Friday night after running out of fuel!

According to the pilot of the ATR 72 propeller-driven aircraft, he realised that there wasn't enough fuel on board to complete the trip in mid-air and asked to land on the Aegean island of Santorini, where he was able to refuel and continue the flight without problems.

The pilots on the aircraft attributed the rare incident to the weather, which forced them to take a route that used a greater amount of fuel than usual.

Responding to the new reports later on Saturday, Olympic Aviation's management announced that the pilot's decision to stop for additional fuel was standard procedure when there was a change in weather conditions, as there had been in Thessaloniki.

It stressed that the fuel already on the aircraft was more than enough to carry out the planned trip, while the extra fuel was merely a precautionary measure.

[09] OA plane forced to land after 'running out' of fuel

A short-haul Olympic Airways plane carrying out a domestic flight between Iraklio, Crete and Thessaloniki was forced to make an emergency landing late on Friday night after running out of fuel!

According to the pilot of the ITR 72 propeller-driven aircraft, he realised that there wasn't enough fuel on board to complete the trip in mid-air and asked to land on the Aegean island of Santorini, where he was able to refuel and continue the flight without problems.

The pilots on the aircraft attributed the rare incident to the weather, which forced them to take a route that used a greater amount of fuel than usual.

[10] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.986

Pound sterling 0.638

Danish kroner 7.489

Swedish kroner 9.166

Japanese yen 121.6

Swiss franc 1.477

Norwegian kroner 7.420

Cyprus pound 0.578

Canadian dollar 1.552

Australian dollar 1.806

[11] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Saturday

Sunshine is forecast in all parts of the country, with scattered cloud on the mainland and in the Ionian that may turn to light rain in the northwest. Parts of the mainland will be misty in the morning. Winds variable, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 11C to 28C; on the rest of the mainland from 14C to 31C; and in the Aegean islands from 15C to 29C. Temperatures in Athens between 17C and 31C; and in Thessaloniki from 14C to 28C.

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