Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-09-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Iraq, Middle East, EU's enlargement examined at EU conference

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch meets with president, prime minister

[03] Greek FM presents international opinion poll on environment

[04] Italy to return a fragment of the Parthenon frieze to Greece

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[06] Weather Forecast: Unsettled on Tuesday

[07] Greek stocks plunge 2.41 percent on Monday

[01] Iraq, Middle East, EU's enlargement examined at EU conference

BRUSSELS (ANA - M. Spinthourakis) - Iraq, conditions in the Middle East and the European Union's enlargement dominated discussions of the EU's General Affairs Council here on Monday.

Greece was represented by Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis.

Papandreou noted that a positive element of the meeting was that all EU member-states agreed that the United Nations should play a primary role concerning Iraq, alluding, however, to differences of opinion in procedures to be followed, by France and Britain, which are permanent Security Council members.

The 15 expressed their satisfaction over developments in the Middle East, noting the de-escalating tension, following israel's decisions concerning the surrounding of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters and agreed that the EU should intensify its presence in the region.

The ministers also discussed the enlargement of the EU, Yiannitsis said, adding that they had the chance of exchanging views on economic and institutional issues, without, however, reaching any conclusions.

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch meets with president, prime minister

Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos, who arrived in Greece on Sunday for a four-day unofficial visit, on Monday met with Greece's leadership.

At noon, the Orthodox Church's highest prelate met with President Kostis Stephanopoulos at the Presidential Mansion.

During the meeting Stephanopoulos expressed his joy of seeing the Vartholomeos in the international media promoting his chosen activities, with which both the Patriarchate and Hellenism are also promoted.

Vartholomeos on his part thanked the president for his kind words and for his efforts to reach the expatriate Greeks around the world.

Later in the day, Vartholomeos met with Prime Minister Costas Simitis and exchanged views on current issues from the international scene, in light of the prelate's upcoming visit to Brussels on Thursday. These issues included Greece's EU presidency.

[03] Greek FM presents international opinion poll on environment

BRUSSELS (ANA) - Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Monday presented the results of the first international opinion poll on the environment conducted by the ''Andreas Papandreou Foundation'' via the internet.

This initiative allowed some 25,000 people from 175 countries to express their opinion on environmental problems confronted by the international community, as well as ways to confront these problems and improve the environmental conditions of the planet.

The vast majority of the 25,000 respondents opined that the world is moving in the wrong direction with regards to environmental issues, while half of them noted that the problems of the environment ranked second to world poverty and lack of development.

The poll showed that the respondents considered water pollution, air pollution and over-population to be the most significant problems of the environment on an international level, while air pollution and urban development ranked first on a local level.

[04] Italy to return a fragment of the Parthenon frieze to Greece

ROME (ANA/L/Hatzikyriakos) - A fragment of the Parthenon frieze presently housed in Palermos Museo Nazionale will be returned to Greece during Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampis official visit to Athens on 6 November, Italian daily La Republica reported on Monday.

The 14-by-13.4-inch foot of Pithos, a fragment from the eastern Parthenon frieze, gifted 150 years ago by a British diplomat to the Palermo Museum, will be returned to Athens by the Italian President, the article said, adding that this would be enough to ?rekindle? the confrontation over the return of various archaeological finds, now housed in museums around the world, to their countries of origin.

According to La Republica, this is a ?gesture of friendship? providing the Greek authorities with the opportunity to resume the campaign for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles that are now housed in Londons British Museum.

Sculpted in the fifth century BC, the 176-yard frieze was removed from the Parthenon 200 years ago by Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to Istanbul at the time.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.993

Pound sterling 0.634

Danish kroner 7.486

Swedish kroner 9.224

Japanese yen 120.6

Swiss franc 1.472

Norwegian kroner 7.400

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.569

Australian dollar 1.824

[06] Weather Forecast: Unsettled on Tuesday

The day will start cloudy, turning to rain and storms. There will be sunny spells in many areas. The weather will improve from the west from evening. Snow is forecast on high ground in the north. Winds variable, moderate to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 5C to 15C; on the rest of the mainland from 10C to 22C; and in the Aegean islands from 15C to 25C. Temperatures in Athens between 15C and 22C; and in Thessaloniki from 11C to 15C.

[07] Greek stocks plunge 2.41 percent on Monday

Greek stocks plunged 2.41 percent in the Athens Stock Exchange on Monday hit by a negative climate in other European markets.

The last trading session of September sealed a very negative month for the market, during which the general index lost more than 14 percent raising this year's losses to around 29 percent.

The general index dropped 2.41 percent to 1,837.52 points, off the day's lows of 1,800.87 points as some late bargain hunting for blue chip stocks, like Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, helped to a partial recovery of the market.

Turnover was an improved 119.5 million euros.

The IT Solution, Holding and Textile sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (6.10 percent, 5.75 percent and 5.13 percent, respectively), while the Cement and Bank sectors ended 1.40 percent and 1.95 percent lower, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks dropped 2.12 percent, while the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 3.23 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index fell 3.92 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 325 to 20 with another 14 issues unchanged.

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