Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] Football league's 'lockout' to end on Oct. 27

[02] Archbishop and culture minister at catalogue's presentation

[03] Polish cleric given Greek university honourary doctorate

[04] ''FurMode 2002'' to open its gates in Thessaloniki on Thursday

[05] Fruit & veg show 33 pct price hikes

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Wednesday

[07] Greek stocks remain under pressure in ASE

[01] Football league's 'lockout' to end on Oct. 27

The professional soccer club league (EPAE) which represents teams in Greeces first, second and third divisions -- has announced that its ongoing ?lockout? will end on Oct. 27, allowing the fifth week of first division play to resume after a roughly one-month interval.

Only the first four weeks of the 2002-03 season had been played when EPAE decided on the lockout following the collapse of one of two subscriber networks in the country, a development that left 10 first division clubs without broadcast revenue contracts.

Champions League play for two teams Olympiakos Piraeus and AEK Athens -- UEFA Cup obligations, local Greek cup matchups and a friendly by the national team kept many first division players, however, in form during the lull.

The leagues failed efforts to secure more money from state-owned football pools was cited by team owners as one of the main reasons for the lockout.

[02] Archbishop and culture minister at catalogue's presentation

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos and Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, in an event held at the Old Parliament building on Tuesday night, presented a bilingual 500-page catalogue, in English and Greek, on the Jubilee 2000 exhibition organised at the Byzantine Museum last year under the title ''Great and Paradoxical Mystery.''

The exhibition had been jointly organised by the Church of Greece and the culture ministry.

Archbishop Christodoulos thanked the Greek government for its support for the Church's decision to organise the exhibition. On his part, Venizelos said the exhibition and the catalogue was ''a token of cooperation between politics and the Church in the sector of promoting cultural heritage and other such cooperation will follow.''

[03] Polish cleric given Greek university honourary doctorate

The Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland Savvas was given an honourary doctorate by the Aristotelion University's Theology Faculty on Tuesday.

Thessaloniki Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos also awarded him the city's gold medal in recognition of his work and contribution.

Born in 1938, Savvas attended studies at Warsaw's Christian Academy and in May 1998 he was elected Metropolitan of Poland's Orthodox Church which has 600,000 faithful, meaning two percent of the country's population which is exclusively Roman Catholic.

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos and the members of the Holy Synod also honoured Savvas on behalf of the Church of Greece last May.

[04] ''FurMode 2002'' to open its gates in Thessaloniki on Thursday

The first ever international exhibition for furs aptly entitled ''FurMode 2002'' in Greece will take place between Thursday and Saturday at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair grounds with the participation of Greek and foreign firms.

More than 50 firms from Greece, the US, Italy, Canada, Russia, Germany and Hong Kong will participate.

[05] Fruit & veg show 33 pct price hikes

Fruit and vegetables showed price rises of up to 33 percent on Tuesday against a day earlier when they increased by up to 43 percent, the development ministry said.

It was the second day after a weeklong strike by street market vendors.

Among produce to show a 33 percent hike were courgettes and bananas, with other fruit and vegetables showing lesser increases or declines, the ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, melon and beetroot price were up 42.85 percent against a week ago, with potatoes increasing by 12.5 percent. At the same time, the price of tomatoes fell by 9.1 percent.

Street vendors and producers have complained that the method used by the ministry to record prices shows non-existent hikes.

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Wednesday

Sunny weather is forecast in most parts of the country, with cloud that may turn to showers in the west, south and eastern Aegean islands. Winds variable, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 12C to 24C; on the rest of the mainland from 15C to 27C; and in the Aegean islands from 18C to 26C. Temperatures in Athens between 16C and 26C; and in Thessaloniki from 13C to 23C.

[07] Greek stocks remain under pressure in ASE

Greek stocks ended a highly volatile session lower in the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, reflecting a negative climate in other European markets.

The general index fell 0.47 percent to end at 1,737.04 points, with turnover a low 69.8 million euros.

The Telecommunications sector was the only one to score gains (+0.90 percent), mainly reflecting a recovery in Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation's share price (up 1.85 percent). The Metals, Wholesale, Publication and Construction sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (3.0 percent, 2.82 percent, 2.72 percent and 2.43 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.65 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 2.06 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.92 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 282 to 34 with another 43 issues unchanged.

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