Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] ATHOC president holds press conference in London

[02] OA flight attendants to strike over termination of flights to Australia

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[04] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Friday

[05] Greek stocks rebound on Thursday

[01] ATHOC president holds press conference in London

LONDON (ANA - D. Kalambakas) - Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organizing Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki on Thursday held a press conference at an event organized by the Foreign Press Association in London for the Athens Olympics at the 'Victoria and Albert' Museum.

''The Olympic Games of Athens are a unique opportunity for Greece to promote its modern image all over the world. It is an opportunity Greece could not have in any other way,'' she said.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki spoke to about 150 correspondents, stressing security issues, the organizing aspects of the Games and London's bid to host the Games in 2012.

''Security is our first priority. In cooperation with experts from 22 countries, with a program budgeted at 600 million dollars and a force of 45,000 professionals, we are committed to hosting secure Olympic Games,'' she concluded.

[02] OA flight attendants to strike over termination of flights to Australia

Flight attendants of Olympic Airways said on Thursday that they will stage strikes over the termination of flights to Australia by the national carrier.

The strike schedule will be announced next week, with the route due to be abolished on November 1, the Union of Olympic Airways Flight Attendants said in a statement.

''This is an unacceptable policy and management choice that acts againsts the interests of one million ethnic Greeks (in Australia), and against the interests of the airline itself, especially ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympics,'' the statement said.

The union rejected claims by management that terminating the route was due to a 10 billion drachma shortfall it generated annually, saying the deficit was due to an unprofitable lease on four Airbus 340s used for the flights; and to a cut in weekly flights that had lowered revenue while expenses remained the same.

On Wednesday, pilots of Olympic Airways indicated that they too may strike over the end to flights to Australia.

''We will continue to react against the move, with facts documenting our action,'' the Union of Civil Aviation Pilots said in a statement.

Management, which had announced its decision earlier in the day, planned gradually to reduce the ailing airline's long-haul flight network, also reducing OA's value, the statement said.

Pilots also opposed management's decision to withdraw 11 Boeing 737-200s from service, shrinking Olympic's fleet.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.981

Pound sterling 0.634

Danish kroner 7.490

Swedish kroner 9.208

Japanese yen 122.0

Swiss franc 1.479

Norwegian kroner 7.433

Cyprus pound 0.576

Canadian dollar 1.534

Australian dollar 1.768

[04] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Friday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country with showers in eastern Macedonia, Thrace, the northern and eastern Aegean islands and Dodecanese islands, which will soon ease off. Winds northerly, moderate, turning strong at sea. In the north, temperatures will range from 9C to 20C; in the west from 14C to 23C; and in the rest of the country from 13C to 25C. Temperatures in Athens between 17C and 24C; and in Thessaloniki from 11C to 19C.

[05] Greek stocks rebound on Thursday

A wave of buying interest in the last half hour of trading helped Greek stocks to end in positive territory in the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The general index ended 0.21 percent up at 1,777.27 points, with turnover an extremely low 51.6 million euros.

The Textile, Retail, Holding and Investment sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (3.26 percent, 2.71 percent, 1.96 percent and 0.62 percent, respectively), while the Insurance, Telecommunications and Publication sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.85 percent, 0.28 percent and 0.26 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.23 percet, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.37 percent higher and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.67 percent up. The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks fell 0.19 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 168 to 120 with another 69 issues unchanged.

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