Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Friday

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[03] ANA, Sportline unveil multi-faceted service focusing on Olympics

[04] EU targets for technology in schools exceeded, minister says

[05] Former Irish president speaks in Athens about human rights

[01] 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.

[02] 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

[03] ANA, Sportline unveil multi-faceted service focusing on Olympics coverage

The Athens News Agency (ANA) unveiled its new multi-faceted sports service, focusing on the upcoming 2004 Olympic Games, in Athens on Thursday -- an initiative in partnership with the local Sportline firm.

The new service includes news and information about the Athens Games that's not only tailored for the media, but is also geared towards sports federations, individual athletes, sponsors, and anyone interested in specialized information regarding Olympic competitions and sports, rules and regulations, biographies of athletes, as well as topics ranging from Greek mythology to a history of the Olympic Games, among others.

ANA General Director Andreas Christodoulides emphasised that Greeces largest and oldest news agency is in close cooperation with the Athens 2004 organising committee (ATHOC) and the Hellenic Olympic Committee (EOE), while a memorandum of cooperation has been finalised with ATHOC and is expected to be signed soon.

On his part, Sport.gr representative Costas Kamaras said the initiative aims to develop a new website, live Internet coverage (statistics, real audio and video), digital newsletters, SMS and MMS service, a photo archive and promotion via the ANAs extensive network.

Olympic weightlifting champion Pyrros Dimas briefly spoke at the presentation ceremony, held at the Foreign Press Associations (FPA) building in downtown Athens before a packed hall of media and advertising professionals.

Press and mass ministry general secretary Dimitra Spiliopoulou as well as the ministrys information general secretary Dimitris Gerou also briefly addressed the event.

[04] EU targets for technology in schools exceeded, minister says

The government had exceeded EU targets for introducing new technology to schools, Education Minister Petros Efthymiou said on Thursday in Parliament, in response to questions from the opposition.

The EU ratio of one computer for every 15 students by 2004 had already been exceeded in secondary education, where there was one computer for every 14 students in middle school, one computer for every 13 students in technical schools and one computer for every 12 students in lyceums.

He pledged that the ratio would also have been met for primary schools by the end of 2003.

In addition to the hardware, the retraining of Greek teachers in the use of computers was proceeding rapidly. The first round of training courses for 75,000 teachers was due to end on June 2003, Efthymiou noted, whereupon a second programme for another 75,000 teachers would immediately commence.

[05] Former Irish president speaks in Athens about human rights

Former Irish President Mary Robinson on Thursday spoke on ''The role of the Society of Citizens in Strengthening Human Rights'', in Athens University' main auditorium, in an event organized by the Greek Union for Human Rights, the Greek Chapter of Amnesty International and the Center for the Defense of Human Rights.

The former president, who also served in the past as United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, undertook at present a program on ethical globalization, utilizing the experience she gained overtime in her previous positions.

''There is no human dignity in conditions of absolute poverty,'' Robinson stressed, adding that absolute poverty was the gravest problem in the effort to protect human rights.

According to Robinson developing countries are not receiving the necessary attention and aid and is the place where, more than anywhere else, human rights are violated.

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