Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-02-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM and UN high commissioner for Refugees discuss Iraq crisis

[02] Harmonised inflation shows 3.3 pct yr/yr rise in January

[03] Olympic organisers unveil humane stray animal initiative

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[05] Weather Forecast: Rain, light snowfall on Saturday

[06] ASE ends week 0.31 percent higher

[01] PM and UN high commissioner for Refugees discuss Iraq crisis

Up to 600,000 Iraqis were expected to flee their country in the event of a war in Iraq and neighbouring countries would have to make preparations to receive them, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers stressed on Friday after a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

Lubbers said the U.N. had started contacting countries around Iraq, such as Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan, and some further afield such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, so they would be ready to meet the needs that would arise and would be sending staff to these countries to organise the situation in collaboration with the Red Cross.

Iran is expected to receive some 40 per cent of Iraqi refugees and Turkey some 30-40 per cent, with about 20-30 per cent opting for Jordan and Syria.

The U.N. High Commissioner congratulated Simitis for calling a European Council over Iraq and stressed the need for a common EU policy on refugees and immigration generally. He also expressed hope that the European Commission would issue a directive for cooperation with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

[02] Harmonised inflation shows 3.3 pct yr/yr rise in January

Harmonised inflation in January 2003 rose by 3.3 percent against the same month of 2002, the National Statistics Service (NSS) said on Friday.

In January 2002, the index had shown an increase of 4.8 percent against the corresponding month of 2001, the NSS said in a statement.

In January of this year, harmonised inflation was down 0.8 percent against December 2002, the statement added.

[03] Olympic organisers unveil humane stray animal initiative

The Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) has unveiled an unprecedented initiative to increase social and environmental awareness of the stray animal problem in Greece -- especially in the greater Athens area with the allocation of 10 hectares of land in the Erythres district of northern Attica prefecture for a dog sanctuary.

It is estimated that there are approximately 20,000 stray animals in Attica alone, a problem that definitely has a negative influence on the citys image, but one that can hopefully change for good in light of the coming Games.

According to ATHOC, the staging of the Olympic Games in Athens brings an opportunity for the development of a long-term policy to deal with the problem of strays in Athens but also in Greece as a whole.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.087

Pound sterling 0.673

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.179

Japanese yen 131.0

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.595

Cyprus pound 0.584

Canadian dollar 1.652

Australian dollar 1.833

[05] Weather Forecast: Rain, light snowfall on Saturday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country. The center and south will see light snowfall. The rest of the country can expect intermittent rain in low-lying areas and a little snow on high ground. Winds variable, moderate to very strong. In the north, temperatures will range from -7 to 5C; on the rest of the mainland from -3C to 10C; and in the islands from 3C to 12C. Temperatures in Athens between 3C and 9C; and in Thessaloniki from -1C to 5C. Light snow or sleet is forecast on mountains around the capital, and in northern and eastern Attica.

[06] ASE ends week 0.31 percent higher

Greek stocks rose slightly in the last trading session of a volatile week in the Athens Stock Exchange, reflecting investors' worries over geopolitical developments.

The general index rose 0.20 percent to end at 1,679.43 points, with turnover a low 50.8 million euros.

The Retail, Food-Beverage and Construction sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.30 percent, 0.74 percent and 0.68 percent, respectively), while the IT Solutions, Textile and Insurance sectors suffered the heaviest losses (0.81 percent, 0.76 percent and 0.68 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.34 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.38 percent off, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index eased 0.28 percent and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index rose 0.16 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 148 to 139 with another 70 issues unchanged. The general index ended the week with a net gain of 0.31 percent.

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