Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-06-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Hot and sunny on Tuesday

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[03] Athens to lodge demarches over Turkish harassment of civilian flight

[01] Weather Forecast: Hot and sunny on Tuesday

The day will be sunny, with isolated storms likely on high ground in Epirus and Macedonia. Winds northerly, light to strong. In the Ionian, temperatures will range from 20C to 32C; on the mainland from 18C to 34C; and in the Aegean islands from 21C to 30C. Temperatures in Athens between 23C and 34C; and in Thessaloniki from 21C to 33C.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.182

Pound sterling 0.713

Danish kroner 7.483

Swedish kroner 9.188

Japanese yen 139.7

Swiss franc 1.557

Norwegian kroner 8.221

Cyprus pound 0.590

Canadian dollar 1.614

Australian dollar 1.791

[03] Athens to lodge demarches over Turkish harassment of civilian flight

Greece will lodge demarches with Ankara, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other international organisations over Monday's harassment of a Greek civilian flight inside the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) by two Turkish jetfighters.

The same Turkish warplanes had earlier been intercepted by Greek fighter planes for infringing on Athens FIR regulations, foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis said, warning that such actions by the Turkish military violated the principles and rules of international law and threatened the safety of flights over the Aegean.

At the same time, Greece's defence minister, Yiannos Papantoniou, reiterated that the country will ''not play the game of tension created by Turkey''.

The two Turkish jetfighters harassed a Greek civilian flight 25 nautical miles southwest of the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos.

Civil aviation authorities identified the intruders as Turkish F-16s, whereas the civilian passenger jet was Olympic Airways flight 321, which was headed for Istanbul at 8:48 a.m. at an altitude of 29,000 feet Authorities said the OA pilot was obliged to change altitude for safety reasons.

The two Turkish F-16s had earlier been intercepted by Greek jetfighters for infringement of the Athens FIR.

The Civil Aviation Authority (YPA) was immediately informed of the incident, and was expected to lodge a complaint with the ICAO.

Beglitis expressed the government's concern over the Turkish harassment of a civilian flight, adding that this had not been the first time such an incident has occurred.

''The attitude of the Turkish military and establishment is in complete antithesis with the will of the political leadership of Turkey to act in accordance with the Copenhagen criteria, on the basis of the European Union decisions,'' Beglitis said.

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