Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-07-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] Cyprus approves pact with Greece on betting games

[02] Northern police report busting drugs operation

[03] Greece clears the way for EU architects to gain equal status

[04] Travelling Olympics exhibition opens on Crete

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Sunday

[06] No claim of responsibility for failed bomb attack in Athens

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[01] Cyprus approves pact with Greece on betting games

NICOSIA (ANA)- The Cypriot House of Representatives has approved an agreement between the island republic and Greece on ground rules for the operation of games of chance in Cyprus by a Greek-owned firm.

Athens-quoted Football Pools Organisation (OPAP), supplier of a series of betting games to Cyprus, will set up a subsidiary in the island within six months, an executive of OPAP, Stavros Tziortzis, told a news conference.

Of operational proceeds, 9.0-10.0 percent will be taken by the subsidiary, OPAP Cyprus SA, for operational spending; 10.0 percent by Greece's OPAP; and the remainder by the Cypriot state, Tziortzis said.

[02] Northern police report busting drugs operation

Police in the northern port city of Thessaloniki said on Saturday that they had broken up a drugs smuggling and distribution operation.

Arrested were four Albanian and Greek nationals for possession of cocaine and heroin; and a fifth, the father of one of the detained and a repeat offender for entering Greece illegally after deportation, for carrying a forged residence permit.

The five, identified only by their initials, were due to be taken to a public prosecutor later in the day to hear charges.

[03] Greece clears the way for EU architects to gain equal status

The government has sent a presidential decree to the Council of State for endorsement that harmonises Greek law with the European Union on granting equal status for archictects from other EU countries.

When implemented, the decree will allow recognition by national authorities of architects' qualifications obtained in other EU countries.

It will also introduce measures to allow EU architects to exercise their profession in Greece with no restrictions.

[04] Travelling Olympics exhibition opens on Crete

An exhibition of artworks on the Olympic spirit has opened in Hania, Crete before making its way around Greece to culiminate in Athens for the 2004 games.

The group exhibition of modern art inspired by the ancient Olympic concept of noble rivalry was inaugurated on Friday by Athens mayor Dora Bakoyianni and her father Constantine Mitsotakis, a former prime minister and honorary president of the New Democracy party.

Included are paintings, sculptures, engravings, photographs and videos.

The exhibition remains in Hania until August 31 when it moves to the northern port city of Thessaloniki.

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Sunday

Sunny weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with scattered cloud on the mainland from late afternoon. Winds northerly, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 17C to 31C; on the rest of the mainland from 19C to 34C; and in the islands from 22C to 31C. Temperatures in Athens will range between 22C and 34C; and in Thessaloniki from 19C to 31C.

[06] No claim of responsibility for failed bomb attack in Athens

No group has claimed responsibility for planting a bomb near central Athens that police detonated in a controlled explosion, authorities said on Saturday.

An anonymous caller told the Alter TV channel at 2215 hours on Friday that a bomb was due to explode in ten minutes on the second floor of a building in Mihalokopoulou Street.

Police sealed off the area and found a metal box outside offices of insurer Alico at 2300 hours that contained a small quantity of dynamite, a detonator and a wristwatch to act as a timing device.

The floor of the building where the bomb was discovered contains offices, including Alico, and one residential apartment whose occupants were evacuated.

Anti-terrorist police are investigating the incident.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.140

Pound sterling 0.697

Danish kroner 7.494

Swedish kroner 9.208

Japanese yen 134.3

Swiss franc 1.560

Norwegian kroner 8.385

Cyprus pound 0.592

Canadian dollar 1.570

Australian dollar 1.733

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