Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-07-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Minister sees deal on Thessaloniki metro funding within August

[02] President Stephanopoulos awards 'Pythia' prizes

[03] Gov't mulls creating consumer ombudsman

[04] OlymPeace International Festival begins in Athens

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud, some rain on Saturday

[07] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks slump on profit taking

[01] Minister sees deal on Thessaloniki metro funding within August

Macedonia-Thrace Minister Haris Kastanidis on Friday said that the contractor in charge of building a metro for the northern port city of Thessaloniki was expected to conclude negotiations with the banks providing loans and the European Investment Bank within August.

He said that the project had been stalled by a lengthy legal dispute between the various consortiums interested in the contract. Now that the battle in court was over, however, the contractor could proceed with negotiations to secure a funding scheme and begin work, he added.

The minister said the city had to shake off a belief that no public works were carried out in Thessaloniki, noting that there were currently projects budgeted at 4.5 million euros underway in the port city, such as the Western Entrance due to be delivered in 2004 and various junctions on the city bypass.

[02] President Stephanopoulos awards 'Pythia' prizes

Eleven European high-school students who excelled in the ''Pythia 2003'' European School Student Competition received the 'Pythia' awards from President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos this week.

The awards were handed out at a ceremony held at the Old Parliament building in Athens on Wednesday, which was also attended by Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and addressed by Education Minister Petros Efthymiou.

The 'Pythia' awards programme is organised by the Delphi European Cultural Centre and is aimed at young people in the last year of school that are taught ancient Greek and the classics.

A total of 800 students took part in the competition, in which they were asked to translate a short text from ancient Greek into their own language. Participants included children from Denmark, Spain Austria, Belgium, Russia, Holland, Germany, Ireland and France.

[03] Gov't mulls creating consumer ombudsman

The government is considering establishing a consumer ombudsman, Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Friday.

The minister was addressing a meeting of the National Consumer Council.

[04] OlymPeace International Festival begins in Athens

The ''OlymPeace-Truce'' 2nd International Youth Festival began on Friday in Athens, which is under the auspices of the foreign ministry, the defense ministry and the culture ministry and is taking place in Greece once every two years.

The festival began this year with the participation of 300 children between the ages of 11 and 12 years old from places such as Cyprus, Pristina, Belgrade, Ireland, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Natal and others.

Officials of the Athens Municipality and the Church of Greece addressed the event.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.156

Pound sterling 0.716

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.266

Japanese yen 137.5

Swiss franc 1.560

Norwegian kroner 8.294

Cyprus pound 0.592

Canadian dollar 1.612

Australian dollar 1.744

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud, some rain on Saturday

Scattered cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, with heavier cloud building up in the centre and northern mainland, and showers and storms especially on the mainland. Winds northerly, light to strong. On the northern mainland, temperatures will range from 18C to 30C; on the rest of the mainland from 21C to 34C; and in the islands from 23C to 33C. Temperatures in Athens between 24C and 33C; and in Thessaloniki from 19C to 30C.

[07] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks slump on profit taking

The Athens bourse finished lower on Friday with profit takers in medium and small capitalisation stocks dominating the market and gains in high cap paper curbing losses, traders said.

The general share index shed 0.72 percent to end at 2,064.52 points. Turnover was 136.9 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.72 percent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 1.50 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished with losses of 2.81 percent.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 308 to 42 with 16 issues remaining unchanged.

The general index lost 1.0 percent on the week.

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