Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-07-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM announces new measures to settle municipality debts

[02] Greek tourism organisation to host international sector conference

[03] Culture minister inaugurates Museum of Mycenae

[04] 43rd Olympic Academy int'l conference opens in Athens

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise, fuelled by selective buying

[01] PM announces new measures to settle municipality debts

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Thursday announced plans for wide-ranging changes to the operation of debt-ridden local authorities, following a meeting of the cabinet.

He said these would include settling the debts of municipalities through loans, with favourable terms for those municipalities with the most serious problems, a new operating framework for municipal enterprises and a new Local Government Code, as well as mandatory inspections of local authority finances.

The meeting also discussed the creation of 'metropolitan' administrations in Athens and Thessaloniki.

[02] Greek tourism organisation to host international sector conference

The Greek National Tourism Organisation is to host an international conference ofthe Association of International Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) in Athens on September 7-11.

The meeting will focus on sports and tourism.

[03] Culture minister inaugurates Museum of Mycenae

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday inaugurated the Museum of Mycenae, which will showcase some 28,000 pieces of antiquities from the latest finds of the region dating back to the ancient Mycenean Civilization.

The Museum takes the visitor back to the Second Millenium B.C.

The Archaeological Museum of Athens gave 40 pieces of its collection that were found in the Mycenean Palace.

[04] 43rd Olympic Academy int'l conference opens in Athens

The 43rd International Conference of the International Olympic Academy for new participants began on Thursday on the Pnyx Hill, with the participation of Sports Deputy Minister George Lianis and the President of the Greek Olympic Committee Lambis Nikolaou.

The President of the International Olympic Academy Nikos Filaretos and Prof. Stephen Miller were also among the many personalities present for the event of the Academy, which aims at promoting the Olympic Spirit and the Olympic Ideals.

Lianis, in his address stated that today around the world the message for morality and spiritual harmony and democracy is promoted.

On his part, Nikolaou underlined that the message of this 43rd conference will be ''Education through sports'', since, as he said, ancient Greeks adored sports understanding its huge importance.

The program of the conference includes some 14 lectures in ancient Olympia and will be attended by youths from allover the world.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.140

Pound sterling 0.707

Danish kroner 7.490

Swedish kroner 9.261

Japanese yen 136.8

Swiss franc 1.558

Norwegian kroner 8.226

Cyprus pound 0.592

Canadian dollar 1.599

Australian dollar 1.759

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise, fuelled by selective buying

The Athens bourse finished higher on Thursday fuelled by selective buying in stocks including Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, Hellenic Petroleum, Football Pools Organisation and Cosmote, traders said.

The general share index gained 0.55 percent to end at 2,158.64 points. Turnover was 262.6 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.04 percent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 2.30 percent higher; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished with gains of 1.61 percent.

Of stocks traded, advances led declines at 208 to 119 with 43 issues remaining unchanged.

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