Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-08-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] Vartholomeos to meet with Erdogan next Thursday

[02] GNTO to honour Dutch tourists who returned wallet

[03] Archbishop of Athens receives honorary doctorate from Warsaw University

[04] Mild quake felt in northern Greece on Friday

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Saturday

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[07] ASE ends week 5.46 percent higher

[01] Vartholomeos to meet with Erdogan next Thursday

ISTANBUL (ANA/A. Kourkoulas) -- Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to hold their first official meeting next Thursday, Aug. 28, at the latter's Ankara official residence.

Erdogan took up his duties last April, but the officials' heavy schedule prevented them from fixing a meeting.

Vartholomeos, who has recently had a meeting with Turkey's Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Abdullah Gul and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, has already voiced his concerns over the Greek minority's problems with regard to charitable institutions and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

[02] GNTO to honour Dutch tourists who returned wallet

Two Dutch tourists will be honoured by the state-run Greek National Tourist Organisation (GNTO) for returning a wallet carrying nearly 11,000 euros, the agency announced on Friday. The pair handed over a leather briefcase that included the wallet, two passports, keys and an address book belonging to another pair of tourists from Russia, a GNTO press release stated.

The two Dutch nationals were identified as Ivo Martijn Mijdam and Adrianus Tromp. They discovered the briefcase while vacationing at the well-known coastal resort of Hersonissos on Crete.

According to GNTO, the two Dutch nationals -- who have since returned to their country -- will be invited to spend one week in Greece as the agencys guests.

[03] Archbishop of Athens receives honorary doctorate from Warsaw University

Archbishop of Athens And All Greece Christodoulos on Friday was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the Warsaw University School of Theology at the auditorium of the main campus.

During the ceremony, Orthodox Metropolitan of Warsaw And All Poland Savvas stressed that the Greek prelate was being accepted by Poland not only as an Orthodox Church leader but as an ecumenical personage.

On his part, Christodoulos underlined the efforts of the Church of Greece to maintain the Christian Heritage of Europe, by tabling three proposals to the constitutional assembly that was drafting Europes Constitution.

[04] Mild quake felt in northern Greece on Friday

An earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale on Friday morning was felt at the coastal areas lining the southern part of the Sithonia leg of Chalkidiki peninsula, northern Greece, causing alarm among the residents, however, no damages.

A spokesman for the Geophysics Laboratory at the University of Thessaloniki said the tremor was recorded at 6.55 a.m. and that its epiecentre was at 120 kilometres southeast of the northern Greek port-city of Thessaloniki.

Seismologist Costas Papazahos told the ANA that the tremor was part of regularly occuring minor seismicity in the area.

Papazahos said that Friday's tremor was no cause for alarm.

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Saturday

Sunny weather is forecast in all parts of the country on Saturday, with scattered cloud in central and northern mainland Greece only in the afternoon. Winds northerly, light to strong, turning very strong in the Aegean. Temperatures in the north will range from 18C to 34C; in western Greece from 20C to 36C; and in the Aegean islands from 23C to 33C. Temperatures in Athens between 25C and 35C; and in Thessaloniki from 23C to 33C.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.098

Pound sterling 0.697

Danish kroner 7.492

Swedish kroner 9.282

Japanese yen 129.4

Swiss franc 1.554

Norwegian kroner 8.352

Cyprus pound 0.589

Canadian dollar 1.549

Australian dollar 1.689

[07] ASE ends week 5.46 percent higher

Greek stocks surged to new record highs for the year in the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday, pushing the general index above the 2,300 level.

Buying activity spread to all categories of shares, although focused remained on blue chip stocks particularly banks.

The general index ended 1.50 percent higher at 2,310.52 points with turnover an improved 187.8 million euros. The index ended the week with a net gain of 5.46 percent.

The IT Solution, Insurance, Construction and Food-Beverage sectors suffered losses (0.61 percent, 0.38 percent, 0.31 percent and 0.22 percent, respectively).

The Investment, Textile, Cement and Wholesale sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (exceeding 2.0 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 1.66 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.97 percent highegr and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index rose 0.85 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 207 to 120 with another 44 issues unchanged.

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