Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-09-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] Main opposition's lead over ruling party narrows, opinion polls show

[02] Three prizes for ''Skipper Straad'' at Drama Short Film Festival

[03] Gas stations start indefinite strike at midnight

[04] Weather Forecast: Warm and sunny on Monday

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[01] Main opposition's lead over ruling party narrows, opinion polls show

A stream of opinion polls at the weekend on general elections due in spring 2004 show the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party narrowing its lead over ruling PASOK in voter preference.

In a poll by Kapa Research published in the Sunday Vima newspaper, ND lies 6.1 percentage points ahead in voter preference against 7.8 percentage points in the previous poll, which was conducted in May.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis came 3.4 percentage points ahead of ND leader Costas Karamanlis as favourite for premier against a gap of 1.1 percentage points in May.

A poll conducted by Metron Analysis on September 10-17 and commissioned by the Ethnos newspaper gave ND 39.3 percent and PASOK 32.2 percent in voter preference; the lead was down from eight percentage points in the company's last survey three months ago.

A poll undertaken by Opinion for the Eleftherotypia newspaper showed ND at 38.1 percent in voter preference and PASOK at 30.6 percent, while a prediction for the winning party gave ND 51 percent and the ruling party 32.5 percent.

The floating vote totalled 16.3 percent, while Simitis was preferred as prime minister by 43.3 percent of respondents against 40 percent for Karamanlis, said the newspaper published on Saturday.

A survey by Rush commissioned for the Kathimerini newspaper gave ND 37.9 percent and PASOK 30.2 percent of the vote, with the gap narrowing from 9.8 percentage points in May.

Simitis again was in the lead for the premiership at 40.8 percent against 39.2 percent for the ND leader in the survey published on Saturday.

[02] Three prizes for ''Skipper Straad'' at Drama Short Film Festival

A film entitled ''Skipper Straad'' won the first prize for non-documentary films at the Drama Short Film Festival, which ended at the weekend.

The work by Irini Vahlioti also scooped up the award for best Balkan film, and a special director's prize.

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos told the closing ceremony on Saturday that the government would raise funding for the festival, starting this year.

[03] Gas stations start indefinite strike at midnight

Petrol station owners said on Sunday that they would begin an indefinite strike at midnight following a breakdown of talks with the government on the mandatory issue of receipts for gasoline.

The owners' union said in a statement that a decision on whether or not to continue the strike would be reviewed each day in line with progress in negotiations with the finance ministry.

Electronic cash registers are to be installed at the pumps to record gasoline sales in a move to streamline taxation.

The development ministry has imposed a price ceiling on liquid fuel in mostly island regions to crack down on profiteering with higher fuel transportation costs as a pretext.

[04] Weather Forecast: Warm and sunny on Monday

All parts of the country will be warm and sunny. Winds northerly, light to strong. In the west, temperatures will range from 16C to 30C; on the rest of the mainland from 14C to 28C; and in the Aegean islands from 20C to 27C. Temperatures in Athens between 18C and 28C; and in Thessaloniki from 16C to 27C.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.140

Pound sterling 0.700

Danish kroner 7.487

Swedish kroner 9.109

Japanese yen 130.9

Swiss franc 1.572

Norwegian kroner 8.222

Cyprus pound 0.588

Canadian dollar 1.546

Australian dollar 1.703

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