Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-09-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek FM, EU ombudsman in '50 Europeans of the Year' list

[02] French researcher says scientists on last stretch to creating AIDS

[03] Rhodes mayor elected Int'l Cultural Heritage Organization president

[04] Ten Greek movies to be screened in Diyarbakir, Turkey

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Saturday

[07] Greek stocks end week 1.86 pct down

[01] Greek FM, EU ombudsman in '50 Europeans of the Year' list

BRUSSELS (ANA - V. Demiris) Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Greek European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros have both been included in the list ''50 Europeans of the Year'' compiled for the third consecutive year by the newspaper ''European Voice''.

According to the paper, the list is comprised of the 50 individuals that most affected developments within Europe over the past year, who are selected by the paper's editorial team and people that specialise in European issues - among them three former prime ministers.

According to an announcement, Papandreou was chosen in the 'diplomat of the year' category based on his work for EU-Turkey political rapprochement, which involved putting an end to Greece's long-standing objection's to Turkey's candidacy for EU accession.

[02] French researcher says scientists on last stretch to creating AIDS vaccine

French researcher Luc Montagner said at the opening of a conference on the AIDS disease in the Aegean island of Rhodes on Friday, scientists have reached the last stretch in preparing the fist vaccine against the development and transmission of the deadly AIDS virus.He was the first to discover the virus 20 years ago.

Montagner said the medication exists and is already being tried on people affected in Africa and other countries. He added that tests must begin soon in developing countries as well, since at least five years are required to enable scientists to create the vaccine's final content and, primarily, therapies to take place at the same time to enable the virus to be placed under full control.

The researcher noted that the target of scientists is to create immunity against the virus, while what is also important are frequent checks all must do as well as a suitable diet.

[03] Rhodes mayor elected Int'l Cultural Heritage Organization president

Mayor of Rhodes George Yiannopoulos on Friday was elected president of the Cities of International Cultural Heritage Organization board.

The 16 member board had to choose between the mayor of Rhodes and the mayor of Puebla Mexico. The board, which has a three-year mandate, is composed of the mayors of Rhodes, Puebla (Mexico), Bergen (Norway), Cordoba (Spain) Kazan (Russia) and Sus, (Tunisia).

The conference of the organization was attended by 622 persons from 168 cities, while an additional 300 observers were present in the meetings that focused on issues of protection and promotion of historic cities around the world.

[04] Ten Greek movies to be screened in Diyarbakir, Turkey

ISTANBUL (ANA - A. Kourkoulas) - Ten of the most well known and popular Greek movies will be screened in Diyarbakir, Turkey, as part of the ''Days of Greek Cinema'' festival organized in this eastern Turkish province by the city's Art Center, with the cooperation of the Greek Cinema Center.

The screenings will begin Friday evening and will run through Thursday at the local Galeria theater.

Greek Ambassador to Turkey M. Christidis will participate in the opening night events. The showcasing of Greek movies in Turkey is part of the promotion of the Greek cultural identity and the cooperation of the two countries -Greece and Turkey - in the culture sector.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.157

Pound sterling 0.697

Danish kroner 7.486

Swedish kroner 9.005

Japanese yen 129.8

Swiss franc 1.555

Norwegian kroner 8.147

Cyprus pound 0.589

Canadian dollar 1.568

Australian dollar 1.715

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Saturday

Most parts of the country will be sunny, with scattered cloud in the west, centre and north. Winds variable, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 12C to 27C; and in the rest of the country from 14C to 29C. Temperatures in Athens between 18C and 28C; and in Thessaloniki from 15C to 26C.

[07] Greek stocks end week 1.86 pct down

Greek stocks ended the last trading session of the week sharply lower with the market testing the 2,000-point support level once again as investors seemed reluctant to open new positions in the market despite the fact that several shares were currently looking very attractive.

The general index ended 1.28 percent lower at 2,001.50 points, for a net loss of 1.86 percent. Trading was a moderate 109 million euros.

The Retail, IT Solution and Base Metal sectors were the only one to end in positive territory, while the Textile (3.42 percent), Publications (2.73 percent) and Construction (2.68 percent) sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 1.22 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 1.41 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 1.47 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 271 to 56 with another 38 issues unchanged.

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