Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-01-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM resigns as PASOK president, initiates election of new party leader

[02] G. Papandreou announces his intent to lead PASOK

[03] ND slams PASOK reshuffle, says policies remain unchanged

[04] Interior ministry preparing for upcoming elections, minister says

[05] PM Simitis to inaugurate new railway line on Monday

[06] Weather Forecast: Showers, snow or sleet on Friday

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

[08] Greek stocks rally for eight consecutive session

[01] PM resigns as PASOK president, initiates election of new party leader

Prime Minister Costas Simitis officially resigned as president of ruling PASOK before the party's Central Committee on Thursday and initiated procedures to elect a new leader for the party.

In his address to gathered Central Committee members, he called on them to agree to an emergency PASOK conference on February 6 and proposed that the new leader be elected by the entire PASOK membership in a vote to be held on February 8, two days after the conference.

Simitis also proposed that the conference make decisions regarding PASOK's pre-election programme.

He reiterated that the new president of the party will lead PASOK's government after the elections and that his decision to step down was prompted by clear goals, namely that PASOK would be able to contend in the upcoming elections on ''terms of victory'' rather than the 'deceptive characteristics' that the main opposition was seeking to impose, with clear risk that it would succeed.

[02] G. Papandreou announces his intent to lead PASOK

Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who by all accounts will be the new president of ruling PASOK ahead of the March 7 elections, on Thursday announced his intention to ?lead the great democratic faction?, as he said, a clear reference to his assumption of the prime ministers post in place of PM Costas Simitis if PASOK wins the next elections.

Papandreou, speaking at the end of an urgently called PASOK central committee meeting, called an executive bureau proposal for the election of a new party leader by grassroots supporters a ?ground-breaking event without precedent; it also expresses a new beginning, because society demands a say in order to jointly make decisions.?

[03] ND slams PASOK reshuffle, says policies remain unchanged

The main opposition New Democracy (ND) party on Thursday continued its direct attack on the government and especially Prime Minister Costas Simitis, hours after the latter resigned as the head of ruling PASOK and a day after Simitis said he would step down after the March 7 general elections.

A ND spokesman charged that Simitis and PASOK are attempting to ?muddle? the political waters, while noting that the ruling party and the problems it created remain unchanged.

?PASOKs strategy will lead it to defeat,? spokesman Thodoris Roussopoulos predicted.

On his part, high-ranking ND deputy Prokopis Pavlopoulos said ?those who tried to surprise the (domestic) political world ... are still searching for a leader, for policy plans.?

[04] Interior ministry preparing for upcoming elections, minister says

Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis on Thursday told Parliament's Public Administration Committee that his ministry was in the final stages of preparations for the upcoming elections and would announce the members of a cross-party elections committee on Monday.

He said invitations had been sent out to all the parties, including the Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI), to attend the committee's first meeting on Wednesday.

Skandalidis said the committee will discuss issues such as electoral rolls, non-resident voters, distribution of electoral time and party funding and upper limits for campaign spending.

[05] PM Simitis to inaugurate new railway line on Monday

Prime Minister Costas Simitis, accompanied by Transport and Communications Minister Christos Verelis, on Monday will inaugurate the new Evangelismos-Leptokarya railway line, the new bridge of Axios River and the Tempi and Platamona tunnels.

The new high-technology Evangelismos-Leptokarya railway line is 36 kilometres long and allows speeds of up to 250 klm. per hour. The two tunnels, one in Platamona (4.3 klm. long) and one in Tempi (5.5 klm. long) are the biggest in Greece.

[06] Weather Forecast: Showers, snow or sleet on Friday

Local showers, primarily at night in the west, and snow or sleet in mountainous continental regions at night. Winds light and variable. Temperatures in Athens 0C to 10C and in Thessaloniki from -2C to 6C.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.273

Pound sterling 0.700

Danish kroner 7.507

Swedish kroner 9.16

Japanese yen 135.1

Swiss franc 1.582

Norwegian kroner 8.676

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.641

Australian dollar 1.652

[08] Greek stocks rally for eight consecutive session

Greek stocks ended higher on Thursday, extending their rally for the eight consecutive session in the Athens Stock Exchange.

Buying activity focused on blue chip stocks pushing the general index 0.85 percent higher to end at 2,411.79 points.

Turnover was a heavy 268 million euros.

The Bank, Telecommunications and Investment sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.26 percent, 1.03 percent and 0.67 percent, respectively), while the Textile (0.99 percent), Cement (0.88 percent) and the parallel market for smaller capitalisation stocks (0.74 percent) suffered the heaviest percentage losses.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 1.20 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.43 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.08 percent up.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 197 to 119 with another 43 issues unchanged.

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