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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 97-10-03

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 03/10/1997 (ANA)


MAIN HEADLINES

  • September yr/yr inflation down to 0.7% to 4.9
  • New bond issue announced
  • Athens sits on 'Observer' claims until 'right time'
  • Cabinet works on reforming television
  • Neolithic treasures to go on display
  • Sunken Mirage to be raised today
  • Minor arrested in drug haul
  • Tug sinks off Samos
  • Another 24 illegal immigrants arrested
  • US official hopeful on Simitis-Yilmaz meeting on Crete
  • Turkish allegations aim at instability, defence minister says
  • Greece, U.S. working closely on fighting terrorism
  • Weather
  • Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

September yr/yr inflation down to 0.7% to 4.9

Greek year-on-year consumer price inflation dropped sharply to 4.9 per cent in September from 5.6 per cent in August, the National Statistics Service (NSS) announced today.

In September 1996, annual inflation was running at 8 per cent.

According to the NSS, the general consumer price index rose 1.7 per cent in September, compared to an increase of 2.3 per cent in the same month of 1996.

The CPI increase in September was shaped as a result of a 0.5 per cent drop in foodstuffs, a 9.6 per cent increase in clothing and footwear and a 4.3 per cent increase in durable consumer goods.

On the outlook for inlfation in October, NSS General Secretary Nikos Karavitis said it appeared from observations that the downward trend would continue.

New bond issue announced

Greece's finance ministry is to meet state borrowing needs of 1.2 trillion drachmas for October by issuing four series of government securities, Deputy Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said.

The issues are as follows:


Fixed-rate bonds on October 10
Floating rate notes on October 20 and again on October 29
Treasury bills on October 31

Christodoulakis also told reporters the socialist government would keep to its policy of cautiously lowering interest rates.

Athens sits on 'Observer' claims until 'right time'

The Greek government said today it would choose "the right place, method and time" of responding to an article which appeared in the British newspaper "Observer" claiming that Athens was supporting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatists.

The statement was made by both Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos as he arrived for a Cabinet meeting, as well as government spokesman Dimitris Reppas.

The article, which appeared in last Sunday's edition of the newspaper, was based on the claims of Kurd Seydo Hazar and immediately rejected by the Greek government as being totally unfounded.

Reppas said the government was examining "all possibilities" including legal action over the "libellous" article.

Commenting on recent statements on terrorism by US State Department representatives, Reppas said "there is a coincidence of views" while noting that Greece required clarifications "because US officials, after meetings with international officials, cannot express unacceptable views".

"These opinions or accusations are unacceptable and are rejected by the Greek government," the spokesman added.

Cabinet works on reforming television

The Cabinet today took decisions aimed at putting in order the operating framework of television stations in Greece in order to ensure "legality, transparency and quality".

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said the decisions were based on the law and presidential decrees.

Announcing the decisions, he said the government would grant operating licences to 111 regional stations of the 250 currently broadcasting, apart from the local stations in Attica.

Six stations will have the right to broadcast nationwide, while eight frequencies would be allotted to stations in Attica other than those six.

Reppas said both the local and national stations would be obliged to cover the entire area for which they have been granted a licence.

He added that the National Radio and Television Council (ERS) would be upgraded and particular emphasis placed on respect for and protection of the personality of citizens, minors and private life.

Quality, he said, would not be imposed by laws and censorship, but by means of self-regulation.

Neolithic treasures to go on display

A unique, priceless collection of Neolithic gold artefacts seized by police in a swoop operation as it was about to be sold overseas by smugglers, was turned over to the State today in a ceremony at the Culture Ministry.

The priceless collection will be put on permanent display at the National Archaeological Museum in early December.

The collection of 54 gold rings, beads and pendants, dating back to the 5th millennium B.C., was about to be sold to a 'customer' abroad for an estimated 2 billion dr.

Undercover police officers, posing as buyers, confiscated the collection and arrested a private security guard and a Greek-Canadian four days ago, after a six-month surveillance.

"The (objects) are of unique value, which fell victim to the most extreme form of crime against our cultural heritage," said Culture Minister Evangelos at the ceremony, adding that they were of "immense archaeological signifance".

This is the largest quantity of gold jewellery of the Neolithic era ever found, according to Dr. Ekaterini Dimakopoulou, director of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, an expert on the prehistoric period.

The treasures weigh a mere 232 grams in total, but their value to researchers of the Neolithic age is immeasurable.

Sunken Mirage to be raised today

The Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter plane which crashed late on Tuesday is expected this afternoon to be raised from the sea 1.5 miles north of Skyros, provided weather conditions allow.

Navy frogmen this morning completed preparations for the raising of the aircraft which crashed during a night-time exercise.

The pilot of the aircraft drowned after his life jacket opened, trapping him in the cockpit.

After being raised, the aircraft will be taken to Tanagra airforce base outside Athens, from where it had taken off.

Meanwhile, according to informed sources, initial data taken from the aircraft's black box indicates that the crash was not due to any mechanical malfunction.

The box has been sent for examination to France in order to ascertain the precise cause of the crash.

Minor arrested in drug haul

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in Kastoria, northern Greece, while smuggling 34 kilos of hashish into Greece, police said today.

A group of five Albanians, including the boy, were spotted by police last night in the rural region of Stavropotamos. After a chase, the boy was arrested while the other four escaped, leaving behind a sack containing 12.8 kilos of hashish, which they confiscated.

Another 11.8 kilos carried by the boy in a sack were also confiscated.

The Kastoria police drug unit is conducting an investigation.

Police in Athens later announced the arrest of Albanian Nikolaki Laska, 32, unemployed who was found in possession of 14 kilos of marijuana.

They said Laska was the head of a narcotics ring which sold marijuana mainly in the centre of Athens.

Also, four Albanians and a Greek woman were arrested in the Athens districts of Pagrati and Koukaki charged with dealing in heroin and cocaine.

The Albanians were named as Pesnik Karari, 25, Enmond Karari, 24, Petro Gioka, 35 and Spartak Orgotsak, 20. The Greek woman was identified as Aikaterini Venizelou, 34.

They were found in possession of 350 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of hashish.

Police said the narcotics were being sold from Venizelou's coffee grinder's shop in Koukaki.

Tug sinks off Samos

A tugboat sank off the coast of Samos early this afternoon as it was assisting a ferry to dock at the island's harbour.

The incident occurred when the passenger ferry "Daliana" dropped anchor in the port, but it got entangled with that of the ferry "Golden Vergina" which was already tied up at port.

The tug "Christos 3" arrived on the spot to disentangle the two ships, but for reasons as yet unknown it sank. The two persons on the tug jumped overboard to safety, and were taken to Samos hospital for preventive reasons.

The Samos harbour authority is holding a preliminary examination.

Another 24 illegal immigrants arrested

A group of 24 Iraqi and Afghan illegal immigrants, half of them children, were disembarked at dawn on the island of Samos by a Turkish speedboat, police said.

The seven men, nine women and 12 children were spotted by locals in the Kokkari region, and were arrested shortly afterwards by Samos security police.

The illegal immigrants told police they had been transported to Samos by speedboat from Turkey.

They are in custody at the Samos police department together with another 36 Iraqi illegal immigrants arrested at the Nissi and Krounteri regions of Samos two days ago, also transported from Turkey by Turkish speedboats.

US official hopeful on Simitis-Yilmaz meeting on Crete

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Marc Grossman was hopeful yesterday that next month's meeting between Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his Turkish counterpart Mesut Yilmaz on the sidelines of a Balkan summit in Crete would result in "progress in Greek- Turkish relations".

Mr. Grossman arrived in Athens Wednesday night on a tour of Athens, Ankara and Nicosia in a bid to keep channels of communication open between Greece and Turkey after the collapse of last week's talks in New York between the two countries' foreign minis ters.

Mr. Grossman, a former US ambassador to Turkey, had talks yesterday with Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou which focused on NATO enlargement and European Union (EU) relations with Turkey, Cyprus and the United States.

According to informed sources, Mr. Grossman expressed the view that the perspective of Cyprus' accession to the EU could act as a catalyst for resolving the longstanding Cyprus problem.

Turkish allegations aim at instability, defence minister says

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos yesterday placed responsibility for tension and destabilisation in the area on Turkey and underlined that Greece rejects terrorism in every way.

"Those who are trying to attribute responsibilities for conditions of tension and destabilisation in the region anywhere else than to Turkey are wasting their time. Greece rejects terrorism in every way and is fighting steadily as a force of peace, secu rity and stability in the region for human rights, human freedoms and international law," he said.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos made his statement in Maastricht, Holland, when asked to comment on reports in the international press accusing Greece of supporting terrorist Kurdish organisations, as well as on Wednesday's reference by the US State Department's spokesman.

He said there was a series of fabricated charges and suspicions that only succeed in creating certainty that it is a coordinated act to create false impressions aimed at concealing other ulterior motives.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos warned that it is dangerous to play with fire and once again denounced Turkey for its destabilising attitude, the questioning of international law on its part and its effort to change the existing status quo with the threat of the use of force or with the actual use of force.

Greece, U.S. working closely on fighting terrorism

U.S. State Department spokesman Jim Foley yesterday reiterated the displeasure of his country regarding the existence of offices of dissident Kurdish organisations in Greece, when he was asked to clarify the confusion arising from another statement he made on Wednesday.

"We have not reached the conclusion that Greece is a state which supports terrorism. My statement yesterday concerned the existence in Athens of the offices of two Turkish (sic) terrorist organisations. We regret their presence there. But we are working very closely with the Greek government to fight terrorism," he said.

"We consider Greece a close ally, a country with which we have fully positive relations, and I would like to repeat White House spokesman Mike McCurry, who said that there is no reference in the annual State Department report which would confirm any hint that Greece is a country which supports terrorism," he added.

WEATHER

The National Meteorological Service (EMY) has issued a storm warning as of this afternoon for the areas of Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, and the islands of the northern and eastern Aegean. An extraordinary weathern bulletin said storms, locally intense and accompanied by very strong winds, were forecast for the above regions. An improvement was expected beginning Saturday morning. Today, Athens will be partly cloudy with temperatures between 17- 28C. Some showers are expected in Thessaloniki in the afternoon with temperatures from 15-23C.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Thursday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 277.373 Pound sterling 447.987 Cyprus pd 530.323 French franc 46.646 Swiss franc 190.563 German mark 156.706 Italian lira (100) 15.987 Yen (100) 229.063 Canadian dlr. 201.078 Australian dlr. 201.723 Irish Punt 403.288 Belgian franc 7.596 Finnish mark 52.348 Dutch guilder 139.118 Danish kr. 41.176 Swedish kr. 36.629 Norwegian kr. 39.005 Austrian sch. 22.255 Spanish peseta 1.856 Port. Escudo 1.538

(M.P.)


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