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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-04-03

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, 03/04/1999 (ANA)


MAIN HEADLINES

  • Tsohatzopoulos warns of attempt to change borders
  • PASOK office bombed
  • Parliament committee calls for immediate ceasefire
  • Deputy Secretary of State Talbott in Athens
  • U.S. envoy says Greece's borders are safe
  • Expert says Greece has no fear of possible acid rain
  • Group claims arson attack on Interamerican car
  • Ukrainian woman found strangled
  • Aid for NATO bomb victims to leave next week
  • Thessaloniki doctors prepare to volunteer
  • Greek equities make sharp recovery from dive
  • Weather
  • Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Tsohatzopoulos warns of attempt to change borders

Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos was on Saturday categorical in condemning Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, charging that the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo is aimed at changing borders in the region and making all the peoples of the Balkans hostage to the problem. Speaking in Skopje, he said the ultimate objective was to change existing borders. His remarks were strongly criticised by the Communist Party of Greece and the Democratic Social Movement. The Coalition of the Left expressed deep concern and charged that the Greek government also bore heavy responsibility for the situation.

PASOK office bombed

A makeshift explosive device exploded early Saturday morning outside a branch office of the ruling PASOK party in the Athens suburb of Galatsi, causing some damage to the building but no injuries. No warning was given prior to the blast and no group has yet claimed responsibility. Commenting on the wiring of the bomb, the police said they suspected that the November 17 terrorist group was behind the attack. PASOK's headquarters in downtown Athens were the target of a failed rocket attack on Thursday morning.

Parliament committee calls for immediate ceasefire

Parliament's standing defence and foreign affairs committee on Friday adopted a resolution calling for "an immediate ceasefire by all sides" as a prerequisite for the recommencement of political dialogue aiming at the resolution of the Kosovo crisis on the basis of Contact Group proposals. The resolution follows a two-day session of the committee focusing on developments in Yugoslavia. Deputies of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) opposed the resolution, demanding instead outright condemndation of "NATO's barbarous air strikes".

Deputy Secretary of State Talbott in Athens

Foreign Minister George Papandreou will host a working lunch for U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in Athens on Sunday. Talbott will be in the Greek capital as part of his tour of Balkan capitals. He is heading a U.S. delegation to Tirana, Skopje and other countries affected by the Kosovo crisis to thank them for supporting NATO operations, the White House said on Thursday. According to diplomatic sources, Talbott has requested a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

U.S. envoy says Greece's borders are safe

U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns has stated to Athens daily To Vima that "the U.S. supports the territorial integrity of Greece and the inviolability of its borders." He said that Washington "understood the fact that Greece is the only member of NATO which is also a country in southeast Europe." Referring to comments by U.S. President Bill Clinton that instability in Kosovo could drag Greece and Turkey into war, Burns said that he had clarified the meaning of the comments to both Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis. Clinton meant "that both countries could be affected separately but negatively by the conflict."

Expert says Greece has no fear of possible acid rain

Greece need not fear clouds bearing acid rain being blown in from the regions to the north being bombed by NATO forces, an expert told the ANA on Friday. Chemistry professor and head of the Environmental Pollution Control Centre Themis Kouimtzis said most of the rain in Greece originated from air masses concentrated mainly in the Gulf of Genoa and Libya. The little cloud from central Europe arriving in Greece would have a marginal effect, Kouimtzis said, and only in the case that NATO bombs destroyed a large number of major chemical industries in Yugoslavia, which to date, has not happened. Chemical factories have been hit by NATO bombing over Yugoslavia, raising concerns that toxic fumes could affect the wider region.

Group claims arson attack on Interamerican car

An incendiary device placed under a car belonging to the Interamerican insurance company in Ioannina, northern Greece, early Friday morning caused damage to the front of the vehicle. A group calling itself "Direct Action" later claimed responsibility for the arson attack in a telephone call to an Athens newspaper.

Ukrainian woman found strangled

A Ukrainian woman was found dead, apparently strangled, in an apartment in central Athens, police said on Friday. The woman, around 30 years old, was found naked on the bed with a bra wrapped around her neck. A passport in the name of Ludmi Denkovic was found with the victim's clothes, but police were investigating to confirm the identity.

Aid for NATO bomb victims to leave next week

A container of pharmaceutical and medical supplies is expected to depart the northern capital on Tuesday, destined for victims of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. One hospital official in the city said all Thessaloniki's hospitals had contributed significant ammounts of pharmaceutical supplies to the consignment. The aid is restricted, in line with the requests from the Red Cross in Kosovo, to serum, antibiotics, bandages, syringes and anaesthesics. Foodstuffs and clothing has been gathered at the city's international fairgrounds. Daily, dozens of residents donate clothing, shoes, flour, sugar and pasta products. About 12.5 tonnes of food is expected to reach Thessaloniki on Monday, collected by groups on the island of Samos.

Thessaloniki doctors prepare to volunteer

The Thessaloniki Medical Association (TMA) said it was organising volunteer groups of doctors and nurses to provide help if it was needed to victims of the NATO bombings in Yugosalavia. "We have an open line with hospitals in Serbia and if there is a need we are ready to offer our help," TMA president Christos Papaconstantiniou said at a news conference. He said the groups would consist of 15 members, including surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, heart surgeons, nurses and stretcher bearers. He said dozens of people, including specialists and members of the public, had indicated interest.

Greek equities make sharp recovery from dive

Equity prices rebounded spectacularly on Friday recovering a big part of their previous two-day sharp losses on the Athens Stock Exchange. The general index ended 182.10 points, or 5.83 percent, higher to 3,303.49. Turnover was 113.2 billion drachmas and volume 21,076,222 shares. Traders called Thursday's steep fall unjustified and said that today's bargain- hunting, particularly for blue chip stocks, was a normal upward correction.Market sentiment was encouraged by renewed hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis, stable conditions in the domestic money and bond markets and positive comments on the Greek economy by Morgan Stanley, the US investment firm.

WEATHER

Unsettled in most parts of Greece on Sunday, with cloud, rain, local storms but some periods of sunshine, mainly in the south. Winds will be northerly, light to moderate, in western, northern and central parts of the country and southerly, with the same strength, in the rest of Greece. Unsettled in Athens, temperatures 9-18C. Similar weather in Thessaloniki, temperatures 8- 16C.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Friday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          301.161
Pound sterling       484.790
Japanese yen (100)   252.087
French franc          49.437
German mark          165.804
Italian lira (100)    16.748
Irish Punt           411.756
Belgian franc          8.039
Luxembourg franc       8.039
Finnish mark          54.541
Dutch guilder        147.154
Danish kr.            43.636
Austrian sch.         23.567
Spanish peseta         1.949
Swedish kr.           36.456
Norwegian kr.         38.857
Swiss franc          203.196
Port. Escudo           1.618
Aus. dollar          190.717
Can. dollar          199.392
Cyprus pound         560.797
Euro                 324.285
(S.S.)
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