Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 98-08-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] Inferno surrounds Athens

[02] Greece plans to buy Stinger anti-aircraft missiles

[03] Bill on labour relations discussed

[04] Prince Charles arrives in Greece

[05] Judges rebuff justice minister

[06] World Basketball Championship

[07] Economic News

[01] Inferno surrounds Athens

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and several ministers were forced to cut short their holidays to attend an emergency Cabinet meeting in the evening.More than 300 firefighters, aided by firefighting planes and local residents, continued battling a huge f orest fire raging on Mount Penteli in northeastern Attica, that reduced thousands of stremma of pine forest and brush to ashes.

The fire, which broke out Sunday night, was fanned by strong winds that inhibited aerial access, and spread yesterday to the suburbs of Geraka and Pallini, where it threatened several homes.

Two children's hospitals and a Kurdish refugee camp on Mt. Penteli had already been evacuated on Monday, with one more hospital being evacutated yesterday. About 20 people were taken to other hospitals with respiratory problems.

A senior Fire Brigade officer told the ANA that the firefighters' effort to control a blazing front stretching from Kotroni in Stamata, northeastern Attica to Vrana community in Marathon, depended largely on the wind.

Another fire was still raging at Keratovouni in Keratea, southeastern Attica.

At about 3 pm, a new front broke out in the Varybobi area, to the left of the Athens to Thessaloniki national highway, engulfing four factories of plastics, textiles, and chemicals, and briefly spreading past the Tatoi military airfield to the west.

New blazes also broke out near the Lagonissi seaside resort town in eastern Attica, the Kalyvia municipality in Keratea, and in parts of Dionysos to the north, where it engulfed two houses.

The Lagonissi fire, fanned by strong winds threatened two communities after destroying a large expanse of bush and forest land in Kalyvia, Attica.

Local residents criticised the fire brigade, saying that the fire had been contained and could have been extinguished early in the morning, but the absence of fire-fighting aircraft and fire-engines allowed the blaze to make its way down the mountain to wards Lagonissi.

An Attica prefectural councillor claimed to have received a call from an unidentified caller threatening that more fires were on the way, while firemen said they had also received threats from people interfering with their radio frequencies.

The fire brigade said its forces were stretched to the limit, while the weather service forecast that the strong winds would not abate today. Outside the Athens area, fires were also raging on Mt. Taygetos and at Krania on Mt. Olympos for the 12th strai ght day.

Minister reiterates arson claim: Public Order Minister Giorgos Romeos, who flew over the areas of the fires, noted that the effort to extinguish the forest fires were hampered by the fact that they broke out at several different areas at the same time, while strong winds fanned the fire out of control.

Mr. Romeos thanked the men of the fire brigade for doing all that was humanly possible to combat the flames, which he said were the result of organised arson.

After the evening emergency Cabinet meeting, Mr. Romeos said the government considered the state mechanism had functioned effectively in dealing with the situation, and that the prime minister, who had flown over the devastated areas, had concluded tha t the problems had not been as acute as initially presented.

The government came under fire from the opposition for inefficient handling of the situation.

The main opposition New Democracy party's newly wed leader Costas Karamanlis cut short a brief holiday/honeymoon and returned to Athens, where he visited the fire-ravaged suburbs of Stamata, Rodopolis and Dionysos.

He charged the goverment with committing criminal mistakes, while the Communist Party referred to a biblical disaster. The Coalition of the Left accused the government of tragic insensitivity, and the Democratic Social Movement invited the prime ministe r to assume his responsibilities and realise he had to remove the ministers of public order and agriculture from their posts.

New Democracy party spokesman Aris Spiliotopoulos responded to Mr. Romeos' statements by saying that "it is surely naive on the part of the minister to accept the responsibility for fire-fighting when the head of the fire brigade, who is his subordinate , warns that he cannot cope with his new duties".

"To say that he is satisfied with the work of forest fire-fighting, when houses and lives are threatened, is not only naivete, it is a crude provocation to the intelligence of the people of Attica," he added.

Defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said the army's Cartographic Corps would immediately embark upon a project to map out the whole of the Attica area.

Power failures: The Greek Public Power Corporation (DEH) announced yesterday that power failures noted since yesterday morning were the result of the fires that surrounded the Attica basin.

The power corporation release said that when the flames come near the electricity pylons, they cause temporary power failure due to air ionization by high temperatures and smoke.

Problems noted in the operation of traffic lights were the result of these power failures, while minimal use of elevators is advised to prevent individuals from being trapped inside them.

Finally, the power corporation announcement stressed that exacerbation of the power problems is exclusively due to the fires.

Athens News Agency

[02] Greece plans to buy Stinger anti-aircraft missiles

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

The Pentagon said that the potential purchase of 1,322 Stingers, designed to either be launched from a military vehicle or shoulder-fired by troops, would contribute to both US national security and improve arms compatibility between Greece and its NAT O allies.

Meanwhile, Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, replying to reporters' questions whether Greece will procure the US made "Patriot" or the Russian made S-300 missiles, said that the final selection of the arms system best suited for Greece's defence capability will be made in September.

Regarding Cyprus' armament programme, the defence minister said that "the Cypriot Republic has decided to increase its defence capability. This is their own decision. Beyond that, we are politically committed to assist in the promotion of a fair and v iable solution to the Cyprus problem". Mr. Tsohatzopoulos visited yesterday the Greek airforce base at Volos in central Greece and was present at an "Apachi" helicopter exercise.

The defence minister said that next October, the necessary infrastructure will be ready for the operation of the army air-corps in Stephanoviki, central Greece.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos left the base at Volos with very positive feelings, saying that the arms procurement will be completed within 1999 with seven additional "Chinook" and six more "Apachi" helicopters.

Athens News Agency

[03] Bill on labour relations discussed

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

During discussions on the relative draft bill at the first summer Parliament session yesterday, the opposition requested withdrawal of the bill, arguing that it was an "autocratic and arrogant law lacking in social acceptance".

Mr. Papaioannou replied that "the social dialogue and the social contract exist, however, they do not cancel out conflicting interests and class struggle. The government follows its fixed principles of collective bargaining and the creation of a frame work for the assumption of inititiatives and action by the social partners".

Both, rapporteur of the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party Lefteris Papageorgopoulos and ND parliamentary representative Vasilis Mihaloliakos called the measures "weak, vague, fractional and generalities," while they said that "the provisions igno re the European and global realities and they are the product of internal partisan compromise".

Communist Party (KKE) representative Dimitrios Costopoulos asked for withdrawal of the bill calling it "unacceptable and immoral".

Coalition of the Left (SYN) representative Spyros Danellis said that the bill would cause "bulging unemployment", while Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) representative Ioannis Dimaras spoke of a "forgery of the 8-hour work-day".

Athens News Agency

[04] Prince Charles arrives in Greece

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

Athens News Agency

[05] Judges rebuff justice minister

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

"The role of functions of the state are distinct, justice is dispensed by the courts and legal means may be exercised against their rulings," said the union's secretary general Charalambos Athanasiou.

The Coalition of the Left, commenting on the issue, said "the efforts of certain justices to secure significant pay rises for themselves, bypassing recent legal provisions, is a provocation to the public sense of justice".

"The protection of the authority and the independence of Justice requires its strict deliniation against such practices, in the same way that the protection of the authority of Parliament requires a strict handling of phenomena which, in the name of the necessary institution of parliamentary immunity, degenerate into incidents of personal and social debauchery," a Coalition statement said.

Athens News Agency

[06] World Basketball Championship

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

Athens News Agency

[07] Economic News

Athens, 5/8/1998 (ANA)

Workers began clearing the line on Saturday morning after a freight train carrying crude oil heading for the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia derailed outside Polykastro, northern Greece, on Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported.

A committee of experts is investigating the cause of the accident. Its findings will be released at an unspecified date after August 10.

State Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) transported passengers by road between Thessaloniki and Idomeni at the border with FYROM during the closure.

The haulage operation for the derailed train's twelve carriages soon came to a standstill when OSE's lifting equipment was unable to shift the carriages weighing about 80 tonnes each. Work resumed after privately contracted equipment arrived from Thessa loniki.

Residues of oil in the burnt carriages were recovered on Sunday morning and siphoned into undamaged carriages. Drachma jumps against foreign currencies for second month: The drachma rose sharply against foreign currencies in July against June, maintaining its impetus for the second straight month, analysts said yesterday.

The Ecu dropped 1.83 percent against the drachma in July.

The central bank's average Ecu/drachma fixing rate in July compared to the Ecu's central parity of 357.000 drachmas in the European Union's exchange rate mechanism showed the Ecu slumping 7.8 percent against the Greek currency.

The German mark fell 1.84 percent against the drachma in July against June; the French franc dropped 1.83 percent; and the pound sterling shed 1.83 percent against the national currency.

The drachma gained 1.55 percent on the US dollar and 1.8 percent against the Japanese yen.

Aspis Bank launches IPO for main market entry: Private Aspis Bank yesterday launched a four-day initial public offer (IPO) in order to enter the main market of the Athens Stock Exchange.

The bank is selling 1,524,000 common shares at 1,100 drachmas each, tapping the market for 1.7 billion drachmas.

The funds will be used to extend the bank's network by five branches, upgrade its information technology and contribute to share capital rises for its mutual fund management and brokerage subsidiaries.

Aspis Bank posted pre-tax profits of 237 million drachmas in 1997, up from 23 million a year earlier. Deposits in 1997 totalled 51 billion drachmas, up from 26 billion drachmas.

The bank's earnings in January-May were 180 million drachmas against a target of 400 million for the whole of 1998.

Greek stocks again nose down in profit-taking: Greek equities finished slightly down in thin trade yesterday for a second consecutive session in a correction that is helping the market to consolidate in the wake of two sharp rises.

The Athens general share index finished 0.19 percent down at 2,783.82 points.

Turnover slipped to 42.9 billion drachmas from 49.2 billion drachmas in the previous session.

Sector indices mostly finished lower. Banking crept down 0.32 percent, Leasing lost 0.61 percent, Insurance slipped 0.09 percent, Investment slumped 1.57 percent, Industrials were 0.16 percent up, Construction fell 0.52 percent, Holding dropped 0.88 per cent, and Miscellaneous gained 0.49 percent.

Bucking the trend was the parallel market index for small cap companies, which finished 2.21 percent higher.

Of 289 stocks traded, advances led declines at 136 to 134 with 19 shares remaining unchanged.

The day's biggest percentage gainers finishing at the daily upper eight percent volatility limit were Allatini (common and preferred), Babyland, Aghios Georgios Mills, Themeliodomi, Boutaris, Pavlidis, Gekat and Thrace Plastics.

The day's biggest percentage losers were Bank of Central Greece (common and preferred), General Warehouses (common and preferred), Eskimo, Alkar-Aemet, Alko, Aspis Investment and Uncle Stathis.

National Bank of Greece ended at 55,000 drachmas, Ergobank at 31,680, Alpha Credit Bank at 29,450, Ionian Bank at 17,600, Commercial Bank of Greece at 29,355, Delta Dairy (common) at 3,985, Intracom (common) at 13,600, Titan Cement (common) at 23,580, H ellenic Petroleum at 2,920 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 8,400 drachmas.

Spending on advertising in Jan-Jul rises by 10.38 pct: Total spending on advertising in domestic media totalled 205.1 billion drachmas in January- July, marking a 10.38 percent rise over the same period a year earlier, Media Services SA said yesterday.

Most of the cash was spent on television advertisements at 95.8 billion drachmas, accounting for 46.71 percent of the whole, followed by magazines, newspapers and radio.

In July, expenditure on advertising was 24.7 billion drachmas with 9.5 billion of the total spent on television, accounting for 38.4 percent.

OPE regional offices to become on line: The regional offices of the Hellenic External Trade Organisation (OPE) are scheduled to become on line with the Organisation's headquarters within the next few months.

OPE regional offices are operating in Komotini, Florina, Kastoria and Ioannina (northern Greece), in Heraklion (Crete) and in Magnesia and Patras (Peloponnese).

Underwater oil drilling starts off Thassos: The first underwater oil drilling operations west of the island of Thassos in northern Greece have started under the code name "South Prinos C".

This new drilling is taking place in specific anticlines, one of the four spotted last October by "WESTERN PRIDE", the special seismic activity registration vessel.

A second underwater drilling will follow in accordance with the time schedule set by the consortium comprising the Northern Aegean Petroleum Co. (NAPC) and the Greek state.

Provided the results of the drilling operations are considered satisfactory by NAPC, the consortium will proceed with two more drillings in the same underwater area, located at a distance of 2.5-3 nautical miles from the "parent" deposit of the "Prinos" field.

The entire project is projected for completion within the next two years, based on assumed NAPC contractual obligations to the Greek state.

Athens News Agnecy/End

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