Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-09-09
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 09/09/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Gov't meeting on unemployment action plan
- Greenpeace activists resume Larco protest
- Hospital doctors to strike on Monday
- Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos
- Three die in freak road accident
- Elections force CSF ad ban
- Greek pop signer appears in court
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Gov't meeting on unemployment action plan
A recent sharp rise in unemployment figures is due to the unregistered
jobless signing on to gain eligibility for vocational training programmes
and subsidised jobs, Labour and Welfare Minister Miltiades Papaioannou said
today. Speaking after a meeting to discuss the government's action plan for
employment with Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Papaioannou said there would
be no increase in "real unemployment". The jobless rate surged to 9.8
percent in June, or 2.86 percentage points higher than the figure for the
same month in 1997, hitting a record high for the summer season when
unemployment usually drops.
Greenpeace activists resume Larco protest
Greenpeace activists made a new attempt today to prevent barges belonging
to Larco, a Greek state-run ferronickel producer, from dumping waste in the
sea. Costas Dombros, a Greenpeace spokesman, said that a few of the
activists had tied themselves to the barges. They had also unfurled banners
with slogans against waste dumping in the sea. Greenpeace's protests are
costing Larco 100 million drachmas a day, the company's president
Constantine Daskalakis told a press conference called today. Daskalakis,
flanked by the company's workers' union president, said he feared that the
protests would close down operations and questioned Greenpeace's motives.
Greenpeace representatives said the organisation was determined to continue
its protest until the authorities banned the dumping of the waste.
Hospital doctors to strike on Monday
Hospital doctors in the Attica region will begin a three-day strike on
Monday to press for more government funding for duty rosters and pay
increases. Doctors want payment for being on call to be increased by 60
percent of the daily rostered-on pay as well as increases for rostered duty
pay, a 10 percent increase in starting wages and bonuses for specialists.
The strike will affect public hospitals and clinics in the Attica basic.
Skeleton staff will be on duty during the strike.
Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos
Two Romanian illegal immigrants, weary of waiting their turn to make the
crossing from the Turkish coast to Greece, took the initiative and crossed
to the island of Samos in a children's rubber boat, port authorities said
today. The two men - identified as Ioan Ursu, 40, and Rabu Liviou, 22 -
were arrested after reaching the Samos coast at Karlovassi. They are
expected to be deported.
Three die in freak road accident
Three people were killed and another 12 seriously injured this morning in a
freak road accident involving a tourist coach and two other vehicles on the
Athens-Thessaloniki national road. An unidentified man was killed instantly
when his passenger vehicle crashed into a tourist coach heading to Athens
from Thessaloniki. The accident occured a few miles outside the central
Greek town of Larissa. As coach passengers milled about on the national
road after the accident, a small truck ran into the group, killing
another two people and injuring 12.
Elections force CSF ad ban
All advertising and promotion of programmes funded by the Community Support
Framework will be postponed until the end of October so as not to influence
voters during the municipal elections next month, according to a national
economy ministry announcement. The announcement, from National Economy
Undersecretary Christos Pahtas, said that the decision had been taken
following complaints from conservative opposition New Democracy party
members. Municipal elections will be held on October 11, with run-off
elections being held a week later.
Greek pop signer appears in court
Greek pop idol Sakis Rouvas appeared in an Athens court today to testify in
a writ brought against him by his former record company, Polygram. Polygram
has filed suit against Rouvas alleging that he broke his three-year
recording contract with them to sign up with competitor EMI. Polygram is
seeking an injunction on the circulation of Rouvas's new recording, with
EMI. Rouvas, last year the focus of controversy when he gave a concert with
a Turkish pop singer on buffer zone marking the dividing line in Cyprus,
told the court that he had signed on with EMI because Polygram "was not
showing the interest it should" in his recording career. The hearing
is continuing.
WEATHER
Scattered clouds in western, northern and central Greece, turning to rain
or storms. Otherwise, fair weather will prevail in most parts of the
country with a small drop in temperatures. Athens partly cloudy with
possible rain in the afternoon and temperatures between 20-31C. Thick cloud
in Thessaloniki with possible rain in the evening and temperatures from 19-
28C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Wednesday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 294.0490
British pound 487.489 Japanese yen (100) 221.295
French franc 50.687 German mark 169.930
Italian lira (100) 17.211 Irish Punt 425.548
Belgian franc 8.240 Finnish mark 55.927
Dutch guilder 150.591 Danish kr. 44.608
Austrian sch. 24.154 Spanish peseta 2.003
Swedish kr. 36.766 Norwegian kr. 37.962
Swiss franc 207.764 Port. Escudo 1.660
Aus. dollar 173.997 Can. dollar 192.547
Cyprus pound 573.951
(M.P.)
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