Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-12-18
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 18/12/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Greece concerned about Iraq
- Court rules against airport strikes
- Nine soccer hooligans face charges
- Students blocks roads in major towns
- U.S. writer on symbolic hunger strike
- Zorba's grandchildren Greeks again
- Concern over Kosovo
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Greece concerned about Iraq
Deputy Foreign Minister Yannos Kranidiotis on Friday expressed the
government's concern over the developments in Iraq, telling reporters after
a Cabinet meeting that the government was carefully monitoring the
developments "because instability in the region is something that could
have repercussions on Greece, too". Kranidiotis expressed his conviction
that the operations should be terminated as soon as possible and an effort
should be made to find a political solution through peaceful means. "The
international community must exercise its influence so that international
law and the international rules are always employed and avoid the
phenomenon of double standards," he said.
Court rules against airport strikes
An Athens court on Friday ruled that labour action called by civil aviation
unions was illegal and an abuse of labour law. The court ruling related to
an air traffic controllers' four-hour walkout slated to begin at 11 a.m. on
Friday, and a telecoms workers 12-4 p.m. walkout on the same day. Civil
aviation employees said earlier this week that they would hold a range of
walkouts in the lead up to Christmas to press demands for more personnel
and wage-related and other issues. The walkouts are expected to have a
serious effect on flight scheduling over the busy Christmas season.
Nine soccer hooligans face charges
Nine youths arrested during Thursday night's unrest at a Greek cup match
between football teams Aris and Olympiakos will face a magistrate on
Friday. The nine were arrested for throwing rocks and planks at police.
About 20 police officers were injured during the unrest - none seriously.
The violence forced referees to call off the match for 30 minutes.
Olympiakos won the match 3-1.
Students blocks roads in major towns
High-school students took their protests literally to the roads on Friday
when they held coordinated road blocks in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra and
other major towns around the country. Students blocked roads at four
intersections in the wider Athens area, causing traffic jams in midday
traffic. At the education ministry in Athens, students from the Pallini
Music High School strummed guitars, played violas and sang songs against
the education ministy's reforms. The approach of the Christmas and New Year
holiday break appears to have had little effect on hundreds of students
still occupying school premises in protest at the education ministry's
reforms. Nationwide the number of schools under occupation is estimated to
be a thousand.
U.S. writer on symbolic hunger strike
An American writer has launched a symbolic hunger strike on the buffer zone
dividing the free section of Cyprus from the Turkish-occupied north,
protesting the US stance on the Cyprus issue, an ANA dispatch from Nicosia
said. It said Matthew Stowell had begun a hunger strike on Wednesday
morning that would be concluded tonight. Stowell's Limassol-born wife Olga
Glyki and women relatives of the missing persons from the 1974 Turkish
invasion of the island republic were keeping vigil with the author.
Zorba's grandchildren Greeks again
The two surviving grandchildren of the real Zorba the Greek, on whom the
central character of Nikos Kazantzakis's eponymous book was based, and for
decades a symbol of the indomitable Greek spirit, will receive Greek
citizenship on Friday night at a special ceremony in Thessaloniki. Anna
Gaiger and Vangelis Yiantas, the children of Zorbas' youngest daughter,
Katerina, live in Belgrade and have been trying for some time to receive
Greek citizenship. George Zorbas provided the role model for Kazantzakis's
character of Alexis Zorbas. Zorbas was born in 1878 in Kozani and, after
wandering the Balkans and the world, settled in Skopje, where he died in
1942. The character was immortalised by actor Anthony Quinn in the 1963
film directed by Michael Cacoyiannis and co-starring Alan Bates and Irene
Pappas.
Concern over Kosovo
Greece and its Balkan neighbours are extremely concerned about the
possibility of more tension in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, Greece's
Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis told new Yugoslav ambassador to
Greece Dragomir Vucicevic on Friday. Kakalamanis said every effort possible
was needed to find a resolution to the problem. Vucicevic briefed
Kaklamanis on the course of the Holbrooke-Milosevic agreement and added
that Belgrade wanted political dialogue with the leaders of the ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo to continue, but that they were not responding to the
invitation.
WEATHER
Western Greece is expected to be partly cloudy on Friday, while northern
Greece is forecast cloudy with scattered snowfall mostly on highground. The
rest of the country is expected to have bad weather with rainfall, storms
at the Aegean Sea and snowfall on highground as well as in central Greece
areas. Winds northerly, strong to very strong. Athens is forecast cloudy
with rainfall or sleet, scattered snowfall on highground and temperatures
ranging from 5C to 10C. Thessaloniki is expected to be partly cloudy with
scattered snowfall mostly on highground and temperatures ranging from 3C to
6C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 277.135
British pound 465.645 Japanese yen (100) 238.278
French franc 49.733 German mark 166.760
Italian lira (100) 16.843 Irish Punt 414.061
Belgian franc 8.086 Finnish mark 54.870
Dutch guilder 147.992 Danish kr. 43.850
Austrian sch. 23.706 Spanish peseta 1.960
Swedish kr. 34.530 Norwegian kr. 36.238
Swiss franc 206.455 Port. Escudo 1.628
Aus. dollar 173.149 Can. dollar 180.147
(M.P.)
|
