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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-04-06Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>NEWS IN ENGLISHAthens, Greece, 06/04/1999 (ANA)MAIN HEADLINES
NEWS IN DETAILFM Papandreou to Skopje, Tirana on WednesdayForeign Minister George Papandreou will visit Skopje and Tirana on Wednesday before flying on to Luxembourg where European Union foreign ministers will meet to discuss the humanitarian and refugee problems in the Balkans. Papandreou told journalists on Tuesday that his visits to the two Balkan capitals groaning under the weight of a massive influx of displaced Kosovo Albanians would include visits to camps. He said his talks would focus on coordinating the safe distribution of humanitarian aid. He reiterated that Greece had not specified how many refugees it would take and would take a decision based on the attitude to be taken by its European Union partners. Cyprus, Greek FMs confer on Kosovo Cyprus Foreign Minister Yiannis Kasoulides on Tuesday expressed Nicosia' concern over developments in Kosovo, following talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis. Papandreou told reporters after the meeting that the talks had focused on Kosovo, general developments in the Balkans, the Cyprus problem and the island republic's course towards EU accession. Kasoulides said the Cypriot people were concerned, "since we are witnesses to developments and conflicts which bring destabilisation and of course human suffering", also for Greece, owing to the fact it is a Balkan country in close proximity to the crisis. Athens ready to support Skopje Greece is fully prepared to help Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in dealing with the wave of refugees flowing in to northern neighbour, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Tuesday. He was responding to reporters' questions about a letter sent to all leaders of European Union nations by FYROM Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski calling for help and expressing his feelings over the treatment according to his country since the crisis began. Reppas said Simitis had spoken with Georgievski and said he would bring up his concerns with all the international organisations Greece participates in. Simitis also reiterated Greece's position that FYROM's existing borders should not be changed. Left Coalition leader meets Milosevic in Belgrade Coalition of the Left leader Nikos Konstantopoulos met in Belgrade on Tuesday with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and expressed his party's solidarity with the Yugoslav people. Konstantopoulos briefed Milosevic on the Coalition's position on the Kosovo crisis, namely an immediate end to NATO bombing, the cessation of all hostilities, the commencement of procedures aimed at finding a political solution and the return of all refugees. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Konstantopoulos said Milosevic had two objectives: to defend the independence and sovereignty of Yugoslavia; and secondly, to secure all the preconditions for a political solution to the crisis in Kosovo. PM chairs meeting on armaments programme Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Tuesday chaired a three-hour meeting of the interministerial committee set up to implement the armaments programme of the Hellenic Air Force. Today's meeting was preparatory for the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) which will most likely convene after the Orthodox Easter holiday to take final decisions concerning the 1.2-1.3 trillion drachma armaments programme. The programme provides for the purchase of new combat aircraft and the filling of current operational gaps of the Hellenic Air Force. It is believed that the meeting also examined aspects of the armaments programmes of other branches of the armed forces. Albanian illegal immigrant killed in border incident An Albanian woman was killed on Tuesday when a group of four Albanians attempted to cross into Greece illegally. The Greek border patrol called on the group to stop and fired a warning shot when it appeared to group ignored their orders. The woman was hit by the stray bullet. The incident occured early on Tuesday, near Promahonas, on the Greek-FYROM border. The three Albanians, who said they had come from the Albanian town of Pogradec, are being held at a local police station. Asked about the incident later, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said it was simply "an attempt by illegal immigrants to enter Greek territory." "It was a small group of illegal immigrants who were not refugees from Kosovo and who attempted to illegally enter the country, ignoring, at the same time, the warnings of the Greek patrol," Reppas said. He added that the group had been armed when they were detected by the patrol. 19 implicated in two credit card scams Police in Thessaloniki said they expected 19 people to be charged in two separate forged credit card scams operating out of the northern Greek city. They said the two groups did not appear to be related. One ring, with the participation of Yugoslav "specialists" had drawn the attention of Interpol, as they were drawing proceeds from a bank in Canada. In the October- November 1998 period, they charged five million drachmas to their cards and received about two million from banks. The other ring involved about 10 local businessmen involved in tourist agencies and stores in Thessaloniki, Veria and Naoussa. Police discovered the trail when cardholders began to complain about paying for items and transactions they had not conducted. Police crack counterfeit ring Athens police said today they had broken up a gang of counterfeiters with possible international connections after arresting three men as they were trying to sell fake 100-dollar bills. The three, identified as unemployed Albanian national Vassili Kouro, 38, optician Haralambos Vlachos, 37, and taxi driver Evangelos Nikolaidis, 40, were charged with counterfeiting and circulating forged currency and setting up a gang, while Kouro was also charged with violating immigration laws and Nikolaidis with weapon posession. Police specialists said that since the 100-dollar bills were printed with the off-set printing method and of excellent quality, it was believed the gang had international connections. Albanian arrested in possession of 11 kgs of hash An Albanian was arrested in Thessaloniki on Tuesday after being found in possession of 11 kilos of hashish and small quantities of cocaine and heroin. Police named the man as Fatmir Berdhi (phonetic spelling), 20, who was arrested on the street carrying just over 2 kilos of hashish. A search of his apartment revealed a further 9 kilos, five small packets containing 5 grams of cocaine and 15 small packets containing 10 grams of heroin. Romanian charged over port oil slick The Romanian captain and first engineer of a Romanian-flag freighter have been arrested after their vessel caused an oil slick in the port of Piraeus, Harbour Authorities said. They said the captain and first engineer of the freighter "Sammarina 1" were arrested yesterday after an investigation showed that their ship was responsible for causing the 1,500 sq.m. spill. The two are to appear before the public prosecutor today. Locals protest genetically-modified food plans Another decade of scientific experiments and observation may not be enough to pinpoint possible effects on human health and the foodchain -- from cultivation to consumption -- of genetically modified (GM) plants, toxicology and health specialists warned today. The specialists, speaking at a press conference in Thessaloniki, also opposed the experimental cultivation of GM plants in Greece and called on the government to put a freeze on the issue of licences for such crops for at least the next decade, and hinted that pressure was being exercised by "various sides" for the Environment Ministry to reverse a ban in effect for 1999. The press conference was held in view of a discussion by the Thessaloniki Prefectural Council of a request submitted by the multinational Monsanto for the cultivation of GM cotton and corn in Thessaloniki. Greek equities on the rebound to recover losses Equity prices rebounded substantially on Tuesday on the Athens Stock Exchange recovering all of Monday's losses. Traders said market sentiment was encouraged by the prime minister's speech on Monday. Simitis said that Greece would not be involved in military confrontations and that the government would not sacrifice the aim of participating in EMU because of the crisis in Kosovo. The general index ended 2.55 percent higher to 3, 300.20 points, off the day's highs. Turnover was 93.314 billion drachmas and volume 16,733,421 shares. The market also reacted favourably to a government decision to float another stake in Hellenic Telecoms and to stable conditions in the domestic money and bond markets. Traders, however, noted that developments in Kosovo were closely monitored by the market. WEATHERCloudy weather will prevail throughout Greece on today with the possibility of sporadic showers in the mountainous regions. Winds variable, light to strong. Overcast in Athens with long spells of sunshine and temperatures between 9-18C. Possibility of intermittent rain in the mountainous regions of Thessaloniki with temperatures from 7-18C.FOREIGN EXCHANGETuesday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 301.102 Pound sterling 483.937 Japanese yen (100) 248.407 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. 43.666 Austrian sch. 23.567 Spanish peseta 1.949 Swedish kr. 36.589 Norwegian kr. 38.956 Swiss franc 203.028 Port. Escudo 1.618 Aus. dollar 190.985 Can. dollar 200.682 Cyprus pound 559.012 Euro 324.285(M.P.) Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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