Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-06-17

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 17/06/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greek Mirage crashes, pilot safe
• Athens seeks good relations with Ankara
• Papandreou in London for talks
• Athens wants KLA disarmed now
• Dutch embassy sets press reports right
• 82 young Russian women deported
• Yugoslav arrested for '96 murder
• Village fears revenge killings
• Equities keep up lacklustre performance
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

A Greek Air Force Mirage fighter jet crashed at 12.55 p.m. on Thursday, 10 miles south of Tanagra air force base, according to the defence ministry. The pilot of the fighter jet, which was on a routine training flight, ejected safely before the aircraft fell. The Mirage had earlier taken off from Tanagra with an identical aircraft on a training flight. They were returning to the air base when the accident took place. According to initial reports, the jet fighter was preparing to land when the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Kymonas Hytiris, noticed a problem with the landing gear and was unable to lower the wheels.

Athens seeks good relations with Ankara

Greece said on Thursday that it wanted to build good relations with Turkey but that they must be founded on the principles of international law and respect for international conventions. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas added that relations should also be based on respect for the territorial integrity and independence of states and the inviolability of borders. Reppas was commenting on statements made by Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in an interview with the private Greek television station MEGA on Wednesday night. In the interview, Ecevit reiterated Ankara's view regarding the existence of "problems" in the Aegean. Athens views these so- called "problems" as in effect constituting unilateral Turkish claims on its territory.

Papandreou in London for talks

Foreign Minister George Papandreou left for London on Thursday for talks with his British counterpart Robin Cook. Papandreou is also expected to meet with British Defence Secretary George Robertson and Foreign Office special emissary for the Cyprus issue, Sir David Hannay, with whom he is expected to discuss the G8 statement on Cyprus expected from the summit on Friday. Papandreou's talks with Cook are expected to focus on the latest developments in Kosovo and plans to rebuild the Balkans.

Athens wants KLA disarmed now

Greece said on Thursday it believed that Kosovo Liberation Army units in Kosovo had to be disarmed immediately. Government spokesman Dimitris Repppas, replying to reporters' questions, also said that the Greek troops in Kosovo as part of the peacekeeping force were taking all the measures necesssary to protect themselves against possible actions against them by the KLA.

Dutch embassy sets press reports right

The Netherlands' embassy in Athens today said that the country's food exports was completely safe for consumers and that press reports alleging "cow AIDS" among Dutch herds were incorrect and unjustified. Dutch ambassador Paul Brouwer told reporters that the Netherlands' animal health service on Wednesday had said that no instances of Bovine Infecteous Virus (BIV) -- dubbed in various media reports as "cow AIDS" -- had been reported but that it had been confused with an outbreak of Bovine Virus Diarrhoea (BVD) - which is not communicable to humans - in 12 Dutch farms, caused by a contaminated batch of vaccine. "There has never been a case of BIV in the Netherlands, never now or in the past," the Dutch envoy said.

82 young Russian women deported

A group of 82 young Russian women who arrived in Thessaloniki with forged visas on a plane from Moscow yesterday were expelled and sent back on the same plane, police said today. The chartered airplane arrived at Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport with the women, originally coming from Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. Airport police notices that the group visas had been issued for different persons, but had been pasted on forged lists bearing the names of the women who actually arrived. They were sent back on the same plane five hours later.

Yugoslav arrested for '96 murder

Police said today they had arrested Yugoslav citizen Dejan Rasparovic, 26, for the 1996 killing of compatriot Srijan Knezevic in the seaside suburb of Glyfada. Knezevic was shot in the head by an unidentified assailant in the early morning hours on June 7, 1996 off a central Glyfada street. Police said an investigation revealed that the two men had been carrying out burglaries together, and disagreed over splitting the goods. They said Rasparovic shot Knezevic once in the back of the head with a Magnum 357 pistol.

Village fears revenge killings

The residents of a small village at the centre of a dramatic bus hijacking that left the Albanian hijacker and one Greek hostage dead say they fear revenge killings from a relative of the dead hijacker. The villagers of Kato Scholari say they have asked for police to step up security after a local businessman was phoned by the hijacker's brother. According to reports from the village, Endi Pisli, brother of Flamour Pisli, 24, called the businessman about a week after his brother was gunned down and, asking for his condolences to be extended to the family of the dead Greek hostage, said he would seek revenge for his brother's death. Flamour Pisli kept Greek police at bay for hours after he hijacked an intercity coach and held eight Greek passengers hostage. He was finally allowed to take the coach across the border to Albania, where he was headed for his village near Elbasan.

Equities keep up lacklustre performance

Equity prices ended lower for the sixth consecutive session on the Athens Stock Exchange unable to hold on to early gains because of lack of follow- through orders. The general index ended 0.79 percent down at 3,954.19 points, off the day's highs. The index jumped 1.62 percent initially but finally succumbed to profit-taking. It has lost 2.61 percent in the last six sessions. Turnover was 152.941 billion drachmas with 27,929,862 shares changing hands.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Thursday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          309.683
Pound sterling       492.409
Japanese yen (100)   257.563
French franc          48.953
German mark          164.181
Italian lira (100)    16.584
Irish Punt           407.726
Belgian franc          7.960
Luxembourg franc       7.960
Finnish mark          54.006
Dutch guilder        145.714
Danish kr.            43.221
Austrian sch.         23.336
Spanish peseta         1.929
Swedish kr.           36.337
Norwegian kr.         39.218
Swiss franc          201.222
Port. Escudo           1.602
Can. dollar          211.098
Aus. dollar          203.757
Cyprus pound         556.750
Euro                 321.110

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