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Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-08-16Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>NEWS IN ENGLISHATHENS, GREECE, 16/08/1999 (ANA)MAIN HEADLINES
NEWS IN DETAILGreece celebrates Dormition of the Virgin Mary, Armed Forces DayCelebrations over for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary as well as the Armed Forces Day were held in several shrines around in the country dedicated to the memory of the Mother of God (Theotokos). President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos celebrated this special event on the eastern Aegean island of Paros at the Panagia Ekatontapiliani church. Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos officiated the service at Panagia Ekatontapiliani, which was followed by a procession. Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis, Culture Minister Elisavet Papazoi and Minister of the Aegean Stavros Benos were also present in the celebrations in Paros. Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis and National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos and Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis represented the go-vernment at the monastery of Panagia Soumela in northern Greece and participated at the proce ssion of the well-known holy icon of Theotokos with the participation of thousands of pilgrims from throughout the country and abroad. The Byzantine icon had been a part of religious life for centuries by the vibrant ethnic Greek community of Pontos along the Black Sea coastal region in what is now Turkey. It was brought to Greece in 1930 by refugees, before being placed in a monaste ry of the same name as the one in Pontos. Democractic Social Movement (DHKKI) leader Dimitris Tsovolas and Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) leader Nikos Constantopoulos were also present at the Panagia Soumela celebrations. Mr. Kaklamanis said, in name of the Greek Parliament, "this is a double celebration, for Orthodox Christianity and Hellenism; the traditions of Pontian Hellenism, the traditions of our nation, from which we may draw strength to confront today's difficul ties and challenges." Tsohatzopoulos calls for an end to ethnic cleansing National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos yesterday demanded an end to the "ethnic cleansing" being perpetrated against the Serbs who have remained in the volatile Yugoslav province of Kosovo. At the same time, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos referred to the refugees who were forced to leave their homes in the wake of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus as "victims of ethnic cleansing" and called on international organisations to intervene "decisively" so t hat they might return to the now Turkish-occupied northern part of the island republic. He was speaking at the Panagia Soumela Monastery in Imathia prefecture, the venue for an annual pilgrimage in celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin. Located in the foothills of Mt. Vermion, the monastery is named after the original monastery which was renowned as a historical and cultural centre of Black Sea Greeks, near the once vibrant port of Trapezounta (Trabzon) on the Black sea coast. Most of the pilgrims are descendants of ethnic Greek refugees from the Black Sea region of Pontos. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said the Greeks of the Black Sea region were "the first in our history" to suffer the consequences of ethnic cleansing (at the hands of the Turks) and for this reason "Greece is obliged and has an inalienable right to support all the struggles against all policies of ethnic cleansing". Referring to the Kosovo problem, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said Greece had firmly stated its opposition to the ethnic cleansing carried out against Albanians "and we now demand an end to the policy of ethnic cleansing being perpetrated by the Albanians against the Serbs". In the same spirit, he continued, Greece demands that the Greek refugees in Cyprus be allowed to return to their homes. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said the Greek Cypriot refugees had been forced from their homes 25 years ago "in the name of a totally unacceptable policy of ethnic cleansing". "The international community and international organisations have the obligation to intervene decisively to redress this development through dialogue on the basis of the resolutions of international organisations and in accordance with the principles of law," he said. National issues can be tackled only through the legal path President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on Saturday reiterated that there is only one way to deal with our national issues and that is the legal one. Speaking from the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Mr. Stephanopoulos said that "we live in the better part of our democracy". He added that all praise should not be his and should be directed to the Greek citizens who maintain at the highest level the democratic institutions and improve the democratic system, which has nothing to be envious of other democratic systems in exist ance. Responding to popular requests that the political parties in Parliament should re-elect him, Mr. Stephanopoulos said "this is not an issue which is of my concern, besides there has been so much talk over the issue over the recent past, that it is better if I am silent." The president also visited the eastern Aegean islands of Ikaria and Fourni. While in Ikaria the municipal council of the island declared the president an honorary citizen of the municipallity. Pamphlet with appeal for return of Parthenon Marbles Thousands of visitors to the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis of Athens are being given a pamphlet with an appeal for the return of the Parthenon Marbles now housed in London's British Museum. According to the Culture Ministry 300,000 leaflets have been printed of which 80,000 are in English, 20,000 in Greek, and the rest in German, Italian and Spanish. The pamphlets started being distributed on Friday and will continue to be so through the tourist period until October 17. The Marbles, which include 17 figures and fragments of a 160-metre long frieze were carted away in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, the then British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, while Greece was under Ottoman rule. He sold the Marbles to the B ritish Museum in 1816. The campaign, said Yannis Tsakopiakos, chairman of the Federation of Culture Ministry Employees' Unions, aims at informing the visitors on the "amputation of the Parthenon and the theft of its sculptures", as well on Greece's efforts for the Marbles' re turn. He said the Federation was also sending an open letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair "calling for his positive response". "Our aspiration was and is to actively participate in the effort, at the same time creating a 'spark' for substantive interventions," he said. Greece has for several years been waging a campaign for the return of the Marbles, which it says it will house in the new Acropolis Museum due for completion by 2004, when Athens will stage the Olympic Games. Last year, Greece lodged an official protest with the British government over the damage caused to the Marbles and demanded their inspection by an international experts' committee. The British Museum acknowledged that damage had been caused as the Marbles were being cleaned in 1937, but has consistently refused to return them. Mussels get clean bill of health The mussels cultivated in the Thermaikos Gulf, northern Greece, got a further clean bill of health on Friday from a respected laboratory and local authorities said a ban on the collection and sale of the tasty molluscs would soon be lifted. The ban was imposed by order of the Prefect of Thessaloniki on July 15 after French authorities claimed to have detected DSP dioxin in the mussels. On Friday, prefectural authorities received the findings of tests carried out at a Thessaloniki University laboratory, which confirmed the results obtained on August 6 from an Italian state laboratory in Venice showing the mussels to be free of dioxins. What turned out to be a false alarm began in July when French authorities impounded quantities of mussels originating from the Thermaikos Gulf, saying biotoxins had been detected. Local producers reacted angrily, saying the move was motivated by national interests, given the fierce competition in the French market. Samples sent initially from Thessaloniki to the only European Union microbiology laboratory certified for testing mussels in Vigo, Spain, supposedly confirmed the French view. When the authorities in Thessaloniki attempted to send a second sample to Vigo for testing, they were informed that the laboratory would remain closed until August 17. Samples were then sent to Venice, Cologne and Thessaloniki University. The president of a local fishing cooperative in the Thermaikos Gulf, George Liolios, told the ANA on Friday that the latest results vindicated the mussel producers. Stressing that a "war of interests" was behind the health scare, Mr. Liolios said the Greek Association of Shellfish and Mussel Producers was considering taking legal action against the Vigo laboratory. Equity prices end at new record levels Equity prices ended a historic week at new record levels on Friday pushed by strong buying interest in blue chip stocks. The general index ended 102.71 points, or 2.19 percent up at 4,799.62 for its 38th record close this year. The index has recorded a 487.37 points gain in the last nine sessions. Turnover was 219.823 billion drachmas reflecting high liquidity in the market with 31,119,993 shares changing hands. The Insurance and Holding sectors outperformed the market ending 7.44 and 7.5 percent higher respectively. Other sector indices ended as follows: Banks (+1.12 pct), Investment (+1.2 pct), Leasing (+0.60 pct), Construction (+3.80 pct), Industrials (+3.40 pct) and Miscellaneous (+3.29 pct). The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks rose 3.53 percent while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.53 percent up at 2,675.42 points. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 224 to 65 with another five is sues unchanged. A total of 36 shares ended at the day's 8.0 percent limit up, while another two ended at the day's limit down. Hellenic Petroleum, Hellenic Telecoms and Naoussa Textiles were the most heavily traded stocks, while Commercial Bank, Eurobank and Alpha Credit Bank led the day's turnover. National Bank of Greece ended at 22,310 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 21,850, Commercial Bank at 34,000, Ergobank at 31,500, Titan Cement at 33,100, Hellenic Petroleum at 3,315, Intracom at 22,780, Minoan Lines at 5,695, Panafon at 8,200 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,720. Power corporation signs contract for construction of dam The Public Power Corporation (DEH) and a consortium of engineering companies on Saturday signed a contract for the construction of a dam in the area of Gratini, Rodopi, northern Greece. The estimated cost of the project is 7 billion drachmas. When completed, the dam will create a sufficient volume of water for a power station which will also use natural gas and is currently under construction at the Rodopi Industrial Park. The three companies which have undertaken construction of the dam are "Michaniki S.A.", "AGEK S.A." and "TERNA S.A." The Gratini dam and another being constructed at Arato, Rodopi will produce 25 million cubic metres of water for the operation of the power generating station. The power plant is being built on a 320,000 square metre area of land purchased by DEH from the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank (ETBA) for 590 million drachmas. The construction of the plant will cost approximately 80 billion drachmas and it will be ready for operation in about two-and-a-half years from now. It will have an initial output of 300 megawatt which will gradually be increased to 470 megawatt. Water exiting the DEH plant will be used to irrigate 10 million square metres of arable land on the plain of Rodopi. Weather Fine weather throughout the country today with scattered cloud in mainland greece in the afternoon. Winds northwesterly moderate and strong in parts of the Aegean Sea. Athens will be sunny with temperatures between 22-35C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 21-33C. FOREIGN EXCHANGEMonday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 303.691 Pound sterling 489.711 Japanese yen (100) 264.308 French franc 49.407 German mark 165.703 Italian lira (100) 16.738 Irish Punt 411.504 Belgian franc 8.034 Finnish mark 54.507 Dutch guilder 147.064 Danish kr. 43.577 Austrian sch. 23.552 Spanish peseta 1.948 Swedish kr. 36.821 Norwegian kr. 39.234 Swiss franc 202.170 Port. Escudo 1.617 Can. dollar 204.610 Aus. dollar 197.651 Cyprus pound 560.718 Euro 324.086(C.E.) Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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