Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-10-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Culture minister presents Europa Nostra award to stonemason restoring

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[03] Credit, debit cards to be valid for tax payments

[04] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Saturday

[05] Greek stocks end nervous session stable

[06] Gov't appeals for a stop to pranks as anthrax scares multiply

[07] Seminar on technology and Olympics to take place in Athens

[01] Culture minister presents Europa Nostra award to stonemason restoring Parthenon

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Friday presented an award given by Europa Nostra to Architect-Stonemason Ioannis Arbilias for his work in restoring the Parthenon over the past 25 years.

"The restoration by Europa Nostra will always be incomplete to the measure that the Marbles of the Parthenon continue to be in the British Museum. The return of the Marbles is an aim Greece will never give up," the minister said.

He also said that the new Acropolis Museum will be constructed and ready for use by 2004.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Indicative tourist buying rates until Monday

U.S. dollar 375.192

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 540.924

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 045.453

Swedish kroner 035.688

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 309.829

Swiss franc 228.752

Norwegian kroner 042.417

Cyprus pound 588.463

Canadian dollar 237.970

Australian dollar 189.981

[03] Credit, debit cards to be valid for tax payments

The government is to allow the use of credit and debit cards for tax payments, Deputy Finance Minister Apostolos Fotiadis said on Friday.

Fotiadis announced that a pilot scheme had been launched in five tax offices that would later become the norm throughout the country.

Equipment linked to the new means of payment is be installed in 81 tax offices in November, and 200 offices should be connected by the end of the year.

Finally, banking automated teller machines are also to be introduced into tax offices, allowing taxpayers to make withdrawals on the premises, Fotiadis added.

[04] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Saturday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, likely to turn to showers in the southern Peloponnese and Crete. Winds northerly, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 8C to 24C; on the rest of the mainland from 12C to 27C; and in the islands from 16C to 26C. Light cloud in Athens, with temperatures between 12C and 25C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 12C to 24C.

[05] Greek stocks end nervous session stable

Equity prices ended the last trading session of the week mixed to higher after fluctuating widely throughout the day on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Traders said the market was trying to find more stable levels after the previous sessions' sharp ups and downs. Buying interest was once again focused on blue chip stocks like Hellenic Telecoms.

The general index ended 0.05 percent higher at 2,345.51 points, for a net gain of 3.77 percent in the week, with turnover a low 36.5 billion drachmas or 107 million euros.

The Information and IT Solutions sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.52 percent and 1.04 percent respectively), while Textiles and Investments scored the biggest gains (1.27 percent and 0.98 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.08 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 0.16 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index rose 0.52 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 164 to 155 with another 44 issues unchanged.

[06] Gov't appeals for a stop to pranks as anthrax scares multiply

Anthrax jitters had taken a firm grip throughout Greece on Friday, fuelled bya rising number of telephone hoaxes and a spate of fake 'anthrax' letters.

Government spokesman Tilemachos Hytiris appealed for a stop to pranks and practical jokes on Friday afternoon, even as a helicopter manned by fire brigade officers was flying down to the Ionian island of Corfu to bring yet another envelope full of unidentified powder back to Athens for tests.

Authorities in Corfu have been mobilised and have sealed off a post office building on the island after one of the postal workers found an envelope containing a pink-coloured powder.

Meanwhile, two more letters filled with powder have turned up in the west Peloponnesian city of Patras in the last 24 hours, among post sent to Patras University.

[07] Seminar on technology and Olympics to take place in Athens

A seminar on "The Olympic Games and Technology" is to take place in Athens on Oct. 23.

According to an announcement by the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it will focus on aspects of technology that have a bearing on the Athens Olympics in 2004 and is addressed to ministry officials, organisations, public bodies and businesses directly involved in these areas.

The seminar will begin at 10:00 hours, with Athens 2004 Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC) chairwoman Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki attending, along with Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis and Transport Minister Christos Verelis.

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