Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-08-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Thursday to start sunny

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates -Thursday

[03] Alleged 17N proclamation sent to newspaper

[04] President Stephanopoulos gives awards to high school pupils

[01] Weather Forecast: Thursday to start sunny

The day will start sunny, turning to scattered cloud and probably isolated storms from late afternoon. Winds variable, light. The temperature will range from 22C to 32C. Temperatures in Athens between 22C and 32C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 19C to 30C.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates -Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.986

Pound sterling 0.631

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.318

Japanese yen 118.3

Swiss franc 1.466

Norwegian kroner 7.486

Cyprus pound 0.579

Canadian dollar 1.558

Australian dollar 1.802

[03] Alleged 17N proclamation sent to newspaper

A proclamation claiming to represent members of the notorious ''November 17'' terrorist group still at large was printed in a special second edition by an Athens daily on Wednesday ?with reservations?, as its editorial staff stressed.

The proclamations author writes that authorities have indeed struck a blow to the terror groups ?core?, although its members have vowed to continue the groups activities.

The daily ?Eleftherotypia? said it was printing the five-page document ''with reservations as to its authenticity'', which ''objectively is difficult to verify, even by the authorities''.

The purported ?N17? proclamation was sent to the newspaper early Wednesday morning, one day after the deadly urban guerrilla group's alleged leader and 10 other gang members were jailed pending trial at Korydallos prison.

According to the newspaper, the proclamation, with a ?new 17N stamp'? was left at dawn in a garbage bin near the papers offices.

The proclamation is dated in the beginning only as ''Athens, July 2002'', although at the end the date cited is Athens, July 30, 2002, and begins with the title of a theatrical play by Luigi Pirandelo, ''So it is if so you think''.

In the proclamation, the author(s) admit that the police have struck a blow to the core of the organisation, and that this ''alters our course somewhat, but does not cancel anything. It simply postpones''.

[04] President Stephanopoulos gives awards to high school pupils

President Kostis Stephanopoulos gave awards to nine pupils from European senior high schools at a special event held at the old Parliament building in Athens on Wednesday night.

The pupils won the awards in the ''Pythia 2002'' competition, organised by the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, on the subject of democracy.

President Stephanopoulos congratulated the pupils and said ''you succeeded in approaching ancient Greek wisdom.''

The pupils, who were accompanied by their teachers, came from Denmark, Spain, Belgium, both the French and Flemish-speaking sectors, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany (Bavaria) and Ireland.

The Centre's dean and president Eleni Glykatzi-Ahrweiler referred to the importance of the ancient Greek language with which, as she said, freedom of thought is expressed since it contains the virtue of democracy, adding that the lesson by Greek culture is ''die upright instead of living on your knees.''

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