Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-02-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece's image in the US, Canada has changed, seminar says

[02] Piece of crashed medicopter believed found at sea

[03] Tens of thousands take to the streets, saying ''no'' to war on Iraq

[04] Tens of thousands take to the streets, saying ''no'' to war on Iraq

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[07] Weather Forecast: Rain, light snowfall on Sunday

[01] Greece's image in the US, Canada has changed, seminar says

NEW YORK (ANA/P.Panayiotou) - Greece's image in the US and Canada has changed due mainly to its battle against terrorism, hosting of the 2004 Olympics, and improvement in the economy, speakers at a media seminar said.

''It was commonly agreed by all that the image of Greece has changed. Our country is no longer the 'black sheep'," Dimitris Yerou, information secretary general of the Greek press and mass media ministry told the Athens News Agency.

Yerou chaired the seminar on Friday, which was arranged by the ministry and held at the Greek Press Office in New York.

Among those taking part were academics from the communications field and the heads of Greek embassy press offices in the US and Canada.

[02] Piece of crashed medicopter believed found at sea

Authorities said on Saturday that sonar equipment had located a metal object at sea believed to be wreckage from a medical helicopter that crashed off the Aegean island of Ikaria last week.

An oceanographic vessel located the metal at a depth of 110 metres, three miles from Ikaria's airport, which the state emergency service helicopter had been approaching in order to collect a patient.

Further investigation was required to confirm the find as the area in which the object was located also contained two shipwrecks, authorities said.

A search is underway for the four people who were aboard the helicopter when it crashed on Tuesday - a two-man crew, a doctor and a paramedic.Few hopes remain of their survival.

[03] Tens of thousands take to the streets, saying ''no'' to war on Iraq (ADDS)

Tens of thousands of protesters against the threat of war on Iraq took to the streets in cities and towns around Greece on Saturday as part of mass rallies worldwide to demonstrate against the US-instigated plan.

Flocking through the centre of Athens in a peaceful march were representatives of political parties, trade unions and peace groups, political leaders, political refugees, public figures and citizens, spanning children to pensioners.

Strewn with placards saying ''No to War'', ''Imperialism is the enemy'', and ''No bloodshed for war", the orderly march to the US embassy was briefly disrupted by masked youths hurling firebombs into ministry premises near Syntagma Square and offices of the Ta Nea and To Vima newspapers.

Police dispersed the youths with teargas. A guard was slightly injured in the blaze, and an automobile wrecked.

''The people who inspired these attacks and carried them out, who tried to stir up trouble, will not succeed in overshadowing the magnificent, anti-war message sent out by today's rally,'' government spokesman Christos Protopappas said. ''We all must condemn this''.

Also criticising the attacks was the main opposition New Democracy party.

In addition, youths belonging to a group named Action Thessaloniki 2003 burnt the UK flag in front of the country's city-centre embassy in a protest against the British government's backing for the US in a planned military attack on Iraq.

And at the tail end of the march near the US embassy, tens of youths attacked riot police with firebombs and rocks to break through a security cordon. Police guarding the embassy dispersed the group, and suspects were held for questioning.

Resounding through the city centre in a rally before the march was the voice of singer Maria Farandouri, internationally acknowledged for her renditions of works by Mikis Theodorakis.

Addressing the rally, composer Theodorakis said that he believed the last hope for humanity lay in the voice of the public, which had been heard simultaneously in 70 capitals around the world on Saturday, and reportedly in around 350 US cities.

A statement read to the rally called for a halt to the war plan, and the implementation of UN resolutions, also asking the UN's security council to refrain from providing any justification for an attack. Protesters also sought a worldwide ban on nuclear, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction.

In the northern port city of Thessaloniki, demonstrators filled the centre, bringing traffic to standstill.

Three separate rallies culminated in a peaceful joint march to the US consulate, where protesters burned a US flag and carried a statement to the Macedonia Thrace ministry asking that Greece should keep out of a US-led war on Iraq.

At the end of the march, self-styled anarchists hurled rocks, oranges and bottles of water at storefronts and then at police, who used teargas to disperse the youths. Scuffles broke out in which TV crews had their equipment damaged.

Other towns staging anti-war rallies were Patras, Kavala, Iraklio, Hania, Trikala and Karditsa.

Political parties seek peace

The head of the ruling PASOK party's central committee, Costas Laliotis, took part in the march, telling reporters that a strong showing had been made by a public that backed democracy and peace, joining forces with millions of people in tens of countries and hundreds of cities around the world.

''We have joined forces to say yes to peace and no to war...We want to besiege (US president George) Bush and (Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein. Bush should not embark on unilateral military initiatives and intervention. We are saying no to the war,'' Laliotis said.

''In addition, Saddam Hussein must respect UN resolutions and decisions, and proceed to disarm Iraq in terms of weapons of mass destruction,'' he added.

Also taking part in the march were the head of the Communist Party of Greece, Aleka Papariga; the leader of the Coalition for the Left and Progress, Nikos Constantoulos; and chief of the Democratic Social Movement, Dimitris Tsovolas, all of whom spoke out against the war. Also represented was the New Democracy (ND) party.

The secretary of ND's central committee, Evangelos Meimarakis, said that the party backed a peaceful solution to global rifts, attended by a respect for international legality and the implementation of UN Security Council decisions.

Speaking in Thessaloniki, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said: ''Greece, also as (rotating) president of the European Union, is shouldering a very delicate and difficult role. Because currently the world community has to rescue the operation, prestige and stature of the United Nations; and the European countries in particular have to save and reshape their political physiognomy, and the possibility of a strategic role for the EU.''

''I don't know if we will avert the war, but what we must do is to protect conditions for peace,'' Venizelos added.

[04] Tens of thousands take to the streets, saying ''no'' to war on Iraq

Tens of thousands of protesters against the threat of war on Iraq took to the streets in cities and towns around Greece on Saturday as part of mass rallies worldwide to demonstrate against the US-instigated plan.

Flocking through the centre of Athens in a peaceful march were representatives of political parties, trade unions and peace groups, political leaders, political refugees, public figures and citizens, spanning children to pensioners.

Strewn with placards saying ''No to War'', ''Imperialism is the enemy'', and ''No bloodshed for war, the orderly march to the US embassy was briefly disrupted by masked youths hurling firebombs into ministry premises near Syntagma Square and offices of the Ta Nea and To Vima newspapers.

Police dispersed the youths with teargas. A guard was slightly injured in the blaze, and an automobile wrecked.

''The people who inspired these attacks and carried them out, who tried to stir up trouble, will not succeed in overshadowing the magnificent, anti-war message sent out by today's rally,'' government spokesman Christos Protopappas said. ''We all must condemn this''.

Also criticising the attacks was the main opposition New Democracy party.

In addition, youths belonging to a group named Action Thessaloniki 2003 burnt the UK flag in front of the country's city-centre embassy in a protest against the British government's backing for the US in a planned military attack on Iraq.

And at the tail end of the march near the US embassy, tens of youths attacked riot police with firebombs and rocks to break through a security cordon. Police guarding the embassy dispersed the group, and suspects were hauled in for questioning.

Resounding through the city centre in a rally before the march was the voice of singer Maria Farandouri, internationally acknowledged for her renditions of works by Mikis Theodorakis.

Addressing the rally, composer Theodorakis said that he believed the last hope for humanity was the voice of the public, which had been heard simultaneously in 70 capitals around the world on Saturday, and in around 350 US cities.

A statement read to the rally called for a halt to the war plan, and the implementation of UN resolutions, also asking the UN's security council to refrain from providing any justification for an attack. Protesters also sought a worldwide ban nuclear, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction.

In the northern port city of Thessaloniki, demonstrators filled the centre, bringing traffic to standstill.

Three separate rallies culminated in a peaceful joint march to the US consulate, where protesters burned a US flag and carried a statement to the Macedonia Thrace ministry asking that Greece should keep out of a US-led war on Iraq.

At the tail end of the march, self-styled anarchists hurled rocks, oranges and bottles of water at storefronts and then at police, who used teargas to disperse the youths. Scuffles broke out in which TV crews had their equipment damaged.

Other towns staging anti-war rallies were Patras, Kavala, Iraklio, Hania, Trikala and Karditsa.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.087

Pound sterling 0.673

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.179

Japanese yen 131.0

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.595

Cyprus pound 0.584

Canadian dollar 1.652

Australian dollar 1.833

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.087

Pound sterling 0.673

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.179

Japanese yen 131.0

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.595

Cyprus pound 0.584

Canadian dollar 1.652

Australian dollar 1.833

[07] Weather Forecast: Rain, light snowfall on Sunday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country. The center and the west will see light snowfall, intermittent rain in low-lying areas and a little snow on high ground. Winds variable, moderate to very strong. In the north, temperatures will range from -5 to 5C; on the rest of the mainland from -1C to 9C; and in the islands from 6C to 12C. Rain and snow in Athens with temperatures between 3C and 9C. Same in Thessaloniki from 0C to 5C.

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