Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-05-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Charter tourist arrivals up in April, GNTO says

[02] Gov't seeks to tighten links between tourism, industry

[03] ESHEA stands by persecuted Turkish Cypriot journalist

[04] Child casualty of Afghanistan war to be admitted to Athens hospital

[05] European consumer centre opens in Athens

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[07] Weather Forecast: Hot and sunny on Thursday

[08] Greek stocks end up for sixth consecutive session

[01] Charter tourist arrivals up in April, GNTO says

Tourist arrivals with charter flights to Greece recorded significantly increase in April, based on Civil Aviation Authority's figures from the airports of Corfu (+11%), Cos (+46%) and Rhodes (+20%).

Greece's National Tourism Organisation said that the increase reflected increased travel during the Catholic and Orthodox Churches' Easter holidays in April. GNTO also stressed that this development justified an initial forecast that a war in Iraq, if it was brief, as it proved, would not have any significant impact on Greek tourism.

GNTO, however, did not exclude that a rise in tourist arrivals to the three above mentioned destinations would be accompanied by a similar decline in arrivals to other domestic destinations.

[02] Gov't seeks to tighten links between tourism, industry

The government is planning to study the links between tourism and industry in order to tailor needs, boost competitiveness, and make greater use of Greek products, Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Wednesday.

''We're interested in learning the impact of 12-14 million tourist arrivals on the Greek economy in its entirety, how this affects the country's industrial output, primary and secondary sector, and how it affects commerce, enterprises, and services,'' the minister said.

He told a meeting of hte National Competitiveness and Development Council that steps would be taken in the next four months to implement the policy, including the start of a dialogue between tourism and industry.

[03] ESHEA stands by persecuted Turkish Cypriot journalist

The Athens Journalists' Union (ESHEA) on Wednesday issued a press release condemning the continuing ''inhumane behavior'' of the Turkish occupation regime of Rauf Denktash toward Turkish Cypriot journalist Sener Levent.

Levent, a journalist and publisher of the newspaper 'Africa' has been denied access to the Cyprus government controlled areas, despite a lift in the ban by the occupation regime.

The ESHEA press release also stressed that the occupation regime insists on holding Levent ''hostage and prisoner in the occupied territories violating every sense of the rule of law and the fundamental principles and rules of the international treaties on human rights and freedoms''.

''ESHEA stands by the Cyprus Journalists' Union - which with a resolution has denounced the case to the United Nations Secretary General and has asked for the intervention of all international organizations - and states that it will stand by the side of the Turkish Cypriot journalist and will ask the decisive intervention, by any means, of the United Nations, the EU and of the International Organizations to secure the human rights of Cypriots regardless of ethnic origin and religion,'' the press release said.

[04] Child casualty of Afghanistan war to be admitted to Athens hospital

A five-year-old boy injured during hostilities in the Afghanistan war will be admitted to the Aglaia Kyriakou childrens' hospital in Athens on Thursday for treatment to severe head injuries.

Nazik Azim will arrive at Elefsina airport in a Greek Airforce C-130 transport plane and will be driven to the hospital in Athens in an Airforce ambulance.

[05] European consumer centre opens in Athens

A European consumer centre opened in Athens on Wednesday as part of an expanding network of 15 units in 13 member countries of the European Union.

Inaugurating the centre housed in the Athens Chamber of Trade and Commerce were EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne, and Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

Creation of the network demonstrates the EU's interest in grassroots consumer protection, Byrne said.

The centre will be run by INKA, a consumer protection group, backed by EU's executive Commission and the Greek state, which is represented by the development and finance ministries, and by the central bank.

The centre will record and try to resolve problems faced by consumers on a national and EU level. There is no fee for consumers.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.151

Pound sterling 0.717

Danish kroner 7.485

Swedish kroner 9.180

Japanese yen 134.6

Swiss franc 1.526

Norwegian kroner 7.930

Cyprus pound 0.592

Canadian dollar 1.601

Australian dollar 1.794

[07] Weather Forecast: Hot and sunny on Thursday

Hot, sunny weather is forecast in all parts of the country. Winds northerly, light to strong, turning very strong in parts of the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 13C to 31C; in the west from 15C to 33C; and in the rest of the country from 16C to 30C. Temperatures in Athens between 18C and 30C; and in Thessaloniki from 15C to 29C.

[08] Greek stocks end up for sixth consecutive session

Greek stocks ended higher for the sixth consecutive session in the Athens Stock Exchange on Wednesday with the general index flirting with the 1,800 level.

The general index ended 0.77 percent higher at 1,781.95 points, setting a new record-high for the year. Turnover was an improved 153.7 million euros.

The Retail, Metals, Food-Beverage and Bank sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.52 percent, 1.49 percent, 1.28 percent and 1.09 percent, respectively), while the IT Solutions, Publications and Insurance sectors suffered the heaviest losses (1.56 percent, 0.93 percent and 0.67 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks jumped 0.74 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.22 percent, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.10 percent higher and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 0.59 percent up.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 175 to 128 with another 58 issues unchanged.

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