Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-02-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] ''Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles'' exhibition inaugurated

[02] Turkish warplanes infringe Athens FIR

[03] Agriculture minister requests EU assistance for weather-stricken Greek

[04] Greek economic sentiment index jumped in Jan.

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Wednesday

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks nose down in brisk selling

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

[01] ''Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles'' exhibition inaugurated

The exhibit titled, ''Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles - A Cultural Order,'' which portrays the Parthenon marbles as they would be as a whole, was inaugurated on Tuesday evening at the Athens Concert Hall-Megaron Mousikis by President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Also present were Parliament Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, Cultural Minister Evangelos Venizelos, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyianni, among others.

Venizelos described the event as ''a small exhibit with great symbolic meaning.'' He also explained that the exhibit had already been held in Paris with Vardinoyianni's initiative under the auspices of UNESCO and in cooperation with the Greek Ministry of Culture, since in light of the upcoming Olympic Games the time is right.

[02] Turkish warplanes infringe Athens FIR

Two formations of Turkish warplanes made an equal number of infringements of air traffic regulations in the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) on Tuesday, press reports said.

The six Turkish aircraft were recognised and intercepted by Greek warplanes.

The reports said two of the Turkish aircraft were armed.

[03] Agriculture minister requests EU assistance for weather-stricken Greek farmers

BRUSSELS (ANA - M. Spinthourakis) Greek Agriculture Minister George Drys on Tuesday briefed the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers about the damages suffered by Greek agricultural production during a recent bout of snow and extremely cold weather.

His request for EU assistance to Greek farmers was positively received by European Commissioner for agriculture Franz Fischler, who outlined the ways in which the Commission would provide its support.

Drys stressed the magnitude of the damage incurred by farmers and said that similar weather phenomena were rare in Greece, noting that the last time there had been such low temperatures in Attica was in 1897.

The first estimates showed that the damages not covered by the agricultural insurance fund ELGA came to about 250 million euros, Drys told the Council.

The minister also expressed Greece's objections to new, stricter EU regulations for the transport of livestock, saying that this would excessively increase transport costs for Greek livestock farmers.

[04] Greek economic sentiment index jumped in Jan.

Greece's Economic Sentiment Index rose to 99.1 in January 2004, the

highest reading in several years, reflecting improvement in manufacturing, retail and services, while the consumers' sentiment index showed significant improvement although it remained at negative levels, a report by the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research said on Tuesday.

The business sentiment index in the manufacturing sector rose to 105.6 in January from 104.6 in December, surpassing the average level of the period 1991-2003, the index in the construction sector fell to 122.9 from 125.3 over the previous month, while the index in the retail sector rose in January 2004, surpassing both December's and January's 2003 levels. The index in the services' sector rose to 103.3 in January from 100.6 in December and 78 in January 2003.

IOBE's report on economic conditions both in Greece and the European

Union said that the economic sentiment index rose both in the EU-15 and the Eurozone, reflecting improved climate both among consumers and businesses.

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Wednesday

Scattered cloud is forecast in all parts of the country with showers in the west, north and eastern Aegean islands. Isolated storms are expected in the northern Ionian, Epirus and the western central mainland. Winds southerly, moderate to strong, turning very strong at sea. Temperatures in Athens 9C to 19C and in Thessaloniki from 5C to 11C.

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks nose down in brisk selling

The Athens bourse finished lower on Tuesday with small and medium capitalisation stocks the hardest hit in brisk selling, traders said.

The general share index shed 1.76 per cent to end at 2,422.01 points. Turnover was 171.5 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 1.78 per cent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 3.04 per cent lower; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished with losses of 2.86 percent.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 301 to 23 with 31 issues remaining unchanged.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.269

Pound sterling 0.676

Danish kroner 7.510

Swedish kroner 9.271

Japanese yen 137.5

Swiss franc 1.587

Norwegian kroner 8.847

Cyprus pound 0.590

Canadian dollar 1.695

Australian dollar 1.638

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