Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-02-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Results of March 7 elections to be transmitted through highly advanced

[02] ATHOC president meets US Olympic Committee

[03] Greece sends humanitarian aid to quake-stricken Morocco

[04] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Thursday

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates: Thursday

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks down in blue chip selling

[01] Results of March 7 elections to be transmitted through highly advanced methods

The results of the March 7 general elections in Greece will be transmitted through the most advanced technological methods and through various pilot programmes.

The ways, details and the new potential for the most speedy and reliable information to the citizens was presented in a joint press conference in Athens on Wednesday by representatives of four companies, namely Delta Singular, HP, Microsoft and Cisco Systems, who provide the techological infrastructure for the entire venture.

They jointly created one of the most modern informatics systems in Europe, with equipment amounting to one million dollars by each company, which will enable citizens to have immediate electronic access to the results.

The transmission of the results through the Internet, written messages, smartPhones and portable computers are among the means on offer for the first time to Greek citizens.

[02] ATHOC president meets US Olympic Committee

Representatives of the US Olympic Committee, including Committee President William Martin, expressed satisfaction with Greece's Olympic Games preparations and were particularly pleased with security preparations, following a meeting with Athens 2004 Organising Committee (ATHOC) President Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki and the US Ambassador to Greece Thomas Miller, at ATHOC's headquarters on Wednesday.

ATHOC executive directors Marton Simitsek and Spyros Capralos were also present at the meeting.

The US Olympic Committee representatives praised the Organising Committee for the quality of services to be provided to athletes, for the excellent staging of sporting events and for ATHOC's cooperation.

''I believe that the Athens Olympics will be a celebration of Greek history and a celebration of the Olympic Movement. In the US we are very excited that we will be a part of this great event,'' Martin said.

The US Olympic Committee president also added: ''We are not at all concerned about the Games' security, we have examined this issue in depth and we know that we will be ready.''

Asked where US athletes would be staying during the Games, Martin replied that ''they will all be staying at the Olympic Village.''

[03] Greece sends humanitarian aid to quake-stricken Morocco

Greece is sending humanitarian aid to Morocco which was rocked by a killer earthquake on Tuesday.

In a telephone conversation which Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Loverdos had with the Moroccan foreign minister on Wednesday, the Greek minister expressed Greece's readiness to send humanitarian aid.

A C-130 plane was due to depart for Rabat later on Wednesday with a rescue squad, materials, research and salvage equipment and specially trained dogs.

The foreign ministry in an announcement said that within the next 24 hours, a second C-130 plane will depart which will carry five members of the non-governmental organisation ''Greek Rescue Squad'', four members of the non-governmental organisation ''Doctors of the World'', a hospital vehicle and pharmaceuticals.

The earthquake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, struck northern Morocco early on Tuesday, killing nearly 600 people.

[04] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Thursday

Scattered cloud is forecast in all parts of the country with showers in the west, north and eastern Aegean islands. Winds south-southeasterly, strong to very strong, turning gale force at sea. Temperatures in Athens 11C to 19C and in Thessaloniki from 5C to 13C.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates: Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.273

Pound sterling 0.673

Danish kroner 7.511

Swedish kroner 9.307

Japanese yen 138.3

Swiss franc 1.586

Norwegian kroner 8.896

Cyprus pound 0.590

Canadian dollar 1.694

Australian dollar 1.633

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks down in blue chip selling

The Athens bourse finished lower on Wednesday with high capitalisation stocks the hardest hit, especially banks, traders said.

The general share index shed 1.20 per cent to end at 2,392.88 points. Turnover was 203.8 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 1.39 per cent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 0.49 per cent lower; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished with losses of 0.42 percent.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 207 to 99 with 49 issues remaining unchanged.

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