Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-05-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] Turkish PM arrives in Athens, heads for Greek counterpart's residence

[02] Dimensions given to Kallithea explosions 'disproportionate', defence

[03] PM and finance ministry leadership hold meeting on economic policy

[04] Rogge and Oswald among torchbearers in Lausanne

[05] Event in memory of Mauthausen victims to be held in Austria

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

[08] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks drop for third straight session

[01] Turkish PM arrives in Athens, heads for Greek counterpart's residence for dinner

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Minister of State Ahmet Aydin, accompanied by their wives, arrived at the residence of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis at the seaside resort of Rafina at 9.30 p.m. on Thursday to attend a dinner offered by the Greek prime minister and his wife.

The dinner will also be attended by Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis and his wife.

The aircraft bringing Erdogan to Athens landed at Eleftherios Venizelos airport at 8.50 p.m. and Molyviatis was present to welcome the Turkish prime minister.

Immediately afterwards they boarded their cars and headed for the Greek prime minister's residence, while the remaining members of the Turkish delegation went to their hotel.

Erdogan's official visit will begin at 9.30 a.m. on Friday and will be followed by talks at the Maximos Mansion.

[02] Dimensions given to Kallithea explosions 'disproportionate', defence min. says

The dimensions given to Wednesday's early morning home-made bomb explosions outside a police precinct in the residential district of Kallithea were ''disproportionate to the significance of the incident'', national defence minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos said Thursday, adding that the ''anti-Greek fury (in the foreign media) was unacceptable''.

''The (Greek) government will organise the safest and best Olympic Games. We are determined to succeed, and we will succeed,'' Spiliotopoulos told reporters after addressing an Economist conference on the Greek economy taking place at a hotel in the eastern Attica seaside town of Kavouri.

Addressing the conference earlier, Spiliotopoulos told delegates that the security budget for the Athens 2004 Games exceeds 650 million euro and was more than three times that of the preceding Sydney Olympics.

[03] PM and finance ministry leadership hold meeting on economic policy

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Thursday chaired a meeting on the economy and the budget with the leadership of the finance ministry, in view of an off-the-agenda debate on the economy to be held in Parliament in the next few days.

After the meeting, Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said the government had inherited a difficult state of affairs but stressed that it had both a progamme and the will needed to handle the difficulties and bring about development, tackle unemployment and achieve social cohesion.

[04] Rogge and Oswald among torchbearers in Lausanne

Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee; Denis Oswald, Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens in 2004; and Bertrand Piccard, the famous round-the-world balloonist will carry the Olympic Flame when it passes through Lausanne on June 24. Their names were announced during a press conference organised at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

A total number of 120 torchbearers will carry the Olympic Torch in Switzerland. The 59-km route will also include the Olympic Museum Park in Lausanne.

[05] Event in memory of Mauthausen victims to be held in Austria

VIENNA (ANA/D.Dimitrakoudis) - Former Austrian Chancellor and current coordinator of the Mauthausen Committee Franz Vranitsky announced the event which will be held Sunday, May 9 in memory of the victims who died at the Mauthausen concentration camp to the international press on Thursday.

Mikis Theodorakis' ''Mauthausen'' will be included in the programme and performed by the Viennese group ''The Greeks.''

''Mauthausen'' is based on a poem written by Greek writer Jakovos Kampanellis, which Theodorakis set to music in 1966.

Thousands are expected to attend the event, including Austria's future President Heinz Fischer (he will take office on July 8), as well as ambassadors from the 40 countries whose citizens were prisoners at the concentration camp.

More than 120,000 people died at Mauthausen - among them 3,700 Greeks - during the Second World War.

[06] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

Mostly sunny weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with some scattered cloud that may turn to showers mainly in the northwest. Winds westerly, moderate to strong. Temperatures in Athens from 15C to 23C and in Thessaloniki between 13C and 18C.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.221

Pound sterling 0.680

Danish kroner 7.501

Swedish kroner 9.178

Japanese yen 133.7

Swiss franc 1.561

Norwegian kroner 8.226

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.681

Australian dollar 1.672

[08] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks drop for third straight session

The Athens bourse finished lower for the third straight session, traders said.

The general share index shed 0.83 per cent to end at 2,492.90 points. Turnover was 116.6 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.83 per cent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 0.76 per cent down; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities lost 0.97 per cent.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 193 to 88 with 71 issues remaining unchanged.

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