Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-09-29

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 29/09/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Ruling party not fearful of elections
• Turkey must contribute to Cyprus solution
• Parliament approves Water Corp. sale plans
• Ugandan president begins official visit
• Turk arrested in illegal immigrant drop
• Jail, fine for immigrant smuggler
• Teenager arrested for pirate CD operation
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece's ruling party does not fear elections, whenever they may come, a leading ruling party MP said on Wednesday, following talks with Prime Minister Costas Simitis. "If, due to presidential elections (in March), elections are pushed forward, we welcome them. We are ready," head of the PASOK Parliamentary Group Nikos Akritidis told reporters after meeting with Simitis. Akritidis said the prime minister had been upbeat about the ruling party's prospect and reiterated that elections should be held at the end of the government's four-year mandate. The ruling party has said it will support popular incumbent Costis Stephanopoulos for a second term but the number of MPs it has in Parliament falls short of the number required to re- elect him.

Turkey must contribute to Cyprus solution

The time is right for Turkey to make a contribution to resolving the Cyprus issue, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Wednesday. Reppas was responding to questions about the focus of talks a day earlier in Washington between U.S. President Bill Clinton and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Noting that both the U.S. and the G-8 had undertaken initiatives on Cyprus, Reppas said Turkey should move towards solving the problem of the divided island through direct talks, without conditions and commitments.

Parliament approves Water Corp. sale plans

The third Parliament summer session today passed an article enabling partial privatisation of the EYDAP Athens-Piraeus Water Board via the Athens Stock Exchange. The article was passed with 51 votes for and 41 against, with eight MPs not in attendance, after a voice vote was prompted by main opposition New Democracy and opposition parties Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) and Coalition of the Left and Progress (SYN). The government plans to privatise 49 percent of EYDAP through flotation on the bourse, while the majority 51 percent would remain under state control.

Ugandan president begins official visit

Visiting Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni met today with Greek counterpart Costis Stephanopoulos, after which the Greek and Ugandan delegations signed cooperation agreements in the sectors of the economy, technology and tourism. Museveni, who arrived in Athens on Tuesday but began his official two-day visit today, was greeted with full honours upon his arrival at the President Mansion, at a ceremony attended by the foreign and development ministries' undersecretaries, representatives of the national defence ministry and Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Turk arrested in illegal immigrant drop

A Turkish captain was arrested and his boat was seized early today by Kos coast guard authorities as he attempted to disembark 13 Afghani illegal immigrants on the island, the Coast Guard said. They said 45-year-old Kemal Agar and the 13 illegal immigrants were arrested after a "suspicious" boat was spotted by a coast guard patrol heading toward the coast in the Psalidi area with its navigation lights off. The illegal immigrants said they had paid Agar 2,000 dollars each.

Jail, fine for immigrant smuggler

A court on the Dodecanese island of Kos sentenced a Turkish national Mehmet Orsh to 95 months jail and a fine of 2.1 million drachmas for transporting illegal immigrants to Greece. Orsh was arrested after he put ashore 41 illegal immigrants - 26 men, three women and 12 children, all from Afghanistan - on Monday. His accomplice, Turkish national Evran Reser, was deemed a minor and not charged. He will be deported.

Teenager arrested for pirate CD operation

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on charges of forgery and violation of the law on intellectual property, police said today. Acting on a tip, police raided a ground-floor apartment in the suburb of Ilioupoli southeast of Athens last night and discovered a compact disc (CD) piracy workshop. Police said they found and seized from the apartment a hi-tech CD recording system, 45 pirate CDs of Greek and foreign artists, 17 programme discs used as originals to make the forgeries, and 23 unrecorded CDs. The boy, identified only as K.Y., will appear before the Athens juvenile court prosecutor.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Wednesday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          310.377
Pound sterling       511.634
Japanese yen (100)   292.015
French franc          49.588
German mark          166.312
Italian lira (100)    16.800
Irish Punt           413.016
Belgian franc          8.063
Finnish mark          54.708
Dutch guilder        147.605
Danish kr.            43.787
Austrian sch.         23.638
Spanish peseta         1.955
Swedish kr.           37.718
Norwegian kr.         39.805
Swiss franc          202.864
Port. Escudo           1.623
Can. dollar          212.010
Aus. dollar          201.862
Cyprus pound         562.464
Euro                 325.277

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