Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-09-30

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 30/09/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Boeing makes safe emergency landing
• Gov't refuses involvement in quake speculation
• Civil servants expected at work - minister
• FM says not discouraged by Ecevit comments
• Defence minister begins Cyprus visit
• Overseas Greeks unhappy with U.S.-Turkey talks
• Jerusalem Patriarch begins visit to Athens
• Balkans optical fibre cable inaugurated Friday
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

An Olympic Airways Boeing 737 jet made a successful emergency landing at Athens International Airport on Thursday, after two of its tyres blew out as it took off. Police said the 71 passengers and crew were all safe and unharmed. The plane was on a scheduled flight to Bucharest. Air traffic control ordered the pilot to return as soon as he informed them he had lost the two wheels. The airplane clocked in safely at 2.55 p.m., after spending some two hours over the Saronic Gulf, trying to use up most of its fuel. Olympic Airways officials said the bursting of airplane tyres was a common phenomenon.

Gov't refuses involvement in quake speculation

The government refused on Thursday to enter the public fray that has broken out over the supposed prediction of a new and destructive earthquake due over the weekend. "They're not going to make psychos out of us. We're not about to take part in this climate of psychosis," government spokesman Nikos Athanassakis told reporters The Athens press and news media has been full of the wrangling between seismologists over whether one can or can not predict quakes since the September 7 quake which killed more than 140 people. The controversy was sparked anew on Tuesday when a radio talk show host revealed that the controversial early warning system dubbed VAN, after the initials of its three founders, had predicted a new quake of up to 6.0 Richter by Monday.

Civil servants expected at work - minister

No civil servant will be granted time off on Friday or Monday, the government said today in the wake of speculations and rumors of an impending major earthquake near Athens over the weekend. "No civil servant will be granted leave tomorrow or Monday. We will not perpetuate, without reason, the rumors of an imminent earthquake," interior and public order minister Vasso Papandreou said.

FM says not discouraged by Ecevit comments

Foreign Minister George Papandreou said on Thursday that Greece would not be deterred by discouraging statements from Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit about prospects to resolve the Cyprus issue. "His positions don't surprise us. We know them. But we will not give up," Papandreou told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis on preparations for a forthcoming EU summit on security, illegal immigrant and cross-border crime. Ecevit said this week that prospects of resolving the Cyprus were a chimera if Greece and Turkey did not first sit down to discuss problems in the Aegean.

Defence minister begins Cyprus visit

Greece's National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos leaves tonight for Cyprus on a three-day official visit and talks with Cyprus president Glafcos Clerides. Tsohatzopoulos will also attend tomorrow's military parade marking the 39th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus' independence from Britain. During his stay, Tsohatzopoulos will also meet with Cyprus' defence minister, the chairman of the Cyprus House of Representatives, political party leaders, and Archbishop Chrysostomos. Tsohatzopoulos returns to Athens on Sunday

Overseas Greeks unhappy with U.S.-Turkey talks

The World Council of Hellenes abroad described as "disappointing and meaningless" the results of the recent meeting in Washington between US president Bill Clinton and Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit, in a statement released in Athens today. "The Hellenic American community and all Americans who are concerned about human rights and international legality are deeply disappointed about the results of the talks of President Clinton with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit," an announcement by the SAE, North and South America Region, said. SAE cited the transcript of the White House briefing saying that Clinton and Ecevit "agreed that there cannot be a solution to the problem of Cyprus that would return the situation to what it was before 1974", prior to the Turkish invasion and occupation of the northern part of the island republic, and that Ecevit "supported the President's idea to send his special envoy for Cyprus, Al Moses, to the region probably as early as next week to explore ways for moving forward toward a negotiated settlement".

Jerusalem Patriarch begins visit to Athens

Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodoros I began an official visit to Greece on Thursday, meeting with a string of government ministers and church officials. Diodoros met with Culture Minister Elizabeth Papazoi, whom he thanked for the ministry's interest in the problems facing the Patriarchate. He invited Papazoi to visit Jerusalem and both agreed that a culture ministry delegation would also visit the city to look at solving problems of restoring manuscripts, icons and the Patriarchate's archives.

Balkans optical fibre cable inaugurated Friday

A new optical fibre cable that will radically improve the quality of telecommunications among Balkan neighbours Greece, Bulgaria and FYROM will be inaugurated tomorrow. According to officials, the Thessaloniki-Sofia- Skopje network will ensure a speedy, dependable and faultless flow of a huge volume of telecoms signals encompassing telephone operations, television images, and digital data for mobile telephony. The "optical cable highway", as the experts call it, will also facilitate domestic telecommuniations in Bulgaria since it will link Sofia with 10 major cities in the country, while its terminus to Greece will be in the town of Petrich, at the southeastern-most tip of Bulgaria where the three countries have a common border.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Thursday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          308.800
Pound sterling       508.301
Japanese yen (100)   288.652
French franc          49.652
German mark          166.524
Italian lira (100)    16.820
Irish Punt           413.545
Belgian franc          8.074
Finnish mark          54.777
Dutch guilder        147.793
Danish kr.            43.823
Austrian sch.         23.669
Spanish peseta         1.957
Swedish kr.           37.571
Norwegian kr.         39.698
Swiss franc          203.653
Port. Escudo           1.625
Can. dollar          210.998
Aus. dollar          202.239
Cyprus pound         562.821
Euro                 325.693

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