Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-03-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[02] Ancient theatre - Lesvos - Restoration

[03] Greece-Transport-Strikes (RECASTS, adding pilots)

[04] Private Coaches-Strike (RECASTS 2, adding travel agents)

[05] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[06] ASE-close

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Tuesday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 375.730

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 537.231

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 45.285

Swedish kroner 36.993

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 307.758

Swiss franc 220.151

Norwegian kroner 41.613

Cyprus pound 583.595

Canadian dollar 239.762

Australian dollar 188.207

[02] Ancient theatre - Lesvos - Restoration

A preliminary study to restore the ancient theatre of Hephaestia, on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos, was unveiled on Sunday by Greeces Aegean ministry.

Remnants of the ancient theatre were unearthed in 1927, with systematic excavations undertaken by the Italian Archaeological Society of Athens in 1939. The large island of Lesvos, also known as Mytilene, lies across from the Asia Minor shores.

The two main goals listed in the study are to maintain the theatre the object of Hellenistic- and Roman-era renovations during antiquity -- in its present condition, as well as to restore the site as much as possible to its original state, thereby allowing its use as a venue for selected ?low-impact? cultural events.

[03] Greece-Transport-Strikes (RECASTS, adding pilots)

Transport workers are to strike on Tuesday to protest against the privatisation of ailing national carrier Olympic Airways, which is underway.

Civil aviation unions said their 24-hour strike would reduce OA's flights to minimum, with only one flight each for every destination at home and abroad. The same applies to Olympic Aviation's domestic flights, with routes abroad unaffected.

The Union of Civil Aviation Pilots said on Monday they would turn up for work as they had not ruled out privatisation as a solution to the airline's problems.

Workers at state Hellenic Railways and the Athens metro will hold a four-hour work stoppage from 0500 to 0900, while workers on blue buses and trollies will walk off the job from 0500 to 0700.

Strikers will demonstrate outside the transport ministry at noon. Measures will be taken to avoid traffic chaos in central Athens.

"We are putting up a fight to preserve Olympic Airways' national role," Manolis Patestos, the present of the Civil Aviation Union, told reporters.

[04] Private Coaches-Strike (RECASTS 2, adding travel agents)

Private coach owners began an indefinite nationwide strike on Monday, disrupting transport for schools, factories and tour operators.

The owners of the sector's 5,200 coaches accused the government of discriminating against the sector in favour of intercity buses and trains, leading to unfair competition that threatened small and medium-sized operators.

Expressing support for the owner' demands was the Association of Tourism and Travel Bureaus in Greece, known as HATTA, which also protested against the arrest of several strikers.

The coach owners complain that business is shifting to other kinds of mass transit, such as intercity or municipal buses.

They resent the fact that the sector has again been left out of an umbrella ministry bill for the transport sector.

The owners are also up in arms over labour ministry regulations for tour bus staffing they claim make it impossible to continue operating, as well as alleged unfairness in taxation.

The strike was decided on March 6 by the Panhellenic Federation of Tourism Enterprises and the General Panhellenic Tour Bus Federation, which reported a large turnout on the first day of the walkout.

[05] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

Sunshine is forecast around the country on Tuesday, with scattered cloud in the east and north. Winds variable, moderate to strong. On the northern mainland, temperatures will range from 7C to 18C; on the rest of the mainland from 9C to 23C; and in the islands from 12C to 22C. Scattered cloud in Athens during the morning with temperatures between 12C and 23C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 9C to 18C.

[06] ASE-close

Equity prices ended substantially lower on the first trading session of the week on the Athens Stock Exchange hit by a negative climate in international markets.

Traders said turnover was subdued reflecting investors' reluctance to enter the market ahead of a decision on interest rates by the US Federal Reserve Bank on Tuesday.

Shares in the Wholesale, Publishing and IT sectors were mainly hit.

The general index ended 1.7 percent lower at 3,072.66 points, with turnover a low 196.34 million euros, or 66.9 billion drachmas, of which 15.91 million euros accounted for pre-agreed block trades.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,758.72 points, off 1.28 percent, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 2.39 percent to 371.16 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 325.26 points, off 3.99 percent.

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