Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-03-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloud, rain on Tuesday

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[03] Greek EU presidency to press on with Iraq peace initiatives, FM

[04] European Parliamentarians target new U.S. national security strategy

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloud, rain on Tuesday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, turning to rain and some snowfall on high ground in eastern Thessaly, the eastern central mainland, Evia, the eastern Peloponnese, the Cyclades, Crete, eastern Aegean and Dodecanese. Winds northerly, very strong to gale force. In the north, temperatures will range from 3C to 8C; on the rest of the mainland from 0C to 11C; and in the islands from 5C to 13C. Temperatures in Athens between 3C and 10C; and in Thessaloniki from 1C to 8C.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.088

Pound sterling 0.688

Danish kroner 7.487

Swedish kroner 9.296

Japanese yen 128.1

Swiss franc 1.478

Norwegian kroner 7.866

Cyprus pound 0.588

Canadian dollar 1.600

Australian dollar 1.815

[03] Greek EU presidency to press on with Iraq peace initiatives, FM Papandreou says

The Greek EU presidency will continue its initiatives for a peaceful settlement of the Iraq crisis, Greece's foreign minister George Papandreou, who currently chairs the EU Council of Ministers, said Monday after talks in Athens with Turkish former foreign minister Ismail Cem, leader of the New Turkey political party.

The two men -- who gained global renown for their work towards rapprochement between Greece and Turkey, fuelled by ''earthquake diplomacy'' when each country helped the other in the wake of severe tremblers in 1999 -- discussed developments in the Iraq crisis, Greek-Turkish relations, and the Cyprus issue.

In statements to the press after the meeting, Papandreou reiterated the Greek EU presidency's determination to continue working for a peaceful settlement of the Iraq crisis up to the last minute, and said over the past 24 hours he had had several telephone contacts with his EU counterparts and the UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq Hans Blix.

''We must take advantage of even the final days and hours to achieve a peaceful solution in the framework of the United Nations,'' said Papandreou, who was due to leave at noon for Brussels to chair a General Affairs meeting of the EU Council of (foreign) Ministers.

Cem, who is in Athens to address a two-day Western European Union (WEU) Assembly's Interparliamentary European Security and Defence Assembly colloquy on ''Europe and the new Unites States' national security strategy - fighting terrorism together'' co-hosted by the WEU Assembly and the Greek WEU/EU Presidency, warned that the war would benefit those ''who want a conflict of civilisations'' and would cause a ''new wave of terrorism''.

''We must do the best possible to achieve a diplomatic solution in the framework of the UN,'' Cem said.

[04] European Parliamentarians target new U.S. national security strategy

European Parliamentarians, members of the Western European Union's Assembly participating in a WEU conference in Athens on Monday, targeted the new national security strategy of the United States.

Speaking at the conference on the common combat against terrorism and the new national security strategy of the U.S., held under the auspices of the Greek Parliament, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis warned that the target of handling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ''cannot be achieved with a fragmented international community and with European and world public opinion rising up and deploring the means which, ignoring the international community's relevant agencies, are being selected unilaterally, at the moment against Iraq, despite the repulsive picture humanity has of both the dictator Hussein and his tyrannical regime.''

Kaklamanis stressed that the task of UN weapons inspectors should be supported, provided they request a time limit to complete their work.

He added that, on the other hand, cooperation should be encouraged with the Arab world ''which does not understand the logic of double standards'', a logic also not understood by Hellenism regarding continuing Turkish military occupation in Cyprus.

Kaklamanis further noted the isolation of the Baghdad regime by the Arab world, adding that at this stage isolation will be more effective than the pressure of whatever acts of force.

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