Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-12-31
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 31/12/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Two dead, 10 missing after boat sinks
- Prime minister's New Year message
- Fog, ice make Thessaloniki roads treacherous
- Two rob motorist on national highway
- New Year babies to get car restraint
- Cars damaged in french fries mishap
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Two dead, 10 missing after boat sinks
A sailboat ferrying an unknown number of illegal immigrants from the
Turkish coast to Greece sank early Thursday off the coast of Nissyros
island in the Aegean. Twenty-two people have been rescued by nearby boats,
while the bodies of two more have been recovered. Ten people are still
unaccounted for. Coast guard officials said navy and patrol boats were sent
to the vicinity and nearby vessels alerted after an SOS call was received
at dawn today from an unidentified boat that had taken on water and was
sinking. Three of the four crew - two Greeks and a Yugoslav - were among
those rescued while their companion, another Greek, was missing.
Prime minister's New Year message
1999 will be the year that Greece realises the goals it has set, Prime
Minister Costas Simitis said in a message to mark New Year, issued on
Thursday. "The sacrifices and efforts of the previous year are taking root
and the first results of the economy are tangible in the thousands of large
and small projects being undertaken through Greece, in the increase in the
real incomes of the Greek people and in the role Greece is playing in the
Balkans and the European Union," Simitis said. He said 1998 had been a good
year, noting that the international financial crisis had not harmed the
Greek economy.
Fog, ice make Thessaloniki roads treacherous
Ice and fog in the region of northern Greece caused two car accidents on
Thursday morning involving a total of 25 cars, but no injuries. Fog and
limited visibility caused a 15-car pile up on the Thessaloniki-Moudanion
national road and icy roads were cited as the cause of a 10-car pile up on
the Thessaloniki-Peraias road. Fog also caused delays in flights at
Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport. Fog shut down the airport on Wednesday
for the second time this week.
Two rob motorist on national highway
Two masked armed men bailed up a motorist on the Thessaloniki coastal road
this morning and robbed him of 40 million drachmas before making their
getaway on a high-speed motorbike. The highway robbery occured at around
9.30 a.m. on Thursday. The two men on the motorbike approached the car,
whose driver has not been identified, while it was stopped at the corner of
Edison St on the Alexander the Great avenue, in the area of Stratigiou.
Shooting in the air twice with a hunting rifle, they then grabbed a bag
containing the money from the car and disappeared. Police said the victim
was a local businessman and have launched a manhunt to find the two
men.
New Year babies to get car restraint
The public order ministry said on Thursday that the first babies born in
Athens and Thessaloniki in the New Year would receive a baby car restraint
as a present. The present is part of an ongoing campaign by Greek of the
need for Greek parents to use seat belts and car seats to reduce the number
of road deaths. Greece has one of the worst road death records in Europe.
Some 1,500 Greeks are estimated to have died over the past five years as a
result of not using seatbelts.
Cars damaged in french fries mishap
Three cars were damaged and the windows blown out of an apartment in
suburban Athens when a absent-minded young Italian man tried to fry some
chips on Wednesday night. Giovanni Albano, 21, forgot that he had left
dinner on the stove and compounded his mistake when the pan caught fire by
throwing water on the electric stove. The resulting explosion blew out all
the windows of the apartment in suburban Petralona. The broken glass caused
damage to three cars parked outside the apartment. Albano was unhurt.
WEATHER
The first day of 1999 will be overcast with a strong possibility of rain.
Winds moderate to strong to very strong in the Aegean. Light snowfall is
forecast for central and northern mountain regions. Temperatures will range
from -4-8 in the north, 0-13 in the mainland and 4-14 on the islands. The
outlook for Athens is scattered cloud with the likelihood of rain in the
evening, 5-12. Thessaloniki will have cloud with rain in the afternoon, -1-
7.
Foreign Exchange
U.S. dollar 280.309 British pound 464.137
Japanese yen (100) 245.907 French franc 49.866
German mark 167.152 Italian lira (100) 16.895
Irish Punt 415.747 Belgian franc 8.107
Finnish mark 55.006 Dutch guilder 148.418
Danish kr. 43.928 Austrian sch. 23.776
Spanish peseta 1.967 Swedish kr. 34.522
Norwegian kr. 36.831 Swiss franc 203.320
Port. Escudo 1.634 Aus. dollar 171.616
Can. dollar 179.850 Cyprus pound 561.770
(M.P.)
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