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

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

CONTENTS

[01] Sports Roundup

[02] Turks-Heroin-Custody

[03] Greece - Euro - Consumers group

[04] Greece - Kosovo - Uranium

[05] Greece-EMU-economy

[06] ASE-close

[07] Agricultural Bank-resignations

[08] Greece-winter sales

[09] Aspis Bank-network expansion

[01] Sports Roundup

Soccer

Iraklis Thessaloniki gave a new interest to the Greek national soccer division after beating league leaders Olympiakos Piraeus 2-1 in a match played in Thessaloniki on Wednesday night for the 12th round of the championship.

In the other matches played, Panathinaikos Athens comfortably beat Ionikos Piraeus 4-1, AEK Athens beat Paniliakos Pirgos 2-1, Panachaiki Patras also beat OFI Iraklion 2-1, Xanthi edged Athinaikos Athens 1-0 and Kalamata and Aris Thessaloniki drew 1-1.

The match between PAS Ioannina and Panionios Athens was abandoned in the 28th minute when a power failure plunged the Ioannina stadium into darkness, while PAOK Thessaloniki and Ethnikos Asteras Athens will play on Thursday.

Standings after 12 games played:Olympiakos Piraeus 29 points, Panathinaikos Athens 28, AEK Athens 23, Iraklis Thessaloniki 23, Ionikos Piraeus 21, PAOK Thessaloniki (11 games) 19, Xanthi 18, Ethnikos Asteras Athens (11 games) 17, Aris Thessaloniki 16, Panachaiki Patras 13, Panionios Athens 12, PAS Ioannina (11 games) 9, Kalamata 8, Athinaikos Athens 7, Paniliakos Pirgos 7 and OFI Irakleion 6.

[02] Turks-Heroin-Custody

Four Turks arrested in Athens recently for possessing 513 kilos of heroin were remanded in custody on Wednesday after presenting their pleas to an investigating magistrate.

They are Erhan Ginik, 47, Musin Aytogum, 50, Atnik Karadzeniz, 26, and Onur Biser, 45.

The quantity of heroin had been brought into the country from Turkey through the Evros border area and was destined for countries in western Europe. It had been carefully packaged and concealed in a tourist coach.

In their pleas they denied any participation in the issue and claimed they were unaware of the quantity of heroin found.

[03] Greece - Euro - Consumers group

The Athens-based Consumers Institute (INKA) on Wednesday announced that it had received an increased number of complaints from bank customers on Wednesday, with the ?lions share? related to the conversion of financial transactions into both drachmas and euros as of Jan. 1.

INKA noted that it had received complaints of long lines at banks and allegations of poor familiarisation of drachma-euro conversions by tellers and staff.

The consumer advocacy group also noted that an inordinate number of pensioners apparently headed to banks on the first day of transactions in order to have deposit interest rates passed into their booklets, whereas most branches were also short-handed due to the holidays.

Conversely, bank administrations said the first banking day following Greeces ?euro zone? entry proceeded without problems at local banks and financial institutions.

[04] Greece - Kosovo - Uranium

Greeces alternate defence minister reiterated on Wednesday from Kosovo that recorded radiation levels in areas of the strife-torn province patrolled by Greek troops remained within the ?normal range?.

Minister Dimitris Apostolakis, a retired army general, arrived in Kosovo to inspect Greek units participating in the multinational force (KFOR) deployed in the Yugoslav province. His comments came in light of Italys request towards NATO for an investigation into claims that the deaths of six Italians who served in the Balkans were caused by exposure to depleted uranium.

[05] Greece-EMU-economy

Greece's participation in the eurozone was undoubtedly the country's main economic aim in the previous decade. Now that it has achieved that, Greece's new strategic aim was to achieve real convergence with other European states, a report by the Institute of Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said on Wednesday.

IOBE in its quarterly report on the Greek economy said that it entered the eurozone with strong growth prospects, which however were undermined by a deteriorating business climate in the country.

"There is a sense that structural changes in the economy are lagging behind, economic policy has loosened, there are no comparative targets in the course towards real convergence, with inflation speeding up and a crisis under way on the Athens Stock Exchange," the report said.

"The Greek economy would have to take-off to achieve real convergence with the EU average by 2010," the report said.

IOBE said this aim was feasible on the precondition that Greece launches a new beginning in economic policy.

[06] ASE-close

Equity prices ended the first trading session of 2001 with losses as hesitant investors remained on the sidelines on the Athens Stock Exchange with sentiment hit by a sharp fall of prices in international markets.

Traders said the first session in euro transactions went smoothly but extremely slow.

Shares in the construction, leasing and smaller capitalisation sectors came under strong pressure to lead the day's losers.

The general indexe ended 0.84 percent lower at 3,360.51 points, off the day's lows of 3,348.44 points, with turnover a low 24.685 billion drachmas or 72,443,220 euros.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.72 percent lower at 1,936.90 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 1.23 percent to 390.56 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 3.41 percent lower at 308.83 points.

[07] Agricultural Bank-resignations

Two deputy governors in Agricultural Bank, Thanasis Papageorgiou and Dimitris Santixis, resigned from their posts on Wednesday.

Their resignations were accepted by Agriculture Minister George Anomeritis and Agricultural Bank governor Petros Lambrou. They thanked the two deputy governors for their significant contribution to the restructuring of the bank and for their support in ATE's successful listing on the Athens Stock Exchange.

The bank's board will convene next week to elect its new members.

[08] Greece-winter sales

The winter sales season officially starts next Monday, January 8, and will last until February 28, according to a decision by Development Deputy Minister Milena Apostolaki on Wednesday.

The decision envisages stricter rules on pricing and intensive inspections by the ministry's agencies aiming to better protect consumers.

[09] Aspis Bank-network expansion

Aspis Bank on Wednesday launched two new branches in the Attica region raising its total network to 27.

The bank has doubled its network in the last two years as part of a strategy plan to increase its market share in the domestic retail banking sector.

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