Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-07-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] France honours Greek architect

[02] Athens 2004 announces arrangements in health sector

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Tuesday

[04] Credit Expansion-May

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Tuesday

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks start the week with losses

[07] Big earthquake expected from Anatolia fault in next 30 years

[01] France honours Greek architect

The French Embassy in Athens on Monday honoured architect and city planner George Andriotakis for his contribution towards the strengthening of Greek-French friendship and cooperation.

The Greek architect from the island of Symi was awarded with the medal of Legion of Honour.

The decision to award Andriotakis was willed by the French government, and especially French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as well as Minister for European Affairs Pierre Moscovici.

Present at the ceremony were the Ministers of National Economy and Defence, Yiannos Papantoniou and Akis Tsohatzopoulos, respectively.

[02] Athens 2004 announces arrangements in health sector

The main burden of medical services during the 2004 Olympic and Paraolympic Games will be shouldered by the Olympic Village's Multiclinic with about 1,000 visits a day, according to an announcement by the Organising Committee on Monday.

This was result of a study of data obtained during the three previous Olympiads (Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney) which was carried out at the medical services department of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee.

The health sector will keep a considerable number of hospitals on constant duty during the Olympiad.

According to the strategic plan prepared in cooperation with the health ministry. Athens hospitals declared Olympic hospitals are the KAT (mainly for the treatment of athletes), Evangelismos (mainly for members of the Olympic Family), Georgios Yennimatas and the Nikaia general state hospital (both mainly for spectators).

Seven more general hospitals and seven special hospitals will also be on standby in Athens, where the main bulk of athletes, Olympic Family members and spectators will be concentrated during the Olympic and Paraolympic Games.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Tuesday

Indicative buying rates for Tuesday

U.S. dollar 386.250

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 550.885

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 45.401

Swedish kroner 36.519

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 308.846

Swiss franc 223.647

Norwegian kroner 042.358

Cyprus pound 588.901

Canadian dollar 252.127

Australian dollar 195.227

[04] Credit Expansion-May

Credit expansion to the private sector in May accelerated by 32.6 percent year on year against a 30.5 percent rate of increase a month earlier, the Bank of Greece said on Monday.

The rise was due mainly to an increase in loans to commerce and industry with the rate of increase in lending to households and consumer credit showing a slowdown, the central bank said in its monthly bulletin, released on Monday.

[05] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Tuesday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Tuesday, showers mainly in the centre and north. Winds northerly, moderate to very strong, turning gale force in the Aegean. In the mainland, temperatures will range from 19C to 31C; in the west from 20C to 34C; and in the rest of the country from 22C to 32C. Mostly in Athens with temperatures between 24C and 32C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 22C to 30C.It may rain on high ground.

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks start the week with losses

The Athens bourse dropped sharply on Monday in the wake of five straight rising sessions that had driven up the market by 8.86 per cent after an earlier slump.

The general share index shed 2.03 per cent to end at 2,673.98 points.

Turnover was 616.3 million euros, fuelled by a block trade of 471 million euros in Interamerican that represented the sale of 25 percent of company stock to Eureko, a Dutch multinational.

The market has been trying to consolidate after breaking through key resistance at 2,640 points last week.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 2.21 percent lower; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 1.90 percent down; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities lost 1.72 percent.

Decliners led advancers at 285 to 60 with 32 issues remaining unchanged.

[07] Big earthquake expected from Anatolia fault in next 30 years

The northern Anatolia fault is expected to produce a major earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale sometime in the next 30 years, a Turkish scientist revealed during a press conference in Thessaloniki on Monday.

He said the quake could well be powerful enough to trigger seismic reactions in surrounding areas.

The press conference was held after a meeting of seismologists from research centres in the United States, Greece, Turkey and Italy to discuss charting the fault, which extends from the Sea of Marmara to the northern Aegean and is responsible for several strong earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean region.

The four-nation seismic research cooperation, was agreed in September 2000 on the sidelines of the UN Millennium Summit.

Taking part in the research will be Thessaloniki's Aristotelion University on behalf of Greece, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory on behalf of the US, the Marmaris Research Centre on behalf of Turkey, and Bologne University's Marine Geology Institute on behalf of Italy.

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