Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-10-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] Int'l effort to fight terrorism dominates Papandreou-Rice talks

[02] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Wednesday

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[01] Int'l effort to fight terrorism dominates Papandreou-Rice talks

WASHINGTON (ANA) Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou began his high-level contacts here on Tuesday by meeting with Condoleezza Rice, the Bush administrations national security adviser, hours before he met with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Greek FM arrived in the US capital following separate meetings in Russia and Germany with his counterparts Igor Ivanov and Joschka Fischer, respectively, as a brewing US-led campaign in tandem with stepped up international cooperation against terrorism continues to dominate the worlds attention.

Papandreou conveyed the Greek governments and Greek peoples condolences over the Sept. 11 ?air terror attacks? on New York and Washington in both his meetings, while Rice thanked the Greek FM for Athens support in various international fora as well as operational assistance for US forces.

Rice -- the first woman to occupy the key post of national security adviser and one of US President George Bushs closest aides -- also called on Greece to actively contribute to the campaign against terrorism.

On his part, Papandreou said Greek-American cooperation to fight the international scourge of terrorism is a ?given?, whereas an exchange of information to identify possible suspects is already underway.

He also noted in his contacts that the campaign to wipeout international terrorism should lead to solutions for various regional conflicts long a ?thorn? in international relations, such as the Mideast problem, Balkan crises and the long-standing Cyprus issue.

[02] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Wednesday

The weather will be sunny throughout the country on Wednesday, with some scattered cloud in eastern Macedonia, Thrace and Crete. Winds northerly, light to moderate, turning strong in parts of the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 12C to 30C; on the rest of the mainland and the Ionian from 15C to 32C; and in the Aegean islands from 19C to 29C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 18C and 32C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 15C to 30C.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Indicative tourist buying rates

U.S. dollar 367.861

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 544.494

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 45.462

Swedish kroner 34.567

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 305.276

Swiss franc 228.354

Norwegian kroner 041.788

Cyprus pound 588.504

Canadian dollar 234.256

Australian dollar 181.520

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