Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-03-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Friday

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[03] Simitis blasts Denktash's intransigence after talks with Cyprus

[04] Papandreou to represent Greece at meeting on Cyprus at The Hague

[05] Athens lodges demarche over arrest of Greek student in UK

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Friday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, turning to rain in west from afternoon. The rain will spread across the mainland overnight. Winds variable, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from -1C to 14C; on the rest of the mainland from 3C to 17C; and in the islands from 7C to 16C. Temperatures in Athens between 6C and 16C; and in Thessaloniki from 3C to 14C.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.105

Pound sterling 0.688

Danish kroner 7.486

Swedish kroner 9.289

Japanese yen 129.7

Swiss franc 1.475

Norwegian kroner 7.893

Cyprus pound 0.586

Canadian dollar 1.626

Australian dollar 1.798

[03] Simitis blasts Denktash's intransigence after talks with Cyprus president

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Thursday met with Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and discussed the current developments on the Cyprus problem, in light of the meeting called by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan at The Hague.

Following their three-hour meeting, Simitis underlined that he had a detailed discussion with Papadopoulos, which ''concluded to common conclusions''.

Simitis added that Annan called him last (Wednesday) night to point out the necessity of the presence in The Hague of all interested parties, namely the two sides in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Britain, in such a way that would allow for decisions to be taken.

Simitis, with whom Papadopoulos agreed, said that it was up to the people of Cyprus to take decisions on its future and noted that during their meeting, they reached common conclusions regarding further handling of the national problem.

Regarding Cyprus' European course, Simitis said accession to the EU was a guarantee that any difficulties in the new period of the island's history would be overcome.

In his opening statement, Simitis said they discussed all matters regarding the latest developments, especially the third Annan plan and the UN chief's invitation to The Hague.

Annan has invited the two sides to The Hague on March 10, to tell them whether or not they will put his plan to separate referenda on March 30 for the two communities to decide if they will accept or dismiss it.

''We discussed how we will respond to Annan's invitation, what our tactic will be, in view of the tactics and thoughts of the other side, of course'', Simitis said.

He added that despite the Greek Cypriot side's constructive stance, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, ''although he said he would travel to The Hague, is so far intransigent, ignores the dynamic mobilizations in the Turkish Cypriot community in favor of a solution and accession to the EU, ignores the clear will to solve the problem, the clear will throughout the island and the international community''.

Simitis said Denktash's stance not only leads to the ''total isolation of the Turkish Cypriot side but in general undermines Turkey's EU accession course'' as it is ''clear that the EU wants all open issues to be settled, does not want dividing lines in Cyprus, and Ankara's approach to Europe passes through the elimination of the dividing lines in Cyprus''.

[04] Papandreou to represent Greece at meeting on Cyprus at The Hague

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou will be representing Greece at a meeting called that will take place at The Hague on March 10 to decide on further developments for the Cyprus issue, foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis announced on Thursday.

The meeting was called by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and will seek to obtain the agreement of all sides involved to separate referenda among Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots regarding his proposed peace plan for Cyprus, without requiring their simultaneous agreement or commitment to the plan itself.

Beglitis said that Papandreou's presence at the meeting was not linked to the level of representation chosen by the other two guarantor powers for Cyprus but because the Greek foreign minister wanted to have talks with Annan about Iraq and the Cyprus issue.

The spokesman clarified, however, that the signature of a memorandum that would OK referenda on the UN plan for Cyprus would have to be carried out by officials at the same level.

[05] Athens lodges demarche over arrest of Greek student in UK

The Greek Embassy in London on Thursday lodged a written demarche with Britain's Foreign Office over its failure to inform Greek authorities about the arrest of a Greek student on terrorism-related charges, foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis announced.

In addition, Athens demanded to be officially informed about the conditions in which the student is being held and the charges against him.

Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis, who wrote the demarche,also expressed displeasure over the fact that Britain's ambassador to Greece, Sir David Madden, had not informed him about the arrest during their meeting on Wednesday.

The news of the student's arrest eventually reached Greece after a delay of several days through the BBC.

According to sources, 25-year-old Greek student Haralambos Dousemertzis was arrested by police in Northumbria on February 25 and will stand trial on the basis of article 57 of Britain's counter-terrorist laws on March 11. He has been charged with possession of objects that could have been or were intended for use in terrorist actions.

Among his personal effects, police apparently found posters of the Greek terrorist organisation ''November 17'' and books on international terrorist organisations.

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