Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-03-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] World Bank President James Wolfensohn awarded medal of the city of

[02] Delegates at 'Sports and Women' conference send message of peace

[03] Weather Forecast: Mostly fair on Monday

[01] World Bank President James Wolfensohn awarded medal of the city of Athens

Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni bestowed the medal of the city of Athens to World Bank President James Wolfensohn during a ceremony held at the Town Hall on Saturday evening.

Present at the ceremony were members of the municipal council, representatives of the Bank of Greece and diplomats.

Bakoyianni praised the personality and the achievements of the head of the most important world banking institution. The mayor told Wolfensohn ''you have served well the economic and banking sector and are one of just three presidents of the international bank who has been unanimously elected for a second consecutive tenure.''

The World Bank president thanked the mayor of Athens and referred to the need of governments to cooperate in aiding poor countries with high debt.

Wolfensohn is in Athens on the occasion of a two-day conference of the Parliamentary Network of the World Bank which is being hosted this year in the Greek capital and attended by about 150 parliamentary representatives of the countries assisted by he World Bank.

[02] Delegates at 'Sports and Women' conference send message of peace

The sessions of a two-day conference titled ''Sports and Women'', held in the framework of the Greek European Union Presidency, came to a close in Thessaloniki on Saturday.

Taking part in the conference were 350 delegates from 17 countries.

Deputy Sports Minister George Lianis, in the presence of Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, announced the text of the Thessaloniki Declaration. With this declaration, the delegates sent a message of peace and reiterated their commitment to persist in their efforts for the equal participation of women in all levels of athletic, social and political life.

The closing ceremony of the conference took place in the evening at the Thessaloniki Music Hall with a concert given by internationally-renowned tenor Marios Frangoulis.

At the event, the women Olympic Games medallists, who participated and were honoured at the conference, Venizelos and Lianis signed a painting dedicated to the idea of the Olympic Truce.

The painting will be sent to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, with the request that it be placed in the UN headquarters as a symbol the the message of the Olympic Truce.

[03] Weather Forecast: Mostly fair on Monday

Mostly fair weather will prevail in the Ionian, Epirus, the islands of the eastern Aegean and in the Dodecanese on Monday. In the rest of the country, there will be scattered cloud with intermittent showers in central mainland Greece and the Peloponnese. Winds variable, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from -1C to 11C; in the rest of the mainland from 2C to 15C; and in the islands from 7C to 16C. Mostly fair in Athens and temperatures between 6C and 14C. Overcast in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 1C to 11C.

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