Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-03-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Karamanlis, new ND government sworn in

[02] Weather Forecast: �vercast on Wednesday

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

[01] PM Karamanlis, new ND government sworn in

Greece's new prime minister Costas Karamanlis and most of his Cabinet were sworn in on Wednesday in a ceremony officiated by Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, in the presence of President of the Republic Costis Stephanopoulos, at the Presidential Mansion in downtown Athens.

The first to be sworn in was Karamanlis, who immediately signed his first prime ministerial Decision re-naming the ministries of labour, health and agriculture and changed the priority order of the ministries, re-instating the ministry of the interior, public administration and decentralisation as the first in line, followed by the ministries of national economy/finance and foreign affairs.

After they were sworn in, the new ministers and deputy ministers also signed the protocol attesting to their swearing-in and assumption of their duties.

Absent from Wednesday's swearing-in procedure were Dimitris Avramopoulos, who will be assuming the newly-formed ministry of tourism, and his deputy minister Anastasios Liaskos; Fani Palli-Petralia, who will be assuming the new post of alternate minister of culture; and Evripidis Stylianidis, who will be assuming the new post as the third deputy minister for foreign affairs (there were only two deputy posts in this ministry in the previous government). The four will be sworn in after the relevant Presidential Decrees establishing their posts have been prepared.

After the ceremony, the newly-sworn-in prime minister walked to the government headquarters at the Maximos Mansion, where outgoing prime minister Costas Simitis will turn over the post to him.

The rest of the members of the new government walked to parliament, where Karamanlis will chair the first meeting of his Cabinet, in plenum.

[02] Weather Forecast: �vercast on Wednesday

Overcast weather is forecast in all parts of the country, possibly turning to showers. There will be rain and storms in Thrace, the eastern Aegean islands and the Dodecanese islands. Winds west-northwesterly, moderate to very strong. Temperatures in Athens 8C to 15C and in Thessaloniki from 6C to 10C.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.246

Pound sterling 0.677

Danish kroner 7.511

Swedish kroner 9.238

Japanese yen 138.8

Swiss franc 1.592

Norwegian kroner 8.713

Cyprus pound 0.590

Canadian dollar 1.652

Australian dollar 1.637

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