[USMA:16630] Italy news

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2001-12-13   EURO ANGST AFFECTS ACCOUNTANTS AND BANK EMPLOYEES The effects of Euro fever are not only felt in the stock market: bank employees, accountants, retailers and sales clerks are reported to suffer from anxiety, sleep disorders, migraine headaches and panic attacks as the dreaded deadline of the introduction of Europe's new common currency draws nearer. Discussions with ignorant customers, computer programs needing to be upgraded in time, the mental adjustment to the new currency, and most of all the continuous fear of making the wrong calculations, create for many a worker insupportable stress. Women seem to be more stress-resistant (47%) than their male counterparts (68%).     EU MEMBERS IN UNISON ON EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT PLAN Koen Vervaeke, a spokesman for the European Union's president, declared that the political representatives of the 15 EU partners had approved the Europe-wide arrest warrant plan. Italy was the last nation to get on board, after talks this week between premier Silvio Berlusconi and prime minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. The accord will officially be ratified when the leaders of the EU's member states will convene in Laeken tomorrow.