The Capital Market Commission yesterday announced the abolition of limits to blue-chip share-price fluctuations. The commission also decided to broaden the price fluctuation limits for other shares from 18 percent to 20 percent. The changes will come into effect in January, commission President Alexis Pilavios said.

Limitless blue-cip fluctuations

A 55-year-old former appeals court judge was yesterday being treated for shock in hospital after being beaten and shorn in her Trikala home on Monday night by two unidentified assailants. The two intruders entered the home of Maria Margariti through an open storeroom door before beating her, tying her to a chair and cutting off her hair, police said. Margariti’s husband sent a neighbor to the house after trying repeatedly to call his wife by telephone.

The Greek captain of the sunken Prestige tanker, who had been banned from leaving Spain pending trial at the end of 2002, returned to Athens late on Tuesday night. A Spanish court ruled that Apostolos Mangouras could return to Greece for three months on the condition that he return to Spain to stand trial. The Prestige sank off the Spanish coast in November 2002, spilling 63,000 tons of fuel.

The Central Union of Municipalities and Communities (KEDKE) yesterday gave Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis a December 3 deadline to respond to its appeal for an extra 408 million euros in municipal funding to be added to the 2005 budget. KEDKE’s managing board said it would demand a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis if its demand is not met.

Thousands of Thessaloniki schoolchildren yesterday joined teachers in a protest against the inadequate number and poor state of school buildings in the city. Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis led the rally that culminated in a sit-down protest outside the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace. Of 1,055 schools in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, 204 operate two shifts per day, 20 are prefabricated and at least 35 were built before 1959, according to protesters who called for new schools to be built.

A 36-year-old soccer fan was injured yesterday after supporters of first-division soccer rivals AEK and Panathinaikos clashed outside a Panathinaikos fan club office in the Athenian district of Zografou. The clashes broke out as around 100 AEK fans returned from the funeral of their hardcore fan club chief’s father. A stone-throwing war ensued outside the club, but it was unclear how it started. A total of 14 cars, three motorcycles and two stores were damaged, according to police who made no arrests.

The European Union yesterday warned Turkey that its refusal to recognize Cyprus may harm its bid to join the bloc. “Turkey will be negotiating with 25 member states,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bort said. “We hope that the situation will be settled before we open (accession) negotiations,” added Bort, whose country holds the EU presidency.

No consensus, Turkey told

A homemade explosive device, comprising two gas canisters, caused minor damage to PASOK’s offices in Thessaloniki when it detonated early yesterday. A car parked outside the office was also damaged. Later yesterday, a group of between 15 and 20 self-styled anarchists vandalized the Thessaloniki offices of the PanCyprus United Students’ Union after locking in four students.