The former rector of the Athens University of Economics and Business, Andreas Kintis, was named yesterday as the new president of the Civil Servants’ Auxiliary Pension Fund (TEADY). The fund’s previous head, Agapios Simeoforidis, was asked to step down after it was revealed that TEADY had overpaid some –5 million for a bond. Kintis has also served as the president of the Economic and Social Committee, which acts as a forum for discussion between unions and the government.

Inquiry into dodgy bond sales moves on

The European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot yesterday urged Greece to do more to reduce the number of road deaths after meeting with Transport Minister Michalis Liapis in Athens. Barrot recognized the progress Greece has made but said it was essential that all Greeks make “an effort to reduce the number of deaths” on the country’s roads. Greece has one of the highest road death tolls in the European Union – 1,629 people were killed in vehicle accidents last year. Data released yesterday showed that the number of people killed in traffic accidents in January rose 22.5 percent on an annual basis to 125.

Two robbers armed with a gun and a hand grenade yesterday stole two sacks with 35,000 euros in cash from a Pyrsos security truck outside the electric railway station in Moschato, southern Athens, police said. The thieves boarded the truck and threatened the two security guards. They forced the guards to drive a few blocks to the spot where the two suspects had parked a high-powered motorcycle, which they used to get away.

A man was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning while helping 10 illegal immigrants board a train from Thessaloniki, police said. The unnamed man was arrested as he was getting on the train to Athens with the migrants.

An explosion rocked the center of Alexandroupolis, northeastern Greece, early yesterday causing the destruction of a store selling medical goods. Nobody was injured in the blast but three parked cars were damaged. The fire service said that the cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

Police arrested three men yesterday in Therisou, close to Crete’s city of Hania, and are searching for two others after the men were discovered in possession of more than a dozen weapons. A tip led police to the stash of hunting rifles, handguns and military firearms in four homes and four separate storage areas.