In Brief
TRANSPORT STRIKES
Airplanes and metro to be hit by employee action today Dozens of Olympic Airlines flights, mostly domestic routes, will be canceled today as OA workers stage a walkout over the carrier’s privatization. Passengers should telephone OA on 210.966.6666 for rescheduling details. The Athens metro service will also be suspended today as staff stage a 24-hour strike, demanding the signing of a new collective labor contract that satisfies their demands. FYROM BRIEFING Athens wants proposal tweaks Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday told Parliament’s cross-party foreign policy committee that Athens had not yet responded to United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz about his proposal for a solution to the dispute over the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), but noted that the proposal «is not satisfactory in its current form.» «Greece is neither dragging its feet nor rushing to reach a solution,» she said. Skopje was today due to brief Nimetz on its response. Bomb blasts An improvised explosive device placed outside a military court in the central Athens district of Rouf caused some limited damage when it detonated early yesterday but no injuries. Police, who found a hole cut in the barbed wire surrounding the compound, said they were surprised soldiers on duty at the time had not noticed the intruders. Another two blasts outside a gas station and a truck yard in the southwestern suburb of Aspropyrgos caused widespread damage but no injuries. Police attributed the simultaneous blasts to a settling of accounts between rival criminal gangs. Earthquake aid Some 900 of the 3,600 people in Ileia who claimed emergency financial aid after a 6.5 Richter quake struck the Peloponnese in June, damaging dozens of buildings and killing two people, have been asked to prove that they were entitled to the payments. In a move similar to the one last week that saw hundreds of people in the same prefecture being asked to prove that they were eligible for a 3,000-euro cash payment after wildfires in the area, authorities have written to locals asking them to submit more documents to prove that they had not acted fraudulently when they claimed the money, also 3,000 euros. Dead migrants Coast guard officers in the Aegean said yesterday that they had retrieved the bodies of two migrants and detained another 99. One of the victims is believed to have been aboard a smuggling ship that arrived at Samos on Tuesday. The other was found in the northern Aegean, officials said without specifying where exactly. Meningitis as normal Athens Prefect Yiannis Sgouros yesterday played down reports of two cases of meningitis in schools – an 8-year-old primary school pupil in the center and a 16-year-old high school pupil in the district of Galatsi. «This is normal for this time of year and no cause for concern,» he said. Bad food Prefectural officials in Piraeus yesterday said they had confiscated 85 tons of imported food believed to be unfit for human consumption. Most of the haul comprised raisins from China followed by oranges from South Africa and sesame seeds from India.
