NEWS

In Brief

JOURNALISTS ATTACKED

Assault on authors of N17 book An attack by a group of masked youths on two journalists promoting their book on the terrorist group November 17 in an Athens bookstore «goes against freedom of the press and the free dissemination of ideas, and reveals the extreme and anti-democratic views of the (assailants),» government spokesman Christos Protopappas said after the incident on Saturday. Alexis Papahelas and Tassos Teloglou had been signing copies of their book «17» when around 15 attackers burst into the Estia bookstore on Solonos St and proceeded to throw paint and eggs around before smashing a window and knocking over book displays. Nameday bomb A 27-year-old man was hospitalized with injuries on several parts of his body on Saturday after a package which had been delivered to his home in the Athens district of Nea Smyrni exploded in his hands. Police were yesterday seeking to determine who may have sent the package to Thanassis Tsoumas, who opened it believing it was a gift for his nameday. Lethal gags A 75-year-old woman and her 45-year-old nephew, found dead in their Palaio Faliron home yesterday following an apparent burglary, were suffocated by gags stuffed into their mouths, a coroner said. Police found the bodies of Dalida Mektoupzian and Hovzep Terzian, who had also both been tied up, after worried relatives asked officers to break into the locked house in the southern coastal district. The pair are believed to have died on Saturday night. Hit-and-run A 17-year-old youth was yesterday in a coma in a Thessaloniki hospital after being hit by two cars on Saturday morning while riding a scooter. Police arrested Albanian national Zisi Sarki, 24, for allegedly running over the 17-year-old – who has not been named – before driving off. Officers are now seeking the driver of a second car which also failed to stop after hitting the youth. Police said the 17-year-old had no driver’s license. Street cleaners Athens rubbish collectors returned to work on Saturday, cutting short a three-day strike launched on Friday. Mobile phones The new method of dialing mobile phones was implemented yesterday without any major problems, the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) said. The initial digit of mobile phone numbers is now 6 instead of 0. Ecstasy arrests Police arrested 12 suspected drug dealers and confiscated large quantities of ecstasy tablets yesterday following a dawn raid on an apartment in Kypseli. The suspects – aged between 19 and 35 – allegedly packaged the pills and sold them in nightclubs.

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