In Brief
UNEQUAL PAY
Men earn 14 percent more than women in same jobs, minister says The average disparity between wages received by men and women for the same job is 14 percent, Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis said yesterday ahead of a conference on the subject starting tomorrow in Athens. Women working in the private sector in 1977 were earning 19 percent less than their male counterparts on average, Skandalidis added. The three-day conference is organized by the Research Center for Matters of Equality. DROWNED CHILDREN Bodies of girl, 8, and boy, 12, recovered in Cretan harbor Cretan rescue workers yesterday recovered the bodies of an 8-year-old Albanian girl and her 12-year-old brother who had disappeared on Sunday after the car in which they were traveling was swept into Kastelli harbor by a large wave. Laher Bouzani, 34 – the mother of Artenisa and Aryien – had been rescued on Sunday along with the driver and another two passengers. Rescue workers recovered the body of the driver’s wife, Diana Yiannina, on Sunday. DOCTORS STRIKE Emergency staff at hospitals State hospitals across the country will be functioning on emergency staff today as doctors strike, demanding that colleagues on short-term contracts should be granted permanency. Doctors are also demanding the payment of a 176-euro bonus, which is paid to other civil servants, and more funding for the health sector. Late Passengers expecting to arrive in Thessaloniki before midnight on the new Intercity Express service from Athens yesterday were delayed by more than two hours after a mechanical problem obliged the train to stop near Livadia – just a day after the new service was officially launched. The passengers, who left Athens at 6.30 p.m. yesterday, would be reimbursed the 25 euros extra they had paid for first class service, the Hellenic Railway Organization said yesterday. On Monday, the Intercity Express arrived in Athens right on schedule – after a journey of four hours and 57 minutes. Extortion Marianna Latsis, daughter of Greek tycoon Yiannis Latsis, last night testified to an Athens prosecutor in connection with allegations that journalists and extreme right-wingers extorted money from top businessmen on the pretext of removing them from November 17’s hit list. Quake aid Greece yesterday approved 200,000 euros in humanitarian aid to help Turkey deal with the damage caused by a 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck the region of Pulumur on Monday, killing one person. The Foreign Ministry said it would «take all necessary steps to send a rescue mission, if this is deemed necessary by Turkish officials.» Relic returned A section of the left arm of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia, in what is now Turkey, was yesterday due to arrive in Volos after the Roman Catholic Church agreed to return the relic that has been in the Cathedral of Rimini, Italy, since the 12th century. The fragment, which was officially handed over to Bishop Ignatius of Volos and the mayor of Volos on Sunday, will be kept in Volos Cathedral. TVX Staff of the TVX Hellas mining firm yesterday protested outside the prefect’s office in Halkidiki, Macedonia, demanding that mines under the nearby village of Stratoniki be reopened. The firm’s mining operations were suspended at the end of last month following a Supreme Court ruling. Rio crossing Ferries on the Rio-Antirio crossing will be running as normal after protesting ferry workers yesterday suspended planned strike action until February 15. They want more dock space for ferries. Prince Andrew Britain’s Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, arrives in Athens tomorrow for talks with Greek and English businessmen in his capacity as Britain’s Special Representative for International Investment and Trade. He is due to lay a wreath tomorrow morning at the spot on Kifissias Avenue where Brigadier Stephen Saunders was assassinated by November 17 in June 2000.
