In Brief
HAIFA BOMB
Greek presidency denounces ‘despicable terrorist incident’ The Foreign Ministry, speaking on behalf of Greece’s European Union presidency, condemned the killing of at least 15 people in Haifa by a suicide bomber yesterday, noting that «indiscriminate violence against civilians only fuels the ongoing cycle of hatred and does not promote the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.» A ministry statement added that «the despicable terrorist incident comes at a time when the international community is fully committed to pursuing efforts aimed at a political solution to the crisis.» TRAIN STRIKE No service on Athens electric railway tomorrow, next Friday Train drivers of the Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) will stage 24-hour strikes tomorrow and next Friday, ISAP said yesterday. Employees, who demand the signing of a collective labor contract and enforcement of stricter safety measures, are also due to stage two four-hour work stoppages next Tuesday – from 5 a.m. – 9 a.m. and from 9 p.m. – 1 a.m., ISAP added. ANTI-AMERICANISM Greece tops EU list Greeks are more critical than their fellow EU citizens of US influence on world peace, the environment and poverty, according to the results of a Eurobarometer survey published on Tuesday. A total of 73 percent of Greeks polled in October said they thought America «plays a negative role for world peace» – a view shared by 46 percent of Europeans. Over half (59 percent) of Greeks believe the USA has a negative influence in fighting terrorism while 73 percent think it has a bad influence in tackling poverty. Peace petition A group of 112 MPs from all four parties in Parliament yesterday made public an appeal against a war on Iraq. Weinrich trial Johannes Weinrich, 55, a German man believed to be the right-hand man of convicted terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (known as «Carlos the Jackal») went on trial in Berlin yesterday on multiple murder charges stemming from attacks in the 1970s and 1980s, including the bombing of the Saudi Arabian ambassador’s car in Athens in 1983. The attack, believed to have been organized in cooperation with Greece’s Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) terrorist group, did not cause any deaths. Father hangs himself A man who had allegedly been raping his two young daughters at gunpoint was found hanged to death in the border village of Porroia near Serres shortly after an arrest warrant had been issued against him, local police said yesterday. The unnamed man disappeared from his home after his daughters pressed charges against him. Privacy A Piraeus prosecutor yesterday charged a television journalist with violating privacy laws by broadcasting excerpts from the criminal record of a soccer club shareholder. The move came after Thomas Mitropoulos, a major shareholder in the Aegaleo soccer club, sued television presenter Kyriakos Thomaidis. Trolley crash A trolley bus that crashed into three parked cars before smashing through the window of a store in the Athenian district of Kypseli yesterday afternoon did not cause any injuries. The vehicle did not have any technical faults, having just passed a technical inspection, the firm managing Athens trolley buses said yesterday. Robbers caught A 37-year-old Athenian and a 34-year-old man from Trikala are behind a string of eight armed bank robberies in Athens and three in Thessaloniki which netted them a total of 186, 244 euros since last April, police said yesterday following the arrest of the duo. Fatal accident A 55-year-old farmer was killed yesterday afternoon after being knocked down by a car being driven by the mayor of Traianoupolis, in the northern prefecture of Evros. Athanassios Manousidis had been trying to cross the road just outside the town of Orestiada when he was hit by Efstathios Spyridopoulos, police said.
