In Brief
BUS CRASH
Second multimillion-euro suit lodged against Thessaloniki KTEL The mother and daughter of Constantinos Touloupis, one of 16 people killed when an intercity bus plunged off a bridge into the Aliakmon river in northern Greece on February 22, yesterday filed a suit with a Thessaloniki court for more than 3 million euros in compensation from KTEL, the bus-operating firm. KTEL was sued for 2 million euros by the relatives of another victim, 47-year-old Vassilis Nasioutzik, earlier this month. ATHENS FUNDS Culture minister, mayor to discuss City Hall’s Olympics-related works Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni is to visit Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos today to discuss City Hall’s contribution toward preparing the capital for the Olympic Games – and the funds it will be given to do so. Bakoyianni has estimated that the municipal authority will need a total of 183 million euros for planned refurbishment works – 106 million euros of which she is expecting the State to provide. Venizelos has so far refused to determine the exact level of the government’s contribution to City Hall for Olympics-related projects. ROAD DISAPPEARS 1.5 km of coastline washed away The mayor of the municipality of Platania in northwestern Crete yesterday said it would be impossible to restore a 1.5-kilometer stretch of coastal road that was swept away by powerful waves caused by recent gale-force winds. The coastal road at Maleme was completely destroyed and several private homes sustained damage, Yiannis Katsifiakis said. Yesterday, passenger ferries remained moored at the ports of Piraeus and Rafina due to strong winds in the Aegean. Attiki Odos Construction works on the bridge connecting two service stations on the Attiki Odos at Pallini will oblige drivers to use diversions through the service station areas today and tomorrow between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Today, traffic bound for the airport will be diverted through the service stations, and tomorrow it will be the turn of Elefsina-bound drivers. Kissinger suit Supreme Court prosecutor Evangelos Kroustallakis yesterday forwarded to Athens appeals court prosecutor Petros Verrios a legal suit filed against former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Monday by a US-based Greek journalist. Ilias Dimitrakopoulos accuses Kissinger of genocide, war crimes, involvement in crimes committed by the military junta, the attempted murder of former Cypriot President Makarios, as well as being behind his own attempted kidnapping and murder. Gas deaths A 63-year-old man and his 59-year-old wife, found dead in their Iraklion home by their son yesterday afternoon, probably died after inhaling toxic fumes from a leaking gas heater, police at the Cretan port said yesterday. Giorgos Kontoyiannis and his wife Maria are believed to have died of asphyxiation. Kiosk attack A 64-year-old kiosk owner was in hospital yesterday after being beaten and struck on the head with a hammer by two men who attempted to rob his kiosk in central Thessaloniki. The two assailants – identified only as 45-year-old A.M., and 29-year-old N.K. – were arrested before they could gain access to the kiosk owner’s cash. The extent of 64-year-old A.P.’s injuries was unclear. Customs fraud? The Economy Ministry has transferred the chief of the customs house at the Niki border crossing with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and a customs clerk to other posts following their alleged implication in a case of fictitious exports of cigarettes which cost the State millions of euros in lost revenue, it was revealed yesterday. Ministry officials are currently investigating details about the supposed involvement of Lefteris Paschalides and Georgitsa Vlanti in organizing the exports. Albanian pact Albania’s parliamentary committee on defense yesterday approved an agreement between the Albanian and Greek defense ministries for the reconstruction of the naval base at the port of Durres.
