NEWS

In Brief

ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

Works to go ahead after court rules against ICOMOS, residents Works on the new Acropolis Museum are to continue following a ruling by the plenary session of the Council of State, made public yesterday, which rejected as groundless an appeal for the suspension of the works by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and local residents. The country’s highest administrative court based its decision on documents (such as architectural plans) which it asked the Culture Ministry to provide it with last week. Officials say the museum will be ready to host the British Museum’s Parthenon Marbles by the Athens 2004 Olympics. BROTHELS Prostitutes ask Council of State to nullify Athens authorities’ decision Six prostitutes, four of whom are leading members of the national association of prostitutes, yesterday appealed to the Council of State to nullify a decision by Athens municipal authorities to close down brothels deemed to be operating illegally. The authorities’ decision provides for prostitutes to offer their services from hotels but not brothels, claimed the women. They stressed that their profession was being threatened and their constitutional liberties «demolished.» Athens’s Municipal Council earlier this week ordered 15 brothels in Athens to close down unless they apply the necessary regulations by August 4. DENKTASH REBUKED Security Council: ‘Lay off Famagusta’ The UN Security Council yesterday rebuked a threat by Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to send Turkish Cypriots into the fenced-off region of Famagusta in the Turkish-occupied north of the island, stressing that the council’s stance on the matter remained unchanged and corresponded to Resolution 550, approved in May 1984. The resolution «condemns all secessionist actions… and… considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha (a district of Famagusta) by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the United Nations.» Italian visit Public Order Minister Giorgos Floridis is to receive Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu at the ministry today to discuss Italy’s proposals – in the areas of justice and internal affairs – over the course of its six-month term as European Union president. Heroin ring Four Albanians, two men and two women, believed to be part of a ring trading heroin in northern Greece, have been arrested, Thessaloniki drug squad officers said yesterday. Officers confiscated a total of 4.1 kilos of heroin from the four after stopping them at Katerini railway station. The two women, 28 and 19, had stopped off at the Katerini station on the Athens-Thessaloniki intercity bus route where they had met the two men, 29 and 25, who had arrived at the station – also from Athens – by car, according to police. Health Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Health Minister Costas Stefanis yesterday discussed necessary improvements to the national health service during a meeting at the Maximos Mansion. Stefanis stressed that inadequate staffing was one of the biggest problems plaguing the health sector – with Athens and Thessaloniki the worst affected. Railway disruptions Trains will not be servicing the route connecting Megara and Corinth via Aghioi Theodoroi from Monday until Wednesday as works on the tracks get under way, the Hellenic Railway Organization (OSE) said yesterday. Commuters will be able to make use of a replacement bus service on those three days, OSE said. Extra police Another 50 police officers are to be recruited to boost the special anti-terrorism units which are to operate during next year’s Olympic Games, according to reforms to legislation for border guards which were tabled in Parliament yesterday. Land claims Land belonging to residents of the Greek-populated village of Agridia on the island of Imvros in the northeastern Aegean has been claimed by the Turkish State, according to residents of the island. Turkish authorities claimed the land in its land register records which were made public on June 23, according to the Athens Union of Imvros Residents.

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