NEWS

In Brief

OA FLIGHTS

More than 70 cancellations feared today due to 24-hour strike threat More than 70 of today’s 137 scheduled Olympic Airways flights could be canceled as staff are poised to join a 24-hour strike called by the Federation of Civil Aviation Unions. Passengers can check schedules by calling 210.936.8424. OA’s management lodged a court appeal for the strike to be deemed illegal but no ruling had been announced by late yesterday. Unionists are protesting that draft reforms for OA’s restructuring do not include government promises regarding jobs with the old and new carriers. This morning they are to demonstrate outside Parliament where reforms are due for debate. ATM CAMERA Device planted on machine was scanning PIN numbers for 10 days A micro-camera placed on the automatic teller machine of a bank in Komotini 10 days ago – presumably to photograph the PIN numbers of cards being inserted into the machine – was discovered by the bank’s deputy manager on Tuesday, police said yesterday. The device, which the manager spotted while inspecting the ATM, is being examined by detectives in the northern town. SAMOTHRACE FESTIVAL Another 30 revelers arrested Police on Samothrace yesterday made another 30 drug-related arrests on the last day of a week-long dance music festival, bringing to over 160 the total number of partygoers caught on the island with cannabis, ecstasy and other drugs. The 30 most recent offenders were taken to nearby Alexandroupolis to be charged. Last year, police arrested 55 festivalgoers on drug-related offenses. Court move A new building, to be constructed behind the Supreme Court on Alexandras Ave, is to house Athens’s county court, misdemeanours court and juvenile court, which will be transferred from inadequate existing premises on central Stadiou St, at Omonia Square, Justice Minister Philippos Petsalnikos promised yesterday after meeting senior judicial officials. A total of 13.64 million euros has been earmarked for the new building which is due to be ready by the end of next year. Court employees had been threatening action unless their offices were moved away from the cramped, asbestos-filled premises of the Stadiou St building. Fire risk The country’s fire service is on a high state of readiness today after the General Secretariat for Civil Protection warned of an increased risk of fires on Chios, Samos, the Cyclades and Dodecanese islands, Lasithi and Evia. Yesterday morning, a team of firefighters managed to partially contain a blaze near the village of Chrysovitsi, in the Peloponnesian prefecture of Arcadia, which is estimated to have ravaged around 10 hectares of fir trees. Municipal outfits Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni yesterday presented awards to three students who designed the new uniforms to be worn by municipal gardeners, cleaners, technicians and volunteers for next year’s Olympic Games. The outfits have different colors corresponding to the sector they represent so that workers can be easily recognized by citizens, Bakoyianni said. Attempted suicide A 43-year-old crime suspect who tried to kill himself in the toilet of his jail cell by cutting his throat and wrists with the broken glass of a mirror was yesterday under supervision in a Thessaloniki hospital. The man, identified only as S.S., was spotted by jail guards who stopped him. He had been detained pending trial for rape and incest. Weather change After a protracted heatwave, temperatures are to drop below 30C (86F) across much of the country today and will not exceed 23C (73.4F) in the north where there will be showers in the morning. Strong northerly winds, reaching 8 Beaufort at sea, will make it seem cooler. Temperatures will rise again from Saturday. Murder probe Police were yesterday investigating the death of a 55-year-old man whose body was found in his Pangrati apartment by a friend on Tuesday. Initially, the death of Costas Deiktas had been attributed to a heart attack, but a coroner yesterday determined that the man had a serious head injury sustained from a blunt instrument. The flat bore no signs of a burglary, police said.

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