NEWS

In Brief

DROWNED MIGRANTS

Five bodies recovered on Evia, authorities seeking smugglers Evia coast guards yesterday recovered the bodies of five drowned immigrants from a beach near Kymi, on the island’s east coast, while another 27 migrants, including four children, were taken to a local school. The group of 27 Iraqis and Afghans told authorities that they had been brought to Kymi from Turkey by three people who abandoned them a short distance from the shore. Officials were yesterday looking for the smugglers and for other immigrants. EXPRESS SAMINA Prosecutor calls for all charged to be tried as felons for murder A prosecutor yesterday proposed to the Aegean Appeals Council that all those indicted in connection with the sinking of the Express Samina ferry in September 2000 be tried on felony charges. The Samina’s Captain Vassilis Yiannakis, First Mate Anastassios Psychogios, Second Mate Yiannis Triandafyllos, First Engineer Gerassimos Skiadaressis, radio operator Dimitris Tsouras, two Merchant Marine Ministry supervisors, and representatives of shipping firm Minoan Flying Dolphins (now known as Hellas Flying Dolphins) Costas Klironomos and Nikos Vikatos should all be tried on criminal charges of murder with possible premeditated malice, according to Emmanouil Stratoudakis. GRIGORAKOU DEATH Mob daughter ‘died of drugs, alcohol’ The death last month of Kyriaki Grigorakou, the 36-year-old daughter of the late Athens extortion gang boss Vassilis Grigorakos, was caused by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, according to a report in yesterday’s Eleftheros Typos that quoted the results of toxicology tests. The absence of injuries on Grigorakou – found in her car in Brahami, southern Athens, on September 14 – suggests she had not been forced to consume the drugs and alcohol, the daily said, adding that Grigorakou had been taking anti-depressants since the death of her father and two brothers over the last three years. A man linked with the Grigorakos clan’s main crime rivals was murdered a day after Grigorakou was found dead. A former Grigorakos henchman is suspected of having killed him. Terror list ‘stale’ A US State Department list of 36 groups worldwide designated as terrorist organizations, whose Greek section contains November 17 and the much less-known Revolutionary Nuclei, published late on Thursday «appears not to have been updated» from last year, government spokesman Christos Protopappas said yesterday. Nineteen N17 suspects are currently on trial in a Korydallos Prison court. Roadwork Athens-bound traffic on the Athens-Corinth national road will be restricted to two lanes from Monday for a stretch starting 84 kilometers (52 miles) outside Athens as roadworks get under way. The works are expected to be finished by next weekend. Telephone charges OTE Telecom’s new, lower rates for calls from fixed-line to mobile telephones are to come into effect from tomorrow. Calls per minute to CosmOTE and Vodafone will cost 0.22 and 0.225 euros respectively, with a minimum charge of 0.13 euros, and to Telestet 0.25 euros, with a minimum charge of 0.156 euros. Bird festival Ornithology experts and enthusiasts are to convene in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities across the country this weekend to observe various species of national birds as part of the annual European Bird Festival. In Athens and Thessaloniki, the gatherings will take place in the National Gardens and at the statue of Alexander the Great respectively. Dimitra Papandreou The wife of late Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, Dimitra Liani-Papandreou, has had a series of meetings with senior PASOK officials over the last few days about the possibility of her running for election as an MP on the ruling party’s ticket, sources said yesterday. She met State Minister Alexandros Akrivakis yesterday, Parliament Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis on Thursday and has also spoken with PASOK party secretary Michalis Chrysochoidis and Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis, the sources said.

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