In Brief
Bad weather – Storm warning issued,snow forecast for Attica The Civil Defense authority yesterday warned that the weather is expected to deteriorate considerably over the weekend, with snowfall over much of the country, gales in the Aegean and thunderstorms. Snow is expected in the hills around Athens. The weather should start to improve on Monday. Canaries Most stolen birds retrieved ahead of Thessaloniki show Police in Thessaloniki yesterday retrieved most of a batch of pedigree birds stolen on Wednesday ahead of yesterday’s Seventh annual Northern Greek Canary Show. A spokesman said three boys and a girl – all minors – had burgled the municipal cultural center in the city suburb of Sykies, stealing 26 canaries. For some reason, they killed three, police said. The show went ahead yesterday, in the presence of the 23 survivors. Cotton Salonica farmers postpone protests Thessaloniki cotton farmers yesterday decided to postpone a series of protests against European Union crop prices, but stressing their unhappiness with the prices announced this week. A spokesman said they would consult with unions from other parts of Greece and were likely to start a new campaign around December 10. Up to now, protesting farmers on tractors had threatened to – but largely refrained from – blocking roads in a repeat of their 1996-97 campaign. Samos floods. Schools remained closed on Samos yesterday in the aftermath of the worst floods to have hit the eastern Aegean island in decades. Hundreds of houses and shops were flooded on Thursday, following torrential rain. Yesterday, opposition leader Costas Karamanlis visited the island, as well as Aegean Minister Nikos Sifounakis, who promised financial aid for flood victims. Carpenter’s murder. A carpenter was found shot dead inside his workshop in the eastern Athens suburb of Spata yesterday morning. Nikos Daskalakis, 49, had been shot in the head and thigh. Police have ruled out robbery as a motive to the murder. Fishermen drowned. A father and son who were missing since Thursday afternoon off Cape Dermatas, near Platamon in central Greece, were found dead yesterday morning. Apostolos Mamourelos, 67, and his son, Efstratios, 40, drowned after their fishing boat, the Aghios Nikolaos, sank in a storm. All three other crew members were saved. Jungle axed. The Athens Journalists’ Association (ESIEA) expressed concern yesterday at Alpha TV’s decision on Thursday to take off the air a program by the station’s leading pulpit journalist claiming government officials and industrialists owned illegally-built seaside villas. ESIEA spoke of an unacceptable act of censorship against Makis Triandaphylopoulos’s Jungle show. Icon. Archbishop Christodoulos, an army guard of honor and the Athens municipal brass band were all present at the Cathedral yesterday for the arrival of a 1,300-year-old, reputedly miracle-working icon from the island of Amorgos. The 8th century icon of the Virgin Hozoviotissa, from the monastery of the same name, had never before been outside the Cycladic island since it brought there from Palestine. It will be displayed in the Cathedral until December 8. Hania explosion. A bomb exploded early yesterday outside the Hania prosecutor’s office in western Crete. Nobody was hurt, but windows were broken and the building’s entrance was badly damaged. Athens roadworks. Work to renew the tarmac on Athens’s Mesogeion Avenue will start on Monday, the Public Works Ministry said yesterday. Some lanes will be closed to traffic. Furthermore, work will start today – and end tomorrow – at the Metamorfosis flyover above the national road from Athens to Lamia. Illegal immigrants. Border guards in Thrace arrested a total of 51 illegal immigrants trying to enter the country yesterday. An Iranian national was arrested for smuggling in 37 Iraqis and eight Iranians, while four Chinese nationals living in Greece legally were arrested for attempting to get six of their compatriots who had entered Greece illegally to Athens.
