In Brief
MUSEUM REFURBISHMENT
Kerameikos opened yesterday, Marathon inauguration today Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis yesterday inaugurated the new permanent exhibition of the Kerameikos Museum, located within the most important cemetery of ancient Athens, which had been closed for the past year and a half for refurbishment. The display comprises 534 ancient artifacts, all from local excavations, including those carried out in the 1990s during construction work for the Athens metro. Tonight, Tatoulis is to inaugurate the refurbished Marathon Museum. METRO EXPANDS New station at Aghios Antonios to serve western Athens suburbs Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias yesterday inaugurated a new Athens metro station at the western end of Line 2. The Aghios Antonios station, which makes use of natural lighting during daytime, lies on the extension from Sepolia and is expected to serve 50,000 passengers a day. PATRIARCH VISITS Will attend conference, Games opening Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios is due in Athens today ahead of a conference on religious tolerance being organized by the Istanbul-based Patriarchate, as well as for Friday’s opening ceremony for the Olympic Games. Archbishop Christodoulos is to meet him at the airport. Yesterday, the archbishop denounced last week’s attacks against Christian churches in Iraq. «Religions are committed to defending ethical principles based on values applying to all humanity, and should not be used for ulterior motives, nor should their followers be used as scapegoats,» he said. Baseball cheats caught Two members of Greece’s Olympic baseball team have tested positive for use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, the Greek Olympic Committee said yesterday. Illegal immigrants Coast guard patrols along the Greek-Turkish sea border have stopped nine smuggling ships since August 1, while Turkish coast guard officials have detained 150 illegal immigrants, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. Of the nine smuggling ships, four were stopped on Lesvos, three on Kos and two on Leros, the ministry said. Yesterday, a group of 14 immigrants were detained on Samos but their Turkish smuggler eluded arrest, the ministry said. The Ivory Coast nationals had reached the island from Turkey in a wooden boat. City guide A 400-page booklet, containing a comprehensive guide to sights and entertainment in Athens, is available for free at municipal information stands, Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis said yesterday. The booklet is published in English, French, German and Spanish as well as Greek. It contains information ranging from the city’s history and architecture to tips about tours, public transport and other services. The guide is also available on CD. Papamichail funeral Stage and screen actor Dimitris Papamichail, who died of a heart attack on Sunday at the age of 70, is to be buried in Athens’s First Cemetery today. Papamichail appeared in dozens of films in the 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s. Syntagma rally The Communist-led PAME labor movement is to hold a rally at 7 p.m. today in Syntagma Sq to commemorate the 13 workers who lost their lives during construction work for the Olympic Games. Doctors strike Doctors at the Thriasio hospital in Elefsina are today due to stage a strike from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to protest against the transfer of some of their colleagues to Olympic venues, a decision they complain has left the Thriasio’s emergency unit understaffed. Doctors of Athens’s Aghia Olga hospital will also be abstaining from their duties today, demanding the payment of outstanding wages from May. Speedboat injury A 78-year-old woman was receiving medical treatment on Poros yesterday after being struck by a speedboat on Sunday. Antonia Zourenou sustained a minor skull fracture and chest bruises. After the accident, helmsman Andreas Vakalis put Zourenou into an ambulance. A prosecutor later ordered his release.
