NEWS

In Brief

CYCLING EVENT

Individual time trials to disrupt traffic in Vouliagmeni today and tomorrow The individual time trials for men and women Olympic cyclists will cause traffic disruptions in the coastal Athens suburb of Vouliagmeni today and tomorrow. There is no official traffic ban today – when cyclists will be training for the trials – but motorists are advised to avoid coastal Poseidonos Avenue between 9 a.m. and noon. Tomorrow, when the actual race gets under way, there will be a ban on all traffic along the course of the route, which starts at Athinas Avenue, continues along Poseidonos toward Varkiza and finishes at the Aghia Marina junction. The ban will apply from 11 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. TRAM DEATH Korean worker killed at coastal junction trying to cross tram lines A 33-year-old Korean tram worker was fatally injured yesterday afternoon as he tried to cross tram lines at the junction of coastal Poseidonos Avenue and Averoff Street, at the Trocadero tram stop. The man, whose name was not made public, was a maintenance engineer for tram ticket machines, which were installed by a Korean firm. Traffic police are investigating the exact circumstances of the accident. OLYMPHILEX Olympic stamp, coin exhibition opens Transport Minister Michalis Liapis yesterday opened an exhibition of stamps and coins depicting scenes from the Olympic Games, in the presence of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge. The exhibition is to run at the European Exhibition and Promotion Center in Athens until August 22. Albanian protest Dozens of Albanian demonstrators yesterday threw oil and dead fish in front of the Greek Embassy in Tirana to protest at what they called the intentional pollution of Albania’s southwestern shore by Greek ships, The Associated Press reported. Three non-governmental organizations arranged the protest after beaches southwest of Tirana were polluted last week by spillage from oil barrels allegedly originating from Greek ships, AP said. Technopolis screenings Daily coverage of the Olympics by Greece’s state television (ERT) will be broadcast on a giant screen at the Technopolis arts complex in Gazi, the Athens Municipality announced yesterday. The coverage will begin at 11 a.m. and continue until the conclusion of ERT’s coverage. Cyprus Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday discussed Cyprus and Turkey’s bid to join the European Union with the leader of the Turkish-Cypriot administration, Mehmet Ali Talat, in Istanbul. On his return to northern Cyprus, Talat said they had discussed relations between the two sides of the island. Meanwhile, the Athens News Agency reported that a United Nations delegation is due to visit Cyprus at the beginning of next month to assess the situation along the Green Line following the lifting of the travel ban between the two sides. Myanmar exclusion Myanmar’s Consulate General in Greece yesterday issued a complaint against a decision to ban the country’s sports minister, Thura Aye Myint, from the Athens Games. The exclusion «caused us great surprise and puzzlement because we had the impression that the Olympic Games are an invitation to all peoples, regardless of their color, religion and political convictions,» an official statement said. The consulate acknowledged the attempts made by the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee to revoke the decision which «was made on the basis of some European Union directive.» Factory fire A two-story timber factory in the Athenian district of Votanikos was destroyed yesterday after a fire broke out in a storeroom. A team comprising 80 firemen handling 25 engines extinguished the blaze at 11 a.m., about an hour and a half after it broke out. Cyprus church The Aghios Mamas Church in Morphou, in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, is to start functioning again from the eve of September 2 which is the feast day of its patron saint, the Athens News Agency reported yesterday.

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