In Brief
COCAINE HAUL
Seven suspects linked to Kalamata seizure are remanded in custody Seven people arrested earlier this week in connection with a one-ton cocaine haul in Kalamata were yesterday remanded in custody. The seven face drug-smuggling charges. The manager of the Kalamata yachting marina, 51-year-old Nikitas Kyriakoulis, four other Greeks, an Italian and an Albanian allegedly brought the drug into Greece on an ocean-going yacht after loading it off Martinique, in the West Indies. OLYMPIC VOLUNTEERS More than 210,000 visitors to Athens benefited from program More than 210,000 visitors to Athens, both Greeks and foreigners, have benefited from a municipal program to guide them around Athens since August 5, municipal authorities said yesterday. The program, titled «Show Them the Athens You Love,» involved 2,300 volunteers. The hours of the program’s implementation will be reduced from Monday until September 17, opening day of the Paralympics, when they will resume as before. ATTIKI ODOS Tolls will increase to 2.50 euros Toll charges on the Attiki Odos are to go up 25 percent to 2.50 euros, from the current charge of 2 euros, on September 1, the Attiki Odos consortium said yesterday. Motorists who frequently use the highway will be entitled to a 33 percent discount, the consortium added. Olympic tickets A total of 3.55 million tickets for the Olympic Games have been sold, organizers said yesterday, noting that ticket sales revenues have reached 200 million euros. Organizers added that about 500 tickets, costing 750 euros apiece, were still available for tomorrow’s closing ceremonies. On Thursday, 28,000 tickets were sold and venues were about 82 percent full, they said. Russian crashes Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis on Thursday sent a message of condolence to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for the 89 victims of the double air crash tragedy in Russia late Tuesday, the ministry said yesterday. In the family Police in Iraklion, Crete, have arrested a 55-year-old Bulgarian who had allegedly employed his two daughters-in-law, aged 25 and 33, and his two granddaughters, aged 15 and 19, as prostitutes in a local flat, the Athens News Agency reported yesterday. Officers caught the unnamed Bulgarian and the four women after many days of observing the house where the women allegedly received foreign clients. Equal rights Disabled persons, students and elderly individuals visiting Greece from European countries should be entitled to the same discounts on public transport as Greeks, the Consumer Institute (INKA) said yesterday, noting that it has received complaints on behalf of European visitors who belong to these groups. Students under 26, over-60s and the disabled are entitled to discounted travel on all means of public transport. European citizens should be treated equally within the EU, INKA said. Violent robbery Two armed robbers who raided a post office in the Athenian district of Nea Smyrni yesterday got into a scrap with two employees and a customer before fleeing with an undisclosed sum. The three men, who tried to stop the thieves leaving the branch, sustained minor injuries after being punched and kicked. Karamanlis break Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis arrived for a brief holiday on the island of Tinos yesterday. He will stay there until tomorrow afternoon, when he is due to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Athens. The two are to attend the closing ceremonies for the Olympic Games tomorrow evening. Theodorakis discharged Composer Mikis Theodorakis was yesterday at home after being discharged from Athens’s Evangelismos Hospital where he had been receiving treatment following a gall bladder operation on August 18. The 79-year-old is to continue medical treatment at home, doctors said.
