In Brief
DOPING PROBE
Report on disgraced sprinters, coach submitted to Athens chief prosecutor Prosecutors investigating the cases of disgraced sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, as well as their coach Christos Tzekos, yesterday submitted their report to Athens Chief Prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos. Spyros Mouzakitis and Athina Theodoropoulou have looked into the athletes’ failure to attend a doping test ahead of the Olympics due to a purported motorcycle accident, allegations that the athletes and their coach received state subsidies through a sports club, and Tzekos’s implication in drug-related charges. The report’s findings were not revealed. CYPRUS TALKS Barroso discusses Turkey’s EU bid with Papadopoulos in Nicosia European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso yesterday discussed Cyprus and Turkey’s EU bid with Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos. Little was revealed about the talks, which took place during an overnight visit by Barroso to Nicosia. «The prospect of negotiations with Turkey and the Cyprus problem were discussed in a very sincere and friendly way,» Barroso said. Papadopoulos said the meeting would «prove very, very useful for the future.» TURTLE PROTECTION EC gives Greece two months to act The European Commission yesterday warned Greece that it must implement measures to protect the loggerhead (Caretta Caretta) turtle within two months or face a fine. The main problem is in Laganas Bay, on the southern tip of the Ionian island of Zakynthos, where the turtles face extinction due to increasing touristic development. The fine will be applied every month after the deadline until the measures are implemented, officials in Brussels said. Garbage protest Residents of eastern Thessaloniki municipalities are to block access to the Tagarades landfill tomorrow in protest at the delay of a court ruling on appeals against the construction of a new dump close to the village of Mavrorachi, some 40 kilometers north of the city and near the town of Langadas. The appeals have been lodged by residents of Langadas. Bozkurt extradition A Supreme Court prosecutor yesterday recommended to the court’s criminal section that it satisfy a request by German authorities for the extradition of a Turkish Kurd who has been in Greece since March, following his arrest on smuggling charges. But he proposed that Sinan Bozkurt be extradited in connection with an arson attack on a German bank in 1995, not for his alleged involvement with a Turkish militant group nor for allegedly planning a murder – crimes he said have expired under the statute of limitations. Traffic disruption There will be disruptions on Athens’s Kifissias Avenue over the next 15 days due to works to remove the orange lines marking out Olympic lanes. The works will be carried out between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily. Roadworks will also disrupt traffic today and tomorrow on the Marathonodromon Street in Palaio Psychico. The works will be carried out between Taygetou Street and 25 Martiou Street from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Busy convict A Drama misdemeanors court yesterday passed down a 20-month jail sentence to 46-year-old Kavala businessman Andreas Chtenas for hitting a female lawyer on the head on a snow slope in Drama four years ago. Chtenas was sentenced to 25 years in jail last April for masterminding a twin bank robbery in Eleftheroupolis in October 2002. Chtenas is due to testify before an investigating magistrate in Kavala in connection with the murder of a 35-year-old man in Kavala last year. Church divide Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday directed thinly veiled criticism against the Roman Catholic Church, one week after he put off a scheduled visit to the Vatican. «The Christians of the West used Christianity as a vehicle to promote their positions,» he said. «Today in Europe, people are distancing themselves from the distortion of Christianity by a Church that wants to exercise power and to be rich,» he added. Nano surgery Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano yesterday underwent a successful eye operation in Thessaloniki, The Associated Press reported.
