In Brief
ATHENS DEMO
Teachers’ march expected to choke city center today A protest march today by teachers from primary schools, universities and state technical colleges (TEIs) is expected to cause traffic chaos in central Athens. The march is to begin at noon from the old Athens University building on Panepistimiou Street and to conclude at the Education Ministry. Universities and TEIs will be closed, while primary school teachers will stage a two-hour work stoppage. Teachers are calling for higher salaries and more funding. Yesterday, a protest outside Parliament by around 700 ethnic Greeks from Albania seeking Greek citizenship caused traffic problems for several hours. DISABLED POSTS Public sector to announce 1,000 jobs The government will announce more than 1,000 public sector hirings for citizens with disabilities by the end of this month, Labor and Social Security Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos told a parliamentary committee yesterday. It was unclear what the nature of the jobs would be. Children’s day Children are to have free entrance to all state museums and archaeological sites tomorrow on the occasion of World Children’s Day, the Culture Ministry said yesterday. The children should be accompanied by an adult, who will also enjoy free entrance, the ministry said. Traffic disruptions Work starting today on the section of the Athens-Corinth national road between the Elefsina toll gates and Kakia Skala will disrupt traffic in both directions for the next three months. Also, outbound traffic will be disrupted on the section of the same road between Dafni and the bridge at Schistos between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily until the end of next week. Synaspismos congress Outgoing Synaspismos Left Coalition leader Nikos Constantopoulos ends his farewell address at the party’s fourth congress, which opened in Athens yesterday. The party will elect its new chairman at the end of the congress on Sunday night. Software piracy A 35-year-old Athens man was yesterday charged with selling pirate copies of expensive software programs accessed via the Internet. Police said he had created a database of 17,000 customers. The man allegedly broke the encryption of programs of software manufacturers, copied their programs and sold them for a fraction of the retail price. Fuel fraud The Development Ministry yesterday reported six fuel traders to a prosecutor after state inspections on trucks delivering fuel to different parts of Attica revealed leftover fuel in the tanks after the deliveries, indicating that customers had not received the full amount of fuel due. Train crash A car crashed into a northbound train at a level crossing slightly before Diavata yesterday morning. Nobody was hurt. Exam probe Athens Chief Prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos yesterday ordered a preliminary investigation into complaints by private foreign language cramming schools following press claims that questions for last Sunday’s Cambridge Proficiency examinations in Greece had been leaked before the test. Begging children A 29-year-old Albanian woman yesterday faced an Athens prosecutor for allegedly forcing her two daughters, aged 7 and 10, to beg. It was unclear where the children had allegedly been sent to beg.
