In Brief
CYPRUS
FM and UN chief agree on need for new talks to reunify the island Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed on the need to relaunch Cyprus talks, during a meeting in New York yesterday. «Everyone now agrees» on the need for fresh talks which will be based on Annan’s original plan, Molyviatis told reporters after the meeting. «And we should make sure this time that there is no failure,» he added. MISSING FISHERMAN Corpse found in western Turkey The corpse of a Greek fisherman reported missing two weeks ago in the eastern Aegean has been discovered by authorities in the western Turkish city of Izmir, Agence France-Presse cited the Greek Foreign Ministry as saying yesterday. The body was identified by the fisherman’s relatives, according to a Greek diplomat quoted by AFP. It was unclear how he died. Kalymnos residents Christos Costoglou, 40, and Panayiotis Trikilis, 37, and an unnamed Somalian vanished on March 15 after ostensibly setting off on a fishing trip. Greek and Turkish authorities suspect they may have been involved in migrant smuggling. Turkish violations A total of 40 Turkish fighter jets yesterday violated Greek air space in the northern, central and southern Aegean 24 times, military sources said. A Turkish jet flew over the islands of Inousses, off Chios, at an altitude of 25,000 feet, the same sources said. Hellenikon murder An 18-year-old man was fatally shot in the Athenian suburb of Hellenikon yesterday afternoon following an argument with two men whom police were seeking. The two men got out of their car and spoke to Vassilis Mamopoulos before one of them shot him in the head, according to police. The victim’s mother had been shot dead by Greece’s most-wanted criminal, Costas Passaris – now in prison in Romania – during a 2001 attack on an Athens pharmacy. Salonika rioter A 21-year-old man who was arrested early on Sunday following an anarchist riot outside Thessaloniki University was yesterday charged with the possession and use of explosives. The unnamed technical college student from Larissa is due to face an investigating magistrate tomorrow after a prosecutor gave him 48 hours to prepare his defense. More than 100 self-styled anarchists went on the rampage following a concert at the university late on Saturday night. Olympic venues Green spaces and other open areas surrounding Olympic venues should remain accessible to the public, irrespective of the purpose these venues will ultimately serve, according to a petition signed by nine agronomic and geotechnical organizations and submitted to the Culture Ministry yesterday. The Agricultural University of Athens and the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece were among the bodies who objected to the handover of these areas to private developers. Cleric appeals Kyrillos Stavropoulos, an alleged associate of Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis who has also been remanded on charges of stealing religious antiquities, yesterday appealed for his release. The monk is alleged to have removed the antiquities from a monastery on the island of Kythera. Will dispute PASOK MP Eleni Kourkoula yesterday told the Supreme Court prosecutor of her reservations regarding the terms of the will of her deceased aunt after Amvrosios, bishop of Kalavryta, emerged as a major beneficiary. Amvrosios issued a statement conceding that he had inherited 50 percent of Dimitra Mertikopoulou’s estate but stressed that the will instructed him to give most of the inheritance to charity. Market inspections A total of 3,651 inspections were conducted on Attica street markets and traders last month – 10 times more than in February 2004 – and a total of 20,400 euros in fines were imposed for illegal trade, Deputy Development Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou said yesterday. Sledgehammer robbers Two armed robbers used a sledgehammer to break into a bank in Paeania at 3.45 p.m. yesterday and fled with an undisclosed sum.
