In Brief
SINGER DIES
Grigoris Bithikotsis loses battle with long illness, aged 82 Popular Greek singer Grigoris Bithikotsis, who had been hospitalized since January at Hygeia Hospital in Athens, died yesterday aged 82 after developing septicemia before his organs shut down completely, doctors said. Bithikotsis had undergone surgery for an aneurism for the third time in January. He was regarded as one of the finest singers of his generation and is best known for his collaboration with Mikis Theodorakis. FYROM TALKS Molyviatis to brief party chiefs Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis will today brief the leaders of the country’s main political parties about the progress of international negotiations to find a new name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), as the UN’s verdict is expected imminently. Special mediator Matthew Nimitz is expected to deliver his final proposal within the next few days and Molyviatis will attempt to achieve consensus among Greek political leaders to accept a name that will include the term «Macedonia,» such as «New Macedonia» or «Republic of Macedonia-Skopje.» Child porn A 42-year-old lawyer was arrested on Wednesday in Larissa in connection with producing and distributing via the Internet pornographic material involving young children, police said yesterday. Officers seized a computer hard drive and a DVD with hardcore pornographic material from the suspect’s home. The man is alleged to have peddled the images on the website in return for payment by credit card. He is at least the 20th person to have been arrested in Greece since January 2004 on suspicion of distributing child pornography on the Internet. Emissions limit Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias yesterday informed all ministries yesterday that a 2001 EU directive on the permissible levels of harmful emissions, as set out in the UN’s Gothenburg Protocol, had now become part of Greek law. The protocol sets limits for, among others, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, and should have been passed into Greek law by November 2002. TV confession A 57-year-old man from Larissa yesterday appeared on private TV channel Alter to explain why he had murdered his wife just a few hours earlier. The man, who is thought to be suffering from mental problems, said that he killed his wife at their home and then took a bus to Athens before making his way to the TV studio, where he was arrested after making his appearance on the air. Police protest Police, fire brigade and coast guard unionists said yesterday that they will stage protests outside the Parliament building on April 14 and 15 over the government’s refusal to meet their financial demands. Bank attack A branch of the National Bank of Greece in Ano Patissia, near central Athens, was firebombed in the early hours of yesterday morning. Nobody was hurt. Meanwhile, a traffic police CCTV camera at the junction of coastal Vouliagmenis Avenue with Alimou Avenue was destroyed by arsonists before dawn. Fratricide A 40-year-old man turned himself in at Ptolemaida Police Station, in northern Greece, late on Wednesday night and confessed to murdering his brother with a shotgun, police said yesterday. The two men had been arguing over an inheritance, police said. University raid A mob of some 10 people, wearing helmets and throwing homemade smoke bombs, rampaged through the Philosophy School of Athens University yesterday to disrupt the erection of stalls for the forthcoming student elections. Two people were injured, including a woman who was stabbed.
