In Brief
EASTER DISRUPTIONS
Central Athens to be closed today, tomorrow for religious processions Traffic in the center of Athens will be disrupted today and tomorrow evening due to the annual Good Friday and Easter Saturday processions. From 5 p.m. today, Mitropoleos, Filellinon, Amalias, Stadiou, Vassileos Georgiou and Skoufa streets as well as Syntagma Square will be gradually closed off to vehicles, while drivers will encounter similar problems in most parts of town as parish processions wind through the streets. Tomorrow, Mitropoleos Street will be closed to traffic from 11 p.m. due to the midnight resurrection service. CHINESE PRODUCTS Consumers warned over electric popcorn machine after complaint The Consumer Institute (INKA) yesterday advised consumers to be cautious following a complaint about a Chinese-made electric popcorn-maker that allegedly burst into flames. According to the complaint by an anonymous consumer, the 48-euro machine ignited shortly after being switched on. Last week, the government launched a probe into why authorities had delayed informing consumers about a Chinese-made brand of steam iron held responsible for the electrocution of at least two people last year. ROAD BARRIERS Stickers being used to protect birds Stickers of birds of prey have been applied to the transparent sound barriers of the Attiki Odos highway as part of a pilot scheme to curb the deaths of hundreds of small birds who have been crashing into the invisible barriers on their way to the Levidi forest in Pallini, it was revealed yesterday. The scheme is being undertaken by the firm operating the highway in association with the Public Works Ministry and the Goulandris Museum. Turkish violations A total of 46 Turkish military jets yesterday violated Greek air space in the northern and central Aegean 19 times, military sources said. Two of the Turkish jets were photo-reconnaissance aircraft, they said. Easter visits President Karolos Papoulias is today due to attend tonight’s church service in Metsovo following his brief visit yesterday to his native town of Ioannina. Tomorrow Papoulias is due to return to Athens ahead of a scheduled visit to Kastellorizo for Easter Sunday. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is scheduled to remain in Attica over the Easter holiday. Economy talks Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis is to attend a two-day summit of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) starting in Paris on Tuesday. Child molester A 35-year-old man, who allegedly lured children to his Zografou home with the promise of sweets or money before sexually molesting them, yesterday faced an Athens prosecutor. The unnamed man was caught following complaints by the alleged victims’ parents. It was unclear how many children he is alleged to have molested. Mauthausen Mikis Theodorakis’s musical composition «Mauthausen» is to be performed at a memorial at the former Nazi concentration camp in Austria on May 8 in honor of the 3,700 Greek prisoners who died there. A special memorial service is to be conducted by the Greek Orthodox bishop of Austria, Michail, on the 60th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. Battle of Crete The premier of Western Australia, Geoff Gallop, yesterday attended a memorial service in Hania to mark the 64th anniversary of the World War II Battle of Crete. Gallop was accompanied by 14 top-performing pupils from Australia, aged between 12 and 17, whose grandfathers had fought in the battle.
