In Brief
WEEKEND TRAFFIC
Athenians practice patience Some 300,000 Athenians returning to the capital yesterday following the Pentecost holiday weekend were obliged to sit in traffic despite measures implemented by police to ease the flow of vehicles back into the capital. Authorities said it was one of the largest exoduses the city had seen in recent years. Meanwhile, a motorcyclist was killed after colliding yesterday morning with a car near the Hilton hotel in Athens. The biker’s passenger was also injured, police said. Kavala blaze The Kavala fire service was yesterday trying to determine what caused a blaze in a ground-floor pastry shop which led to extensive damage of the apartments above it and whether the premises were safe for residents. Firemen took three hours to extinguish the blaze, which broke out just before 3 p.m., and to rescue three people who were trapped in their apartments. The pastry shop was completely destroyed, while seven flats were damaged, firemen said. There were no injuries reported. Irenaios The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem late on Sunday accused its former head, Irenaios, of attempting to allow four armed Muslim bodyguards onto the Patriarchate grounds on Friday, resulting in a clash between local police and clerics, who tried to prevent the guards from entering. Patricide A 64-year-old man strangled his 89-year-old father to death on Saturday following an argument in the older man’s Thessaloniki apartment, police said. The younger man, who lived next door, was arrested but it was unclear what caused the argument.
