In Brief
LEGAL ACTION
Brussels to take Greece to court over failure to open energy market The European Commission said yesterday that Greece was one of the five EU member states against which it would be taking legal action for failing to pass domestic legislation to free up their energy markets. Brussels said that it was also taking Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain to the European Court of Justice, as part of the third stage of infringement proceedings. EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs had warned of the action in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini. REFUGEE COOPERATION UNHCR and Equality Secretariat sign agreement on treatment of women The General Secretariat for Equality, which operates under the auspices of the Interior Ministry, yesterday signed a memorandum of cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Greece to improve the treatment of women refugees who arrive in the country. As part of the agreement, the government has pledged to provide better information to regional authorities and for the relevant ministries (Public Order, Health and Justice) to coordinate more effectively. EXARCH RECOGNIZED Greece gives Theofanis green light Deputy Foreign Minister Panayiotis Skandalakis yesterday met with Archbishop Theofanis to officially recognize him as the new representative of the Jerusalem Patriarchate in Athens. The archbishop will take charge of the Exarchate, the Jerusalem Patriarchate’s base in the central Athenian district of Plaka, from Archimandrite Theoktistos, who is a supporter of the ousted patriarch, Irenaios. Minor jailed An Iraklion court imposed the stiffest possible sentence on a minor by sentencing a 17-year-old to 20 years in prison for the rape and manslaughter of a 73-year-old woman in Crete last year, sources said yesterday. The young man’s name was not made public. Pool death A second young Gypsy girl was pronounced dead yesterday hours after her friend drowned in a swimming pool in the northwestern Athenian suburb of Ano Liosia where the pair had been playing. After initial signs of life, doctors were unable to fully resuscitate the second girl, aged 10. Police are considering pressing charges against the children’s parents and are looking for the owners of the house into which the two girls sneaked to use the pool. Vehicle attack Three gas canisters exploded under a vehicle, belonging to the Wackenhut security firm, in Kolonaki, central Athens, yesterday morning, causing extensive damage. The fire caused by the explosion spread to two cars and a motorbike parked next to the security vehicle. Police said that no one had claimed responsibility for the attack. Kiosk raid Robbers shot and wounded a couple yesterday who owned a kiosk in Nea Ionia, northwestern Athens, after they resisted handing over their cash to the two armed men, police said. The couple was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, but doctors said they were not in critical condition. The two thieves escaped on a motorbike. Climber dies After a two-day search, rescue teams in northern Greece were too late to save a 45-year-old mountain climber who had been reported missing on Sunday. Sotirios Dodos, a father of five, was found dead near the peak of a mountain he had tried to scale in the Ioannina region. Illegal antiquities Police yesterday arrested a 51-year-old man in Nea Makri, northeast of Athens, for illegally trading in antiquities after finding him in possession of 25 ancient objects dating to the Classic, Hellenistic and Mycenaean periods. Jewelry haul Thieves in Thessaloniki struck gold yesterday when they walked away from a home they had broken into with 140,000 euros’ worth of jewelry. Bullet pen Police arrested a 45-year-old man in the Athens suburb of Kallithea yesterday after they found one kilogram of cannabis in his possession as well as a pen that had been transformed so that it could fire bullets, officers said. The man, who was not named, is alleged to have been dealing drugs in the area.
