In Brief
PETROL BOMBS
ND office and branch of Emporiki Bank suffer attacks early yesterday Arsonists threw a petrol bomb at the Neo Psychico offices of the ruling New Democracy political party in Athens yesterday, causing minor damage but no injuries, authorities said. Meanwhile, three homemade fire bombs exploded early yesterday at three different branches of the state-controlled Emporiki Bank in central Athens. No one has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks. FOREIGN AID Greece pays out 400 million euros Greece sent 400 million euros in aid to different developing countries during 2004, said Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis. Some 50 million euros was in cash and provided by the ministry itself. Molyviatis added that Greece was spending 550 million euros on its restructuring program for the Balkans. Child abuse A 5-year-old boy was being treated in critical condition at an Iraklion, Crete, hospital yesterday after being sexually abused by his mother’s partner on Saturday, police said. The child was rushed to the hospital after being discovered badly hurt by his Romanian mother at her home in a village near Ierapetra, southern Crete. Officers were searching for the woman’s 30-year-old boyfriend, who has not been named. Armed robberies Two armed robbers held up an armored car outside a Lidl supermarket in Glyfada, southeastern Athens, on Saturday and made off with a bagful of cash, police said. The exact amount taken was not known. In a separate incident, a Shell gas station in Elefsina, west of Athens, was held up early on Saturday by four robbers who took 2,500 euros in cash. OSE website The Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) will make available by the end of the month a special website for physically disabled and visually impaired people, Transport Minister Michalis Liapis said on Saturday. The website will offer information about timetables and which stations have facilities for the disabled. Delayers beware In a bid to overcome years of delays in the execution of infrastructure projects in northern Greece, Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias said that the names of parties found to be causing such delays will be published in the press. Souflias said that for the two-year period between 2005 and 2006, the ministry has set into motion 13.6 billion euros’ worth of public works in the region. Gold medal Thessaloniki Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos yesterday awarded his visiting Washington counterpart, Anthony Williams, the city’s gold medal and commended the supportive role played by Washington to victims of the Katrina hurricane and the September 11 attacks on New York – exactly four years after the terrorist strike.
