In Brief
N17 TRIAL
Court assigns Yotopoulos same two lawyers he fired a day earlier The court hearing the appeals of members of the November 17 terrorist group yesterday reappointed Yiannis Rouchiotis and Costas Chrysikopoulos as lawyers for the organization’s leader Alexandros Yotopoulos. The convicted terrorist walked out of the trial on Tuesday and asked his lawyers to stop representing him. The judges, however, have reassigned them to the case, and the pair are expected in court this morning to say whether they will continue to act on Yotopoulos’s behalf. EVIAN RECALL Almost 2,000 bottles of French water recalled after discovery of glass shards The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) yesterday ordered the recall of 1,800 one-liter bottles of Evian water after pieces of glass were found in some of the firm’s products. The water bottles have production dates of September 12 and 13, 2005. Some 1,600 bottles of the total amount being recalled have already been collected, EFET added. NOBODY WATCHING Worry after 24 fans turn up for match Sports Minister Giorgos Orfanos said yesterday that he was troubled by low attendance at football matches in Greece after only 24 spectators watched the first-division game between Akratitos and Xanthi at Ano Liosia, northwestern Athens, on Monday night. Orfanos said that he was in talks with team and league representatives about boosting attendance through the creation of a Super League. Dirty nuts The Piraeus prefecture said yesterday that it had referred the owners of a bakery and a warehouse storing nuts and dried goods in Keratsini to prosecutors after both sites were found to be in breach of health standards. Inspectors found cockroaches, dead rats and insects at the sites. The warehouse supplied nearby Rendi market with nuts, officials said. Helios answers The head of the team investigating the Helios air crash, Akrivos Tsolakis, said all the questions about the accident have been answered. Speaking late on Tuesday night, Tsolakis said that the re-enactment on Monday of the doomed flight of the Cypriot airliner had been the last piece in the «jigsaw» of what happened in August, when the Boeing 737 crashed north of Athens, killing all 121 people on board. New passports An image of the Acropolis is seen on the inside pages of one of the new Greek passports that will be issued starting January 1, according to Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis yesterday. Any Greeks wishing to travel will need to obtain a new passport by the end of 2006, regardless of whether their existing one will still be valid. The passports will be available from 99 centers around the country and at 151 consulates around the world. The application process for a five-year passport will cost 51.40 euros – more than double the current rate. Bomb scare Bomb experts were called to a branch of National Bank in Ambelokipi, central Athens, yesterday after a cleaner found a suspicious item in a rubbish bin. Police sealed off the bank and the surrounding area while experts inspected the parcel, which was later found to be a mobile phone wrapped up in masking tape. Meningitis case An 11-year-old boy was in a stable condition yesterday after being taken to a hospital in Thessaloniki with meningitis. Authorities said that they consider the case to be a one-off incident.
