In Brief
NOT AN ELEPHANT
Paschalides wearied by illegal gambling slur Macedonia-Thrace Minister Giorgos Paschalides yesterday told reporters he was «not an elephant» in an attempt to stress how ludicrous he considers allegations made by a TV journalist on Thursday linking the minister to a local newspaper publisher aand coffee shop owner from Yiannitsa thought to be responsible for a network of shops in northern Greece which allegedly ran Internet gambling sites. The minister said he was tired of defending himself: «I am not an elephant. Whoever wants to believe me can, those who donãt want to don’t need to.» Coach thief Police in Athens are searching for an unidentified thief who early yesterday morning stole a private coach, which he smashed into four cars before crashing into the wall of a house in the northern suburb of Papagou and then disappearing. Samos Municipal workers, soldiers and locals of the island of Samos yesterday helped voluntary workers plant more than 1000 trees to replace those burned down when a major fire ravaged forest land on the island’s Hora area in the summer of 2000. The trees are the first of many to be provided by local authorities for the reafforestation of the island. IAS representatives, who, as late as in the middle week, were boldly asserting they would expand Olympic’s operations by 35 percent, were nowhere to be found on Friday, or during the weekend.
