NEWS

In Brief

MENIDI MURDER

Restaurant owner shot in head after resisting would-be thieves A 51-year-old restaurant owner died last night after being shot in the head earlier yesterday during an attack outside his home in Menidi, northwestern Athens. Police said that Emmanuel Zafeirakis was held up while trying to enter his home by armed would-be robbers and was shot after refusing to hand over the money they asked for. The would-be thieves then fled, leaving behind the 3,000 euros Zafeirakis had on him, police said. KATRINA AID Greece to donate 70,000 euros to victims of disastrous hurricane Greek officials plan to donate 70,000 euros ($85,000) to Habitat for Humanity for Hurricane Katrina victims next week. Deputy Foreign Minister Panayiotis Skandalakis, Greek Ambassador to the USA Alexandros Mallias and US Ambassador to Greece Charles Ries will be in Atlanta on Monday to attend the donation ceremony. The presentation will be made during a luncheon hosted by AHEPA, the largest Greek-American organization in the United States. (AP) PERMIT EXTENSION Foreign residents given 2 months The Interior Ministry said on Thursday that foreign residency permits that expired at the end of December will receive a two-month extension until the end of February. Permits that also run out during the first 60 days of 2006 will be given an extended deadline until February 28. Child molester A 41-year-old man, believed to have lured minors into giving him sexual favors for cash rewards, has been arrested, police in Attica have said. The unnamed man allegedly placed advertisements offering cash incentives to youngsters aged 12 and above who would be willing to indulge his sexual fantasies. The man is alleged to have attracted three boys in this way and police are investigating additional responses to the ads he is believed to have been placing for two years. It was unclear where the adverts had been placed. Car drowning A 69-year-old driver was killed on Thursday when the vehicle he was driving fell off a pier in the port of Piraeus. Port officials blamed the accident on heavy rainfall and poor visibility. In a separate incident on the island of Rhodes, two people in a car disembarking a passenger ferry were unharmed when the vehicle veered off the ramp and fell into the water, also during heavy rainfall. The 57-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife were rescued from the sinking car by port officials. Car ring Attica police said on Thursday that they had arrested two additional members of a stolen-car ring which was broken in October. The two men, aged 54 and 36, are believed to have registered stolen vehicles using forged customs certificates before selling them. The duo are also alleged to have raided the offices of car registration departments to remove files on the vehicles in question. Some of these files were found at the Paeania home of the 36-year-old, police said. Illegal immigrants Coast guards detained 15 illegal immigrants on the Aegean islet of Farmakonissi on Thursday. According to the migrants, they reached the islet after a Turkish fishing boat transported them close to the shore and then threw them into the water. Cannabis found Border patrol officers in Ioannina, northern Greece, found 60 kilos of cannabis on Thursday hidden in three sacks on a road close to the Greek-Albanian border. The drug squad has launched an investigation into the incident. Woman killed A 34-year-old Bulgarian woman was killed in a car accident near Katerini, northern Greece, on Thursday, when the taxi in which she was traveling ran into a roadside barrier. The driver did not suffer any injuries. Kiosk theft Police arrested a man in Arta, western Greece, in connection with the armed holdup of a kiosk on Thursday. Police said that the man allegedly made off with 200 euros after threatening the kiosk owner with a butcher’s knife. After rounding up a number of suspects, the man confessed the crime to police and also informed them that he was involved in the holdup of a gasoline station last November.

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