In Brief
RICE VISIT?
US secretary of state could visit Greece soon, says ambassador US Ambassador Charles Ries said yesterday that Washington would like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit Greece as well as Turkey in the near future, but that no plans had been made yet. Ries also denied claims, in the wake of abduction allegations by Pakistani migrants, that US agents had been secretly operating in Greece. Ries said that the embassy passed on any information it had to Greek authorities and let them deal with it. VALINAKIS OUTBURST Deputy FM attacks PASOK MPs over claims that lawyer wife is ‘protected’ Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis yesterday blasted six PASOK MPs who submitted a question in Parliament claiming that the prime minister was protecting Valinakis’s wife, a lawyer, from allegations that she was involved in a trial-fixing ring. Valinakis said the MPs were sensationalizing the matter. Former priest Iakovos Yiossakis, who is under investigation, suggested earlier this week that Christina Valinaki should also be probed. Yiossakis said yesterday that he did not mean to harm Valinaki. HUMAN TRAFFICKING Two Greeks arrested in Evros Authorities in northeastern Greece yesterday arrested two Greeks caught transporting 80 illegal immigrants in a truck, police sources in Komotini said. The two Greeks were arrested in Evros, a region bordering Turkey that is a popular entry point for people smugglers. The immigrants, who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan, were stored inside a hidden compartment, the sources said. They are believed to have each paid 500 euros for passage to Greece. (AFP) Chrysostomides departs The Cypriot government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides is to step down, the Athens News Agency reported yesterday. ANA said that Chrysostomides held his last press briefing as spokesman yesterday and is due to join the AKEL communist party, for which he will stand in parliamentary elections likely to be held in May. Teenage muggers Police said yesterday that they had arrested six teenagers aged between 16 and 18 on suspicion that they mugged two men in Peristeri, western Athens, on Thursday. The two victims, aged 33 and 35, immediately informed police and the six suspects were rounded up a little later by a patrol car. Powerful protest Local residents are planning to hold a demonstration outside the premises of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) on Mount Hymettus at 11 a.m. tomorrow. They will be protesting against the operation of a high-voltage unit at the site and are demanding that power pylons and cables transferring electricity from Lavrion to Argyroupoli be removed. Bank raids Two armed robbers held up a branch of Eurobank in Aegaleo, western Athens, at 8 a.m. yesterday and escaped on foot with an unknown amount of cash, police said. Two armed robbers also struck at a branch of Alpha Bank in Menidi, northwest Athens, some three-and-a-half hours later, but it is not known if they were the same men. They stole an unspecified amount and made off on a motorbike, officers said. Police numbers The number of police stationed in the area of Rethymnon, Crete, needs to be increased in order to fight rising crime rates, Prefect Giorgos Papadakis said yesterday. In a letter sent to Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, Papadakis asked for extra police patrols during the night and for a boost to the local drug squad. Illegal trade A total of 386 people were arrested between November and December last year as part of a crackdown on illegal street trade and supervision of neighborhoods, police said yesterday. Most of the arrests related to residency laws, prostitution, gun possession, theft and drugs. More than 3,800 officers questioned 14,327 people during the two month period.
