In Brief
TRANSPORT STOPPAGE
Only blue buses to serve Athens between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today Only blue buses will be running in Athens today between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. because of a work stoppage that has been organized by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) and the Civil Servants’ Union ADEDY. All other forms of public transport will be at a standstill during those hours. The two unions will be holding a rally at noon in Klafthmonos Square in central Athens and at 2 p.m. in front of the statue of Eleftherios Venizelos in Thessaloniki. Olympic Airlines has also canceled 12 domestic flights because of the work stoppage, while the flight to Tirana in Albania will leave at 3 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. CHRISTODOULOS TIRADE Archbishop criticizes government’s support of Turkey’s bid to join EU Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday criticized the government’s support for Turkey’s accession to the European Union, claiming that «one does not deter one evil by creating an even greater one.» European backing of Turkey’s membership in the bloc is «serving geostrategic outlooks and interests alien to the European mentality,» the archbishop told a group of Greek Euro-MPs at an Athens luncheon. Christodoulos warned that the EU would risk estranging itself from its core values «of Christian faith, classical education and the rule of law» if it admitted Turkey. FRAUD CHARGES Angelopoulos, ATHOC chief implicated First instance prosecutor Athina Theodoropoulou yesterday charged businessman Theodoros Angelopoulos and his wife, former Athens Olympics chief Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, with being complicit in attempted fraud, forgery and false statements in a family legal wrangle. The prosecutor also filed criminal charges against the couple’s lawyers, Apostolos and Stavros Georgiadis. Angelopoulos and his wife have been charged in connection with an allegedly forged document presented by their lawyers in 2004 in relation to a lawsuit over inheritance by the businessman’s brother Constantinos. Cyprus talks Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos is to meet United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Paris today for talks on renewing efforts to reunify the divided island. The European Union yesterday approved 139 million euros in aid for the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, funding that had been blocked by a failure to strike a free trade deal between the two sides of the island. Talat surgery Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat underwent a successful heart bypass operation in Istanbul yesterday, his office said. Talat, 54, had the surgery at Istanbul’s Florence Nightingale Hospital after an angioplasty on Sunday revealed a blockage. Talat is in a good condition, doctors said yesterday. Armed robberies A bystander was shot in the thigh yesterday during a botched robbery at a branch of OTE Telecom in Nea Ionia, northeastern Athens. Two armed men attempted to hold up the branch at around 2.30 p.m., but fled empty-handed and were chased by staff and shoppers. One of the robbers fired at the crowd, hitting a 28-year-old Albanian laborer. The victim was taken to hospital, where he is in a stable condition. Meanwhile, three armed men stole 14,000 euros from the Alma construction company in the Kalamaria area of Thessaloniki yesterday. Student critical A 23-year-old student was in a critical but stable condition in a Thessaloniki hospital yesterday after being struck on the head by a group of men who were allegedly trying to steal computers from the Aristotle University in the northern city on Saturday. Doctors said they were hopeful that the victim, Dimitris Yakis, would recover. Yakis and a group of friends tried to stop the thieves. Hymettus rescue Two hikers were safely rescued from a ravine on Mount Hymettus in Attica, authorities said yesterday. Members of the EMAK rescue team were called to the Vamvakias ravine at around 2.30 p.m. after the two used their mobile phones to call the fire brigade and explain that they were trapped. Five rescuers helped the men, who were not injured, out of the ravine.
