In Brief
BOURBOULIA YIELDS
Ex-judge due in Athens today after giving herself up in Paris Former judge Constantina Bourboulia left Paris last night after surrendering to Greek authorities yesterday. Bourboulia, who was accompanied by two Greek policemen, is expected in Athens early this morning. The former judge is wanted in connection with an alleged trial-fixing ring and stock market manipulation. SAILOR WALKOUT Union calls strike for Wednesday protesting civil mobilization The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) yesterday called a 24-hour strike for Wednesday, protesting the government’s failure to lift a measure of civil mobilization, imposed upon the sailors at the end of last month following a week of strike action in order to oblige them to go to work. Unionists called for the measure to be lifted immediately. GREEK-TURKISH TIES. Bakoyannis and Gul talk in Vienna «Greece believes in Turkey’s EU prospects as long as the preconditions and prerequisites for membership are fulfilled,» Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said after meeting her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul for the first time on the sidelines of an EU summit in Vienna. The ministers described their 20-minute meeting as «constructive» and Bakoyannis invited Gul to visit Athens. False alarm A 17-year-old male who told doctors at a hospital in Ioannina, central Greece, that he was suffering from bird flu was diagnosed yesterday as having the common cold. Doctors said that the teenager appeared at the hospital late on Thursday and claimed to have contracted the virus by working at his family’s bird farm. Authorities said he had made a similar claim in the past. Weather warning Authorities issued a weather warning yesterday for most parts of the country this weekend with snow expected in the north as of Monday. Heavy rainfall and storms are expected today and tomorrow in central Greece, the Peloponnese, Crete and northern parts of the country. Hunger strike Fourteen of the 28 illegal immigrants being housed at an immigration center on the Aegean island of Samos started a hunger strike yesterday, authorities said. The migrants are protesting a decision by local authorities to turn down their request to be freed earlier than the three-month minimum period dictated by law. Fatal fire A 55-year-old man died from smoke inhalation yesterday when his apartment in Palaio Faliron, southeast Athens, caught fire while he was sleeping. Authorities suspect that a candle started the fire, as the electricity had been cut off. Firefighters managed to put out the blaze before it spread to other apartments in the building. Drying plant The Environment Ministry signed a deal for the construction of a sewage-drying plant on the islet of Psyttaleia, near Piraeus, it said yesterday. The plant is scheduled to be completed in May 2007 and will cost 25 million euros. Illegal immigrants Coast guard officials in Patras yesterday arrested a 38-year-old truckdriver after an inspection of his vehicle revealed four illegal immigrants. In three separate incidents at the same port, authorities detained seven more immigrants who were hidden on different trucks due to leave the country. Bad food Piraeus prefectural authorities said yesterday that in February they confiscated 124.5 tons of animal and fish food products that were unfit for consumption. The bad food was discovered at supermarkets, restaurants and storage facilities, among other areas. The majority of the food confiscated was canned fish and milk. Murder arrest A 40-year-old man, a foreign national, was arrested yesterday in connection to the murder of a Indian man that took place in November 2004 in Athens, police said. While being questioned about the murder, the accused confessed to police that he killed the man, aged 37, after they got in a fight over money.
