In Brief
KYPRIANOU ‘CRITICAL’
Doctors have little hope for Cypriot former president Former Cypriot President Spyros Kyprianou was in critical condition with little chance of recovery, doctors said yesterday of the 69-year-old politician who was diagnosed with pelvic cancer last summer. Kyprianou was admitted to a hospital in Nicosia after his condition deteriorated on Saturday. He is credited with leading the island’s economic recovery during his 1977-1998 presidency following the 1974 Turkish invasion. President Glafcos Clerides visited Kyprianou yesterday in hospital. EXPRESS SAMINA Criminal charges pressed against sunken ferry’s owner The owner of the Express Samina ferry, which sank off Paros in September 2000 with the loss of 80 lives, is to appear before an investigating magistrate today on the island of Syros, after criminal charges were pressed against him this weekend. Costas Klironomos, chairman of Minoan Lines and the former chairman of Minoan Flying Dolphins – which own the Samina – is charged with endangering human life by failing to provide the vessel with adequate lifesaving equipment and urging staff to make false statements about the ferry’s seaworthiness. Klironomos’s legal adviser Nikolaos Vikatos is also due to appear in court on the same charges. So far, 15 people, including the ferry’s captain – released on bail in January – have testified in the case. TRAM APPEAL Palaio Faliron residents oppose project A group of local residents from the coastal Athens suburb of Palaio Faliron yesterday tabled an appeal with Greece’s supreme administrative court, the Council of State, against the construction of a tram line along the sea front from Glyfada to Palaio Faliron. They claim the tram line, which will start at Zappion in central Athens and is due for completion for the 2004 Olympics, will destroy the waterfront and prevent their access to the sea. Olympic strike Olympic Airways unions yesterday called a strike from 8-11a.m. next Wednesday, to protest against the latest salvation plan for Greece’s ailing state carrier. The plan, announced after a privatization effort drew no credible bidders, calls for the loss of 2,000 jobs. Violating religion Amnesty International has sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry urging Greece to show interest in the case of a Greek man who has been in prison in Iran for the last three months on charges of having baptized his child a Christian. Vassilis Antoniadis, 57, has dual Greek and Iranian citizenship and is married to a Muslim woman. The charge of «violating religion» is so serious that Antoniadis has been kept in solitary confinement. A conviction could lead to his being sentenced to death. Iranian President Mohammed Khatami begins an official visit here tomorrow. Hospital strike State hospitals will be functioning with a skeleton staff from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow as nurses, paramedics and managers hold a work stoppage. Workers, demanding extra staff and a collective employment contract, will meet at 11 a.m. in Mavili Square, central Athens before marching to the interior, economy and health ministries. Narrow escape The driver of a bus carrying 45 schoolchildren in northern Greece suffered a fatal heart attack at the wheel yesterday. Nobody was hurt as the vehicle, driven by Vassilis Ouzas, 58, was going slowly when it crashed into a parked tractor in the village of Lofos in the northern region of Pieria. Euro 2008 Foreign Ministry and Football Federation officials met yesterday to discuss plans for Greece and Turkey to host the 2008 European football championship together. The project had gone awry after Turkish Premier Bulent Ecevit’s proposal last week for Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus to be included in the bid. Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Magriotis said Greece’s position was that the joint bid should proceed. Afghan aid A total of 70,433 euros (24 million drachmas) has been raised to educate Afghan children in a charity telethon organized by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf in collaboration with the fourth-annual Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and UNESCO, the organizers said yesterday. The account is open for contributions: Account No: 128-00-2002-002887, at Alpha Bank, Syntagma Branch.
