In Brief
STRIKING TEACHERS
Education minister, educators expected to meet on Tuesday Striking teachers are expected to meet with Education Minister Marietta Giannakou on Tuesday in a sign that the month-long strike action might be headed for an end. The Greek Primary School Teachers’ Federation (DOE) along with the Federation of Secondary School Teachers (OLME) said in a letter sent to the ministry that they are expecting an improved response to their pay demands. The ministry, which had previously insisted that teachers go back to work before resuming talks, welcomed the opportunity to meet and said that a final date and time will be set next week. PAMUK PRAISE FM lauds Turkish writer for Nobel win, invites him to Athens Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday sent a letter to Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk congratulating him on winning this year’s Nobel Prize for literature and inviting him to Greece. «The award of this top-ranking distinction is a recognition of and reward for your exceptional literary work,» Bakoyannis said in the letter. «It would be a great joy and honor for us if you were to visit Greece soon,» she added. Until recently, the 54-year-old Pamuk faced prosecution in Turkey after stating that a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds had been killed in Turkey. VOTE RIGGING Bribe allegedly bought support A 44-year-old man alleged to have attempted to bribe cash-strapped citizens into voting for a specific party in local authority elections tomorrow has been arrested, police in Lavrion said yesterday. According to officers, the unnamed man allegedly gave two people 50 euros each last Tuesday and took their police identity cards as guarantees with the promise of giving them a further 50 euros on the day of the elections. Train accident A 25-year-old man was seriously injured at the Aghios Ioannis metro station late on Thursday when an item of his clothing got caught in the train doors, authorities in Athens said. The man was walking out of the carriage when his clothes got caught in the door. He was then dragged by the train for a few meters and fell onto the train tracks before receiving assistance, authorities added. Car torched Two parked cars belonging to a mobile phone company were torched early yesterday in Vyronas, eastern Athens, police said. No one was hurt in the incident. Separately, three cars were damaged in Nea Smyrni, southeast Athens, after a dumpster they were parked close to was set ablaze and the fire spread to the parked vehicles. Bank holdup A branch of Egnatia Bank in Thessaloniki was held up yesterday by two armed man who made away with an unknown amount of cash, police said. The two offenders were armed with guns and escaped from the scene on a motorcycle. Ballots burned A fire broke out in the basement of the Acharnon council, western Athens, late on Thursday and burned more than 6,000 ballot forms to be used for tomorrow’s municipal elections. Police said that the basement door was locked when firefighters arrived, even though people were in the building, which raised suspicion of arson. Municipal officials said that new ballots will be published in time for voters tomorrow. Heating oil The Development Ministry said that heating oil, which went on the market yesterday for the winter period, was being sold at an average price of 0.53 to 0.55 euros per liter. The price is about 0.05 euros cheaper than the same period last year and relates to quantities in excess of 1,000 liters. Pickpockets caught Police said yesterday that they arrested three men suspected of pickpocketing travelers at Athens International Airport. A search of the home the three Algerian nationals shared uncovered 4,500 euros in cash, two digital cameras and a video camera.
