In Brief
ATTACK CONDEMNED
Gov’t says torching of Turkish Embassy car is unacceptable The Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned Friday’s torching of a car belonging to the Turkish Embassy. «This is an unacceptable and dangerous act from irresponsible people who have nothing to do with the principles and values of the Greek society and state,» said Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos. The Turkish Embassy car was burned on Friday while parked in Pangrati, central Athens. No one was hurt in the incident and nobody has been arrested in connection to the act. A Turkish Embassy car was also burned in the same area last month. It prompted Ankara to ask for greater security for its diplomats in Athens. TOURISM COOPERATION Greece signs agreement with Turkey Greece and Turkey signed a memorandum of cooperation in the tourism sector yesterday when Greek Tourism Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia met with her Turkish counterpart Attila Koc in Antalya. Petralia said that she discussed with Koc the possibility of Turkey withdrawing a charge of 50 euros that Turks must pay to have their passports reviewed if they want to visit Greece. The two ministers met on the sidelines of the seventh Greek-Turkish tourism forum. Supermarket robbery Thieves broke into a supermarket in Thessaloniki early on Saturday and made away with an estimated 100,000 euros in cash, police said. The store owner told police that the culprits had climbed into the supermarket after cutting a hole in the store’s roof. Samos anniversary Greece and Turkey must establish good-neighborly relations, said President Karolos Papoulias yesterday during a visit to the eastern Aegean island of Samos to celebrate its 94th anniversary since it became part of Greece. «We are working toward better relations and a change of stance from our neighboring country and we hope our policy will meet with an effective response,» Papoulias told the islanders. Heroin arrest Two men, aged 30 and 32, were arrested by undercover police in Halkidiki on Saturday for trying to sell heroin to law enforcement agents. The two men, both Greeks, apparently were in possession of 273 grams of heroin and minor quantities of methadone and ecstasy pills, authorities said. Drug overdose? A 30-year-old man was found dead inside a car in Grevena, northwest Greece, yesterday morning, police said. A coroner was due to inspect the body but officers said that it appeared the unnamed victim was a drug addict. The car was parked outside a supermarket even though the store was closed. Officers said this prompted them to search the vehicle. Serial burglar Police arrested a 27-year-old man on Saturday in the northeastern city of Xanthi on suspicion of involvement in at least 12 break-ins. Officers said that they took the unnamed man into custody after finding stolen items in his possession. Later, the suspect, who is from Thessaloniki, allegedly confessed that he had broken into 12 homes since October 17 and stolen cash and valuables.
