NEWS

In Brief

WEIGHTLIFTER CONVICTED

Disgraced Olympic medalist gets jail sentence for doping Weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis, who was stripped of his bronze medal in the Athens 2004 Olympics after a doping test revealed abnormally high levels of testosterone, was sentenced to six months in jail yesterday. The 34-year-old athlete, who denies any wrongdoing, was released after appealing the sentence. Sampanis, who won silver medals in 1996 and 2000, claims he could have been slipped a banned substance without his knowledge. ROADS DAMAGED Heavy rain on Thursday causes subsidence in parts of Athens Heavy rains in Athens late on Thursday caused subsidence on roads in seven different areas, authorities said yesterday. Roads showed signs of partially giving way in central Athens, Dafni, Halandri, Petroupolis, Gerakas and Kamateros. A car was damaged in Dafni when part of the road caved in, dragging with it the nearby parked vehicle. TWO EARTHQUAKES Moderate tremors stir Corinth Two earthquakes measuring 4.1 and 4.2 on the Richter scale yesterday shook the Corinthian Gulf in central Greece, the Athens Observatory’s Geodynamic Institute said. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The tremors were recorded at 4.58 a.m. and 11.03 a.m. with an underwater epicenter around 150 kilometers west of Athens. Crooked official Police on Rhodes have been questioning a 38-year-old municipal official believed to have provided dozens of foreigners with documents certifying their applications for residence permits, without having received the necessary paperwork from the applicants. The unnamed woman was arrested on Thursday after 46 files for such applications were discovered in her car, officers said yesterday. The police said their investigation may be extended to municipal authorities on other islands in the Dodecanese. Fatal shootout A 28-year-old ethnic Greek from the former Soviet Union and another man were killed in a shootout in the Athens district of Kallithea on Thursday night, police said yesterday. The men involved in the shootout, which occurred outside a former horse-racing track, had probably been involved in a financial dispute, police said. The 28-year-old had been charged for smuggling contraband cigarettes in the past, officers said. Ioannina Airport Ioannina Airport yesterday remained closed all day, with all inbound and outbound flights being canceled due to heavy fog over the entire northwestern prefecture. The thick fog also caused problems on roads in the region. Trafficker arrested A Turkish national was arrested on the eastern Aegean island of Samos yesterday accused of human trafficking, police said. The suspect is believed to have earlier smuggled into Greece nine illegal immigrants, including four children, who had been detained. Police added that the suspect, who denied the charges, was identified by the immigrants. Rape suspect A 29-year-old man from Kashmir was arrested in Piraeus yesterday for attempting to rape a 15-year-old girl, police said. The suspect, identified as Mohammed Imran, is accused of trying to abuse the teenager at a building lot but was stopped by neighbors who responded to the girl’s cries for help. Suicide threat A 43-year-old council employee gave himself up to authorities in Piraeus yesterday after threatening to set himself on fire if he was not paid 250,000 euros he said was owed to him. The council owed the money to a construction company in which the man, Pavlos Sidiropoulos, owned a stake. Sidiropoulos had doused himself in petrol but was convinced by his colleagues to turn himself in after the standoff lasted for more than two hours.

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