In Brief
VARTHOLOMAIOS IRE
Patriarch attacks Christodoulos over his ‘expansionist’ tendencies Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, has sent a letter to Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church of Greece, warning him not to try and extend his authority to fulfill his «personal goals,» sources said yesterday. Vartholomaios issued the warning after the Church of Greece launched a Europe-wide student essay competition about the Apostle Paul. Christodoulos does not have authority over Orthodox churches outside Greece and this initiative was seen as an «expansionist move» by the Patriarchate. The two religious leaders have clashed in the past over similar disputes. ALEX INVESTIGATION Boy denies part in classmate’s death One of the five schoolboys accused of killing 11-year-old Alex Meshivili yesterday denied having any part in the child’s disappearance in Veria, northern Greece, last February. The 12-year-old Romanian told magistrate Michalakis Georgiou in Thessaloniki that he knew the other four suspects but, in contrast to original testimony, claimed he had not been with them on the night that Alex disappeared. The boy’s lawyer said the five boys’ original testimonies will not be admitted as evidence. A 13-year-old Albanian boy is due today to be the third of the five accused to testify. Students’ trial An Athens misdemeanors court is today to hear the trial of 49 students who were arrested on March 8 when protests against the government’s education reforms triggered some of the worst street violence the capital has seen in years. The students, most of whom are from Thessaloniki, are charged with disturbing the peace, trying to cause grievous bodily harm and forming a gang. Seven professors from Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, who have dismissed the charges as «legally groundless,» are due to testify on the students’ behalf. Missing children The search for missing children in Greece will be facilitated by a new regulation allowing the photograph and details of these children to be posted on the Public Order Ministry’s website, the Greek Police Department said in a statement yesterday. The information will be uploaded onto the site (www.ydt.gr) subject to the approval of the parents or guardians of each missing child, police said. Citizens who have information about missing children should telephone Attica Police at 210.642.2936. Drug find Police said yesterday they had found 252 kilos of cannabis hidden on a stolen truck near the Greek Albanian border in the Konitsa region. The driver of the truck and a male passenger, both Albanian nationals, were arrested by police.
