In Brief
BLOCKADES EASE
Thessaly farmers withdraw, tractors stay put in the north Protesting cotton farmers in Thessaly yesterday lifted a five-day blockade of the country’s main Athens-Thessaloniki highway, which had seriously disrupted traffic between northern and southern Greece. Meanwhile, farmers in northern Greece continued to use their tractors to block the Thessaloniki-Veria highway and the old national road linking central and western Macedonia. Farmers from central Macedonia yesterday said they would stand firm until their demands for more extensive crop subsidies – already rejected by Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys – are satisfied. LEGALIZATION Immigrants invited to acquire permanent residence permits An awareness campaign to help immigrants with temporary residence permits obtain permanent permits was launched yesterday by the Interior Ministry in newspapers and other media. More information is available on the telephone hotline: 1464. Meanwhile, Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros said yesterday that a leaflet explaining how to complain against mismanagement in public administration would be published in seven languages – English, French, Russian, Albanian, Polish and Romanian – to help immigrants experiencing problems with bureaucracy. A substantial part of last year’s complaints to the Ombudsman’s office were tabled by immigrants enmeshed in the legalisation process. NO TEHRAN Papandreou cancels visit Scheduled talks on the Middle East crisis between Foreign Minister George Papandreou and his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi were postponed yesterday after problems at Tehran airport obliged Papandreou to return to Athens from Shanghai where he had ended an official visit to China. Diversifying Kathimerini SA shareholders yesterday approved setting up an investment subsidiary specializing in ocean-going shipping. The company will include existing subsidiary Nissos Naxos Maritime, owner of two tankers, Layhill Shipping Corporation, owner of the newly built tanker Thera and Athenais Maritime Corporation, whose ship will be operational in November. Kathimerini SA Chairman Aristides Alafouzos said that the company’s shipping subsidiary profits will reach 10 million euros in 2002. Bank strike Banks will be closed next Friday – April 19 – as bank employees hold a 24-hour strike to demand higher wages and a collective contract, the bank employees’ umbrella union OTOE confirmed yesterday, after its fourth round of negotiations with management representatives failed to bear fruit. OTOE rejected a proposal by bank managers to increase pay by 2.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, for the first and second years of a two-year contract, saying the rate is significantly below inflation. Soccer duel AEK Athens and Olympiakos Piraeus will vie for the Greek soccer Cup in the April 27 final, after winning in the semifinals yesterday. AEK beat Xanthi 1-0 in overtime play, while Olympiakos crushed Iraklis 3-0 in an away match marred by spectator violence. AEK and Olympiakos will also play a crucial game for the championship on April 20. Air defense Cyprus’s anti-aircraft defense system will continue to react appropriately to airspace violations by Turkish aircraft, National Guard Commander Lieutenant General Evangelos Florakis told Cypriot state television yesterday, defending the use of anti-aircraft missile defenses at the Paphos air base to lock onto Turkish fighter jets flying above the base on Friday. Cyprus support British Minister for Europe Peter Hain arrived in Nicosia yesterday to pledge his country’s «strong support» for talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus in preparation for its accession to the European Union. «A new EU with a new Cyprus within it will be better for Britain and better for all Cypriots,» he said. Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash began a third round of face-to-face negotiations on Tuesday. Pirate CDs Police yesterday confiscated hundreds of pirate CDs from two African vendors after stopping them in central Athens. Nigerian national Ansilem Onohoux and Paios Kalou, from Sierra Leone, will be charfed with breaches of the copyright law and tax evasion. Police yesterday confiscated hundreds of pirate CDs from two African vendors after stopping them in central Athens. Nigerian national Ansilem Onohoux and Paios Kalou, from Sierra Leone, will be charfed with breaches of the copyright law and tax evasion.
