In Brief
CULTURAL CENTER
Lauded Italian architect Renzo Piano chosen to design new complex Renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano has been selected to design a new cultural complex in the Faliron Delta in southern Athens. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation said yesterday that it had selected Piano’s architectural firm to give shape to the complex, which will also house the National Library and the Greek National Opera, currently without a permanent home. The award-winning architect was the co-designer of the Pompidou Center in Paris and a 310-meter skyscraper known as «The Shard» which is to be built in London by 2011. «I have always loved the crisp light and the lively breezes of Greece: The building will have fresh air to breathe and healthy life,» said Piano. REVENGE KILLING Man shot seven times while sitting in an Internet cafe in Athens A 25-year-old man died late on Wednesday night after being shot seven times in an Internet cafe in Petralona, southern Athens. The victim, an Albanian national, was shot at around 11.30 p.m. in what police believe was a settling of scores. The 25-year-old was taken to the hospital but died at 2.30 a.m. yesterday. No arrests had been made by last night. CORINTH RUBBISH Temporary solution to trash problem Residents of Corinth, west of Athens, will have a temporary respite from the growing piles of trash in their city after municipalities from surrounding areas agreed to dispose of small amounts of rubbish to alleviate the problem. No garbage has been collected from the streets of Corinth since Friday because there is no more room at local landfills. Most of the nearby municipalities have agreed to between one and three rubbish trucks dumping trash in landfills in their area. Obama backed US Senator Barack Obama was overwhelmingly the favored presidential candidate of Democrats Abroad who voted in more than 30 countries, including Greece, earlier this month. In results announced yesterday, 65.6 percent of Democrats living outside of the USA voted for Obama compared to 32.7 percent for Senator Hillary Clinton. The results mirror almost exactly the outcome of voting in Greece, where Obama garnered 64.1 percent of the votes, while Clinton got 34.4 percent. A total of 451 votes from Democrats in Greece were counted. «We saw a great diversity of voters taking part in the process, including many first-time voters,» said Beth Hondros, chair of Democrats Abroad Greece. The results mean that Obama won 2.5 delegate votes and Clinton two delegate votes. A further 2.5 votes will be determined at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in April. Fraudsters caught Police in Thessaloniki yesterday arrested five suspected fraudsters believed to have embezzled nearly 130,000 euros from banks by using the personal details of a group of drug addicts. The suspects are alleged to have approached the addicts, saying that they could help them make money if they provided them with some personal details. They used photocopies of the addicts’ police ID cards and fake pay slips to secure the bank loans as well as 14 credit cards, police said. Four drug addicts were detained for questioning. Buried fetus A Bulgarian woman was admitted to the hospital in Iraklion, Crete, yesterday after her neighbor allegedly witnessed the 35-year-old burying a fetus in her garden. The police were called and an officer established that the Bulgarian woman had been pregnant with the baby. It was not clear if she suffered a miscarriage. A coroner was last night examining the fetus while doctors were checking on the health of the woman. Busy burglars Two men have been arrested in Hania, Crete, on suspicion of conducting a series of more than 30 burglaries that netted them some 105,000 euros’ worth of stolen items, police said yesterday. One of the suspects is Greek and the other is a foreign national. Officers are looking for a third man thought to have been involved. Dealers arrested Police in Athens yesterday detained four Albanians, aged 17 to 27, after the youngest tried to sell 1.5 kilos of cocaine to an undercover policeman. The other three men were allegedly involved in procuring the drugs and arranging the meeting.
