In Brief
GIANNAKOU ILL
Former education minister in intensive care after heart attack Former Education Minister Marietta Giannakou was yesterday in the intensive-care unit of the Henry Dunant hospital in Athens after suffering a heart attack following a minor surgical cleansing of her right leg, whose lower section was amputated two weeks ago. Surgeons amputated Giannakou’s right leg below the knee to avert the risk of an infection that developed on her leg following a fracture that had failed to heal. METRO STOPS No trains before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. due to industrial action Metro workers are due to stage two work stoppages today, from the start of their shifts until 9 a.m. and from 9 p.m. until the end of their shifts. The employees are demanding the classification of their jobs as unhealthy and hazardous and therefore eligible for more generous pension and healthcare benefits. DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL Some 200 films for Thessaloniki «My Life and Times: Michael Cacoyannis,» a profile of the renowned Greek Cypriot director by Lydia Carras, will premiere at the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on March 7, organizers said yesterday. Some 200 films, some Greek but mostly foreign, will be showcased exploring the harder edge of modern life, next to numerous tributes and side events. The festival will run through March 16. (Page 7) Tax dodgers Greece is set to ask German authorities for a list of any Greeks suspected profiting from an international tax evasion scheme using bank accounts in Liechtenstein, sources said yesterday. The scheme was recently uncovered and a number of countries have asked for details of the names on the lists that have been obtained by German authorities. Homicide suspect Police arrested a 26-year-old Albanian national in Athens yesterday in connection with the shooting of a police officer and the murder of another man. The suspect, who reportedly used dozens of different names, is believed to be responsible for the murder of an Albanian man in Omonia in April. Police said there were dozens of outstanding warrants for his arrest in connection with shootings, robberies and armed holdups. Fatal collision Rescue workers had to cut the body of a 44-year-old taxi driver out of the wreckage of his car early yesterday after it collided with a train on a level crossing a few kilometers west of central Athens. It appears that the taxi driver ignored electronic warning signs in front of the level crossing and drove on, right into the path of the oncoming commercial train. The train, en route to Thriaseio from Piraeus, dragged the cab more than 500 meters before stopping. The train driver was not injured. Rotten pork Prefectural officials in Piraeus said yesterday that they have confiscated 6.1 tons of meat unfit for human consumption, including 500 kilos of frozen pork kebab meat infected with salmonella. The meat was seized in a series of raids on meat factories and warehouses in the Piraeus area over the past three days. Meanwhile the Hellenic Food Authority called for the withdrawal of a batch of figs produced in Evia after inspectors in Thessaly found that they contained substances which could cause allergies when consumed. Green eggs A veterinarian in Trikala, central Greece, became the talk of the town yesterday when he put on display two green eggs laid by the hen of a friend. Animal doctor Nikos Pallas said that the eggs were probably green because of something that the hen ate. Bank raid Two armed robbers held up a bank in Lamia, central Greece, and made off with an estimated 85,000 euros yesterday. The cashier had just deposited a larger amount of cash in the bank’s safe. The robbers’ getaway car was found a couple of kilometers from the bank but there was no sign of the perpetrators.
