In Brief
POLICE TARGETED
Ten youths throw firebombs at officers in third consecutive attack About 10 youths attacked police guarding PASOK’s offices in central Athens yesterday for the third straight day, authorities said. The youths threw firebombs at the officers but there were no reports of injuries. Police responded by using tear gas to disperse the attackers, who managed to flee without any arrests being made. MAKEDONAS BETTER Singer recovering after surgery for spinal fracture sustained in crash Singer Costas Makedonas was yesterday recovering in the hospital after undergoing surgery for a spinal fracture sustained when the helicopter he had been traveling in was forced to make an emergency landing near Mount Parnitha earlier this week. Makedonas left the intensive-care unit yesterday afternoon and is expected to stage a full recovery, doctors said. Another man who had been aboard the helicopter with the singer suffered broken ribs. He is believed to be in a stable condition. TRAIN PROBE No evidence of sabotage in accident An investigation into a train crash in Piraeus in February, when a train carriage undergoing maintenance came off the tracks and killed a bystander, found no evidence of sabotage or mechanical failure. The expert report into the February 2 incident blamed human error and a series of oversights for the train crashing through a wall and striking seven people, one fatally. According to the experts, the train had not been securely demobilized. The Athens-Piraeus electric railway (ISAP) management pledged to introduce additional safety measures to avert similar occurrences in the future. Soccer violence Two soccer fans, aged 20 and 30, were sentenced to four months in jail yesterday for clashing with police in violence that broke out after a PAOK-AEK soccer game in Thessaloniki earlier this month. The two men, PAOK supporters, were found guilty of disturbing the peace after throwing rocks at police. A third suspect, aged 18, was also found guilty of the same charges but not sentenced to prison due to his age. The men were sentenced under a recently adopted law which forbids suspended sentences for hooligan-related offenses. Firecracker arrests Police yesterday arrested the male owner of a minimarket in Astros, on the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, after finding in his store over 18,000 firecrackers that were intended for sale. Separately, a second man, aged 27, was arrested in Kozani, northern Greece, for possessing a small amount of fireworks. Firecrackers are let off at Easter celebrations around the country, often causing serious injuries. Police crack down on the illegal trade in fireworks in the lead-up to the Easter holiday. Natura programs Environmentalists WWF said that most of the areas in Greece that are protected by the EU’s Natura network have not been appointed any body or organization to manage them. In Greece, there are 238 areas and 27 large national parks that have been placed in the Natura program. «Most of these protected areas do not have any management and their boundaries have not been clearly set,» said WWF. Correction The consular section of the US Embassy in Athens will be closed to the public the coming Wednesday, April 30, for administrative reasons, as is the case on the last Wednesday every month. Kathimerini English Edition had incorrectly reported that the embassy would be closed this last Wednesday, April 23.
