In Brief
Olympic cancellations
Dozens stuck in Athens due to technical problems Some 150 passengers due to fly to Thessaloniki were stranded at Athens International Airport yesterday after their Olympic Airlines flight was grounded due to technical problems. Passengers complained that they waited more than two hours before being informed their flight would not take off. OA offered to put passengers on a flight the following day. Another four flights, including those to Brussels and Istanbul, were canceled yesterday due to technical difficulties. Passengers due to fly to Naxos were instead bused to Piraeus and put on a ferry to the island. Cyprus killings Ankara gets rap for deaths of two men on island in 1996 The European Court of Human Rights yesterday ruled that Ankara was responsible for the deaths of two men on Cyprus in 1996. Greek Cypriot Anastassios Isaac was beaten to death during a protest rally that year, while Solomos Solomou was shot dead three days later while trying to take down a Turkish flag at Isaac’s funeral. The court ruled that the two men «were killed by agents of the Turkish state» and that «force was not justified.» Ankara was ordered to pay 340,000 euros in damages to the victims’ families, Reuters said. University upheaval A group of leftist students at Thessaloniki’s Macedonia University yesterday disrupted elections for a director of the institution’s information technology faculty, stealing and destroying the ballot boxes. It was the latest in a series of similar protests by students at various universities. Ikea recall The general secretary for consumer affairs, Yiannis Economou, yesterday announced the withdrawal of a sleeping bag for infants manufactured by Swedish firm Ikea, saying it could be a safety risk. According to Economou, the zipper on the sleeping bag (code-named Barnslig) is inadequately attached and could pose a choking risk if swallowed. Consumers can call Ikea’s customer service helpline on 801.112.2722 for more details. Neglected addicts The various forms of support that Greek legislation foresees for drug addicts are not being offered and users often get saddled with heavy penalties for misdemeanors, the director of the Center for Addicted Individuals (KETHEA) said yesterday during a presentation of the center’s figures for last year. «Users should be in society, not in jail,» Haralambos Poulopoulos said. KETHEA called on the government to boost funding for programs aimed at reintegrating addicts into society. Young hearts More than 900 children are born in Greece every year with serious heart problems and some 700 of those will need to undergo surgery at a young age, doctors at the Pediatric Cardiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center said yesterday as they presented their statistics for the last 12 months.
