NEWS

In Brief

NAME ONLY

UN talks will not touch on any other subjects, says FM Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said yesterday that a new round of United Nations-sponsored talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will focus solely on the name dispute between the two countries and no other issues. UN mediator Matthew Nimetz invited representatives of the two sides to negotiations in New York on August 14 and 15. The invite comes in the wake of FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski raising the subject of a so-called Macedonian minority in Greece. «The negotiations have only one subject: the name and the wider application of the name,» said Bakoyannis. «Greece will go into these negotiations with the same positions, which are already known.» CADASTRE DEADLINE No change to September date The head of Ktimatologio SA, the company in charge of managing the land registry, denied yesterday that an extension would be given to property owners to submit their real estate declarations for registration in the cadastre. «Based on the current situation, there is no reason for an extension to be given,» said Ktimatologio general manager Costas Kyriazis. The deadline for the first round of declarations is the end of September but it had been rumored that this would be pushed back to the end of the year. Kyriazis said that 800,000 declarations – roughly 15 percent – had so far been submitted. He foresees more than 30 percent being handed in by the end of this month. Digital lag All of Greece’s TV channels will broadcast their programs digitally by 2015, Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos said yesterday. State broadcaster ERT already has three digital channels and Roussopoulos said that, as of November 1, other TV stations will be able to begin digital transmissions. The European Union had wanted all channels to switch to the digital format by 2012. Dump opens Representatives of three municipalities around Thessaloniki agreed late on Monday to allow the Tagarades landfill to reopen temporarily. Under the agreement, which came after days of negotiations, the local officials consented to all kinds of household rubbish being transferred to the dump until the end of the month. After that, they will allow only the dumping of processed waste at Tagarades, until November 6, when a new landfill will open at Mavrorachi. Highway pileup Two people were killed and four injured in a three-vehicle pileup on the Athens-Patras national road near Tripolis yesterday. The accident, which involved two cars and a truck led to the closure of the highway for one hour. Iraklion shooter A 36-year-old man was yesterday charged with attempted murder in Iraklion, Crete, after opening fire on police officers. The 36-year-old was chased through the streets of the city before being arrested. His father was also charged with not keeping his weapon under proper guard. Cash takeout An armed robber stole 1,500 euros in cash from a fast-food outlet in Thessaloniki yesterday. The unidentified man threatened staff before riding away on a motorcycle, police said.

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