In Brief
RUSSIA TENSION
Athens says Moscow should not be isolated over Georgia Greece warned yesterday that the European Union and NATO should not isolate Russia over its conflict with Georgia. Athens has condemned Moscow’s decision to recognize the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries but believes that dialogue with Russia should be maintained. «In the current international environment, it is logical that Russia’s relations are going through a critical phase,» said Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos. «But for us it is clear that isolation is not a solution.» Koumoutsakos did not respond to comments from Russian ambassador Andrei Vdovin who criticized Greece for adopting a harsher stance against Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia than when other states approved Kosovo’s independence. GANG RAPE Iraqi charged over attack A 20-year-old Iraqi national yesterday faced an Athens prosecutor on charges of gang-raping a 13-year-old Albanian youth along with nine fellow Iraqis in the western district of Aegaleo. The 10 men are alleged to have dragged the youth to a local wood and to have raped him repeatedly there. Free travel Disabled people living in the prefecture of Athens can from Monday pick up cards that allow them to travel free on public transport, it was announced yesterday. Some 48,000 cards will be given out at Citizen Service Centers (KEP) and Social Welfare Directorates until the end of the year. Airspace violations Turkish fighter jets violated Greek airspace 11 times yesterday, Defense Ministry officials said. The eight Turkish F-16s came within 300 feet of the islet of Agathonisi before being chased away by Greek aircraft, the officials said. FYROM persists The president of Skopje’s parliament Trajko Veljanovski yesterday notified his counterparts in the European Union and other major countries of the adoption of a resolution seeking the return of properties supposedly lost by citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) who left Greece during the Greek civil war. In his note, Veljanovski also refers to a supposed Macedonian minority in Greece. Patient suicide A 40-year-old female outpatient of a psychiatric clinic yesterday jumped out of the first-floor window of a police station in Ilioupoli, southeastern Athens, after being detained on charges of theft. After police dropped the charges on the grounds of the woman’s psychological problems, the parents of the 40-year-old arrived to take her back to the clinic. But the woman pretended she needed to go to the bathroom on the first floor where she opened the window and jumped. Guard beating A guard of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University sustained minor injuries after being beaten by a group of hooded assailants on Thursday night. The university’s rector Anastassios Manthos said he was saddened at the incident, which followed a spate of attacks against university staff in May and June.
