In Brief
NAME DISPUTE
Washington ‘unhappy’ with FYROM’s appeal to The Hague The USA was disappointed, according to sources at the American Embassy in Athens, with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s (FYROM) decision last week to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Greece of breaching a United Nations-backed bilateral agreement when it vetoed Skopje’s bid to join NATO in April. According to US diplomatic sources, the State Department feels that this move has now ended any possibility of resolving the name dispute between Greece and FYROM before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. HELLENIKON APPEAL Lawyers object to water park The Athens Bar Association yesterday filed an appeal with the Council of State asking the country’s highest administrative court to prevent the Canoe and Kayak center at Hellenikon, southern Athens, from being turned into a water park. The lawyers argue that the facility, used for the 2004 Athens Olympics, will also house stores and other business premises for which there has been no appropriate feasibility study. The government plans to turn the Hellenikon site into Europe’s largest metropolitan park. Papadopoulos stable Former Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulou was yesterday in stable condition, doctors in Nicosia said. Papadopoulos, 74, was admitted to an intensive-care unit in the Cyprus capital on Saturday suffering from acute respiratory problems. Fatal shooting A 35-year-old man died yesterday after being shot in the stomach by a man nearly twice his age in Ormylia, Halkidiki. The 77-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the incident. Police said the circumstances of the attack were unclear. Hemo recall The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) yesterday warned consumers who have purchased the Hemo vitamin drink to return it to their retailer as it may contain shards of glass. EFET issued the statement after a consumer complained about finding small pieces of glass in a jar of the product. Jars of the drink mix with the batch number L8F10 and expiry date 06/2010 will be withdrawn from stores, EFET said. Disorder in court Scheduled work stoppages this week by court workers will disrupt court proceedings until the end of the week. The stoppages are to be held daily between the peak hours of 9 and 11 a.m. Staff are calling for an increase in hiring and a boost to their financial benefits. Land register Homeowners declaring their properties on the land register this week face fines of up to 250 euros per right on the property as the final deadline for registrations was last Friday. However those who submit their declarations by December 12 will be liable for only half the penalty. House fire A 58-year-old man and his elderly mother died in the border village of Delvinaki, in the northwestern prefecture of Ioannina, when a fire broke out in their home. According to the fire service, both were partially disabled and unable to escape the blaze.
