In Brief
BUS STOPPAGE
Service suspension today set to add to traffic congestion There will be no green buses in Athens between 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. today because the ETHEL bus company drivers are meeting to prepare for their general assembly. The suspension of service was announced yesterday afternoon and will inconvenience commuters headed for Athens International Airport, who will have to use the Proastiakos Suburban Railway. It will also cause hassle in the parts of Athens where metro stations have been closed since Saturday, since trains now stop at Ethniki Amyna station. Commuters using the Halandri and Doukissis Plakentias stations were offered a bus replacement service instead but this will not be available for much of today either. The suspension of part of the metro’s Line 3 has already led to extra cars on the roads. The average speed on Mesogeion Avenue has dropped from 15 km/hour to 8. TRIGGER-HAPPY ROBBER Police dodge bullets in Menidi A 25-year-old man who fired a gun at police yesterday from the window of his home in Menidi, northern Athens, without causing any injuries, is believed to have been behind two robberies in nearby Acharnes over the past week. Police said the suspect had been firing his gun at random from his window when they were called to the scene and that he then began firing at them. The suspect’s mother eventually managed to disarm him, according to police, who said the suspect attacked them with a knife as they tried to handcuff him. UEFA Cup Olympiakos suffered a shock 3-1 home loss to French side Saint Etienne last night in the first leg of the third round of soccer’s UEFA Cup. Goals by Ilan, Geoffrey Dernis and Bafetimbi Gomis gave the visitors a clear advantage ahead of the return leg in France next Thursday. Predrag Djordjevic scored Olympiakos’s consolation goal from the penalty spot. Turkish violations Four Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space over the Aegean islet of Farmakonisi yesterday and were chased off by four Greek jets. The Turkish Phantoms flew over the islet at an altitude of 1,500 feet. Murder probe Police in Thessaloniki yesterday were investigating the circumstances of the death of a 33-year-old Albanian whose badly beaten body was found on a road near the small town of Katerini by passers-by. According to a coroner, the victim died after sustaining massive blows to the face, forehead and chest. Poor marks The head of an examinations center in eastern Thessaloniki was given a suspended six-month jail sentence after being found guilty of forgery but eight exam markers were acquitted in connection to the remarking of university entrance exams. The case concerned English papers on which the marks were changed in the summer of 2007. Lost bag Police in the coastal suburb of Glyfada were yesterday looking for the owner of a lost bag discovered in the area on Tuesday night which contained more than 7,800 euros in a black wallet and Croatian identity papers. Officers patrolling the area found the bag in the street.
