In Brief
Travel warning
FM reacts to attack on Greek tourists in resort of Ohrid The Foreign Ministry yesterday warned Greeks to show «particular caution» when visiting the neighboring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia following a violent attack on five busloads of Greek tourists in FYROM’s southeastern resort of Ohrid. «Greek citizens are encouraged… to be particularly cautious and prudent concerning their own safety and that of their property while staying or passing through [FYROM],» the ministry said in a statement. The attack resulted in serious damage to some of the coaches and minor injury to two of the tourists. «The sad incident in Ohrid merely shows that the pre-election rhetoric of [FYROM Prime Minister Nikola] Gruevski had an impact – we’re very sorry about that,» Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said. Police shake-up Chief of force keeps his post The chief of the Greek Police, Vassilis Tsiatouras, remained in his post yesterday following a reshuffle of the force that saw four top-ranking officials sent into retirement. The fact that Tsiatouras was kept in his position was widely expected, as Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos had defended the police chief following the December riots. Strong quake An undersea earthquake measuring 5 on the Richter scale occurred in the southeastern Aegean in the early hours of yesterday morning but no damage or injuries were reported. The epicenter of the quake was in the undersea area between the Dodecanese islands of Kos and Astypalaia, experts said. The quake occurred shortly after midnight. Guard in clinic A 23-year-old jail guard accused of opening fire at oncoming motorists on a country road in western Crete last Thursday, killing a 50-year-old man and seriously injuring a 45-year-old, was yesterday transferred to the psychiatric clinic of Korydallos Prison. The guard had been due to face an investigating magistrate today on charges of murder and attempted murder but the magistrate deemed that he was not in a fit state to do so. Turkish violations Two Turkish fighter jets flew at an altitude of 7,000 feet over the Fournoi island group yesterday and another eight violated Greek air space over Chios and Lesvos, defense sources said. Rightist ‘guilty.’ An Athens prosecutor yesterday proposed that a prominent member of the extreme-right Chrysi Avgi group be found guilty of the attempted murder of left-wing student Dimitris Kousouris, who was seriously injured in an attack at a cafe outside the capital’s main court complex in Evelpidon in June 1998. Antonios Androutsopoulos, who is better known as Periandros, had been on the run from 1998 to September 2005 after being accused of the attack on three leftist students, including Kousouris. He denies any involvement. Bank raid Unidentified assailants targeted a branch of Marfin Popular Bank in the central Athens district of Zografou late on Monday, destroying the ATM outside it but causing no injuries. The assailants used an improvised explosive device comprising gas canisters.
