NEWS

In Brief

POLICEMAN CRITICAL

Condition of officer shot in the head last Friday deteriorates A 30-year-old police officer, shot in the head last Friday in the central Athens district of Kypseli, underwent a second operation yesterday after his condition deteriorated. The officer, a member of the police’s new Delta Force, set up to crack down on rising crime in the capital, was shot on Friday night after a gunmen approached him from behind while he was interrogating a foreign national believed to be acting suspiciously. Police believe that the assailant and the suspect, who fired at the officer’s colleague, belong to a Russian organized crime network operating in the capital. Shipowner hospitalized Agoudimos overdoses on pills Shipping magnate Gerasimos Agoudimos was yesterday recovering in a private clinic after swallowing a large amount of pills. The 70-year-old owner of the GA Ferries line was admitted to the Asclepieio Hospital in Voula, southern Athens, where his stomach was pumped twice. Doctors speculated that Agoudimos had attempted to commit suicide but this was not confirmed by last night. Wrong bus An Afghan youth who strapped himself under a bus leaving Athens with the aim of smuggling himself into Italy found himself in Poland after a 30-hour trip, Polish authorities told Agence France-Presse yesterday. Polish transport mechanics discovered the 19-year-old after checking the bus, border guards said. The youth had strapped himself to the underside of the gear box using a belt, they said. The 19-year-old was said to be cold and exhausted but otherwise in good health. Hospital disruptions The operation of state hospitals around the country will be subject to disruption this week as employees launch rolling work stoppages, demanding the recruitment of additional staff and better working conditions. Meanwhile, renewed action by medical suppliers, who are protesting the failure by hospitals to pay off large debts, is expected to leave many hospitals marginally stocked. Pensioner murdered An 83-year-old woman was murdered and raped in her home in the village of Katochi, near Mesolongi, police said yesterday. The unnamed woman was found dead in her bed after having been badly beaten. Officers said that there were no signs that anyone had forced their way into the woman’s home. Corruption probe The Hellenic Center for Infectious Diseases Control (KEELPNO) is under investigation for the alleged squandering of public money and hiring staff that did not meet regulations, it was revealed yesterday. Following a preliminary investigation, magistrate Dimitris Economou has taken on the case and is expected to issues charges against specific individuals as soon as possible as some of the alleged crimes date back to 2005 and will soon fall under the statute of limitations. Sit-in debate Dozens of self-professed leftist demonstrators, who yesterday concluded the 20th day of a sit-in at the administrative offices of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, convened last night to decide whether to continue their action.

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