In Brief
Sailors released
Pirates free crew of Greek ship taken a month ago off Somalia Pirates yesterday released the 24-member crew of a Greek-owned cargo ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia nearly a month ago. Those released include three Greeks – the captain, first mate and a marine engineer – and were all said to be in good health. The Saint Vincent-flagged Titan, which is carrying a cargo of metal, reportedly resumed its original course to Korea. Easter exodus Heavy traffic as cities empty Traffic on key sections of the national road network was heavy yesterday, with vehicles backed up for 7 kilometers at the Elefsina junction on the Athens-Corinth national highway, and is expected to be similar today as thousands of last-minute vacationers leave the capital. Scheduled flights leaving Athens and ferries sailing from Piraeus were said to be 100 percent full. Tickets were reportedly still available for intercity buses. Ferry collision More than half of the 802 passengers on board the Highspeed 5 passenger ferry were forced to use other vessels to get to their destinations yesterday after a collision in Paros. The ferry struck the quayside in the harbor at 11.15 a.m. Nobody on board was injured. Arson attack Unidentified arsonists caused minor damage to a crane at a metro construction site in Argyroupoli, southern Athens, early yesterday. The attack, which was carried out using a gas canister bomb, caused no injuries. Murder probe Police in Thessaloniki yesterday detained a 29-year-old man in connection with the murder of the 43-year-old owner of a betting shop in the city’s Polichni district. The suspect and another two accomplices who are being sought are believed to have ambushed the 43-year-old outside his apartment block in November 2003, shooting him and robbing him of a briefcase containing 4,000 euros Landfills dumped The European Commission is suspending its funding for the creation of three new waste management centers for Attica in Keratea, Fyli and Grammatiko because the projects are progressing so slowly and because Greece is failing to comply with EU legislation. European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner revealed the EC’s decision in response to a question submitted by Synaspismos Left Coalition MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis. Correction Giorgos Provopoulos was mistakenly referred to as the governor of the National Bank of Greece in yesterday’s front-page editorial. Provopoulos is governor of the Bank of Greece, the country’s central bank.
