In Brief
Cyprus visit
Karamanlis heads to Nicosia, may meet Putin later this week Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is due to arrive in Nicosia today for what will be the start of a busy week of diplomacy for the Greek premier. Karamanlis will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis for talks with Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias following parliamentary elections in the Turkish-occupied north of the country. On Friday, Karamanlis will travel to the Bulgarian capital Sofia to take part in an international summit on the use of natural gas in Europe. He is expected to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the meeting. BEE LINE Large nest removed in Serres Firemen collaborated with a beekeeper yesterday to remove a nest of some 6,000 wild bees from the window ledge of an abandoned house in the center of Serres, in northern Greece. The swarm of bees entering and leaving the hive reportedly had caused panic among residents in the city center. The bees were scooped into a special case and removed from the area. Palaiocostas hospitalized Nikos Palaiocostas, the brother of recently escaped convict Vassilis Palaiocostas, was admitted to the University Hospital in Patras yesterday after complaining of chest pains. Nikos Palaiocostas, a convicted serial robber who is serving a lengthy prison sentence at Aghios Stefanos Prison in Patras, was due to undergo a series of tests late yesterday. Vassilis Palaiocostas is still at large after escaping from Korydallos Prison in February. Underage sex A Cambodian court yesterday charged a Greek national with paying for sex with an underage girl, Agence France-Presse reported. The 62-year-old Greek and a 61-year-old Frenchman are alleged to have paid a 15-year-old girl in Phnom Penh to have sex with them. The pair face lengthy jail sentences. Peloponnese tremor An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale shook parts of the Peloponnese yesterday but did not cause any damage or injuries. The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 11.06 a.m., was in the sea off the coast of Methoni, southwest of the Peloponnese. Lucky miss Police in the Cretan port of Hania yesterday were seeking the motorist who crashed into a bus stop near the city center early yesterday before hitting a tree, a trash can and a wall and then driving off. No one was injured. Holy row Police in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, have detained a 60-year-old priest alleged to have opened fire on a 30-year-old disabled man with an air gun, causing him a minor leg injury, it was reported yesterday. The victim, whose disability was not clear, was given first-aid treatment at a hospital and then discharged. Dodgy products The Development Ministry’s General Secretariat for Consumers has received a sharp increase in complaints about imported products, particularly children’s toys and clothes, that pose safety risks, authorities said yesterday. A total of 1,866 products were found to be problematic last year, a 16 percent increase on 2007.
