In Brief
Rail strike
Action by OSE employees to hit domestic trains and Proastiakos Train travel throughout Greece is likely to be severely disrupted today due to rolling three-hour work stoppages by employees of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE). In a statement, the company said that only trains coming from outside of Greece or those headed to neighboring countries would be allowed to travel on the railway network. The Proastiakos Suburban Railway will also operate on a severely reduced timetable. FYROM warned Papoulias in stinging attack President Karolos Papoulias issued a stern warning to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia yesterday about what he called its «expansionist vision» during a speech in Litohoro, Pieria, northern Greece, yesterday. Papoulias accused Skopje of «usurping Greece’s historical and national heritage,» and called on the neighboring country’s leaders to «show the political will needed to approach negotiations with a constructive attitude without nationalist or anachronistic practices.» Papoulias was due to officially open the 38th Mount Olympus festival last night. Flu treatment A 45-year-old British woman who is on holiday on Crete is being treated for swine flu symptoms, hospital authorities revealed yesterday as the number of people suffering from the potentially fatal disease in Greece rose to 258 although 128 of them have been given the all clear by doctors. Officials said that 16 new cases of swine flu were confirmed in Greece yesterday. Ten of these cases were foreigners. Speedboat crash One person was killed and another three seriously injured when two speedboats collided in the sea off Nea Styra in western Evia on Saturday. Authorities said that the accident occurred in the morning when the skipper of one of the speedboats failed to see that the other vessel had stopped. Two more people that were on board were not hurt. Gunned down A 46-year-old man was found dead in the Neoi Epivates area of Thessaloniki early yesterday. The man, who was not named, had been shot several times but the reason for the attack was not immediately clear, police said. Socratous fire A fire broke out early on Saturday in the abandoned appeals court building on Socratous Street, which is a temporary home to dozens of illegal immigrants. Nobody was injured in the blaze, which spread through the top floors of the building. Firefighters soon put out the fire but reported that some of the migrants pelted them with rocks and other objects. Farmer killed A 74-year-old farmer was killed on Saturday when a river burst its banks near the village of Mavrouda in northern Greece. The flash flood was caused by sudden heavy rain, authorities said. Omonia drive-by Three people were injured near Omonia Square at about 1 a.m. on Saturday after someone in a passing car shot them, police said. The three victims, all foreigners, were taken to hospital where they were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
