In Brief
LESSONS CANCELED
Two more schools shut down after pupils contract H1N1 virus Another two schools were closed temporarily yesterday – a primary school and a kindergarten in the Cretan prefecture of Hania – after several pupils there displayed symptoms of swine flu. The schools in Crete have been closed for a week, at the behest of the Health Ministry, following the closure of another four schools in Attica, two state institutions and two private ones. Meanwhile, another two secondary school pupils in Thessaloniki were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus yesterday. Panagiotis Efstathiou, the head of the Health Ministry’s operations center, predicted a steady increase in infections among schoolchildren, expected to climax in two or three weeks. VISITORS BEWARE Some sites closed on Sunday Many museums and archaeological sites will be closed tomorrow due to national elections, the Culture Ministry said yesterday. Museums that usually open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday will instead be open from 8.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. In any case, visitors are advised to call ahead before making a trip to museums or ancient sites. Halandri bomb Police said yesterday that forensic experts did not find any fingerprints on a time bomb found in a Halandri apartment that has been linked to the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire urban guerrilla group. However, the fingerprints of three people sought by police were found on the bomb’s plastic wrapping. All at sea Three PASOK parliamentary candidates and six other people who went missing in an inflatable boat near the northern Aegean island of Psara yesterday afternoon were discovered in good health just hours later by the crew of a rescue helicopter. Those on board the boat lost their bearings while on their way to the nearby island of Chios and called for assistance. The vessel was spotted 10 nautical miles northeast of Psara. Teen arrests Two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were arrested in the southern Athens suburb of Palaio Faliro yesterday on suspicion of theft and possession of drugs. Members of the police’s motorcycle «Z» squad caught the suspects after they had allegedly stolen a motorbike. Officers also discovered 12 grams of cannabis in the youths’ possession. Billboard protest Dozens of relatives and friends of motorists who have been killed in accidents involving illegally erected street billboards yesterday staged a protest rally on Kifissias Avenue, near the Hygeia Hospital, where a fatality occurred last month. Protesters invoked a ruling issued in 2007 by the Council of State calling for the removal of promotional billboards from roadsides because they distract motorists, often with fatal consequences. Motorcycle fatality A 22-year-old woman was killed yesterday and a 30-year-old man left in critical condition after the latter lost control of the motorcycle he was driving and crashed into a metal barrier separating the road from the sidewalk in the northern city of Serres. The woman, who was a passenger on the motorcycle, was killed instantly. Neither she nor her companion had been wearing helmets.
