In Brief
TERRORISM
Greek-US efforts have made progress, ambassador says Greek-US efforts to combat terrorism in Greece have made progress and should lead to the arrest and punishment of terrorists in due course, US Ambassador to Greece Thomas Miller told the security conference Exposec in Athens yesterday. US firms have the expertise to greatly boost security at the Olympic Games but will be discouraged if announcements for contract competitions are delayed, Miller added. Athens 2004 Managing Director Yiannis Spanoudakis said an extra 600 million dollars had been secured to boost security at the games. CYPRUS TALKS No answers, Denktash says, as UN deadline approaches None of the issues in the ongoing Cyprus talks have been resolved and the two sides are merely exchanging opinions, Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday, adding that tomorrow’s scheduled meeting between himself and Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides is off and that the two leaders will meet again next Tuesday. The leaders will have their final meeting on July 2, after which UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto is due in New York to brief the Security Council on progress, Denktash said. ROHAMIS AWOL Arrest warrant out for retired criminal A warrant was issued yesterday for the arrest of Vangelis Rohamis, Greece’s most famous retired criminal, after police failed to find him at his home village of Lefkandi on Evia where he is under investigation for allegedly shooting a fellow villager. Rohamis, 52, was granted a conditional release from prison two years ago, after spending most of the previous 30 years behind bars. He is now accused of having shot and lightly injured Yiannis Simitzis, 36, during a drunken brawl outside an ouzo bar near the village earlier this month. Rohamis’s lawyer said her client would present himself to the investigating magistrate «in a day or two.» Stationery Greek courts will be furnished with adequate funds to cover their stationery needs, the Ministry of Justice promised yesterday after the union of Council of State judges appealed for contributions to a collection to buy paper and ink because their public funding had run out. Illegal buildings The regional governor of western Attica, Perikles Papapetrou, yesterday received a 10-month jail sentence – suspended for three years – after an Athens appeals court ruled that he had violated his duties by failing to order the demolition of two illegally built homes in Vilia and Mandra. Hit-and-run A 74-year-old man was killed early yesterday morning in a hit-and-run by a motorist heading toward the capital on the Athens-Corinth national road. Dimitris Kaselakis had been trying to fix his car, which had broken down about 46 kilometers outside Athens, when the unidentified driver ran him over and then sped off. Papandreou Prime Minister Costas Simitis attended a memorial service yesterday to mark six years since the death of Andreas Papandreou, the founder of the governing Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK), at Athens’s First Cemetery. The service was also attended by Parliament Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, PASOK General Secretary Costas Laliotis and many other party members and supporters. Cypriot virility Viagra is used by a greater proportion of the male population of Cyprus than that of any other European country apart from Sweden, an international sexology conference in Limassol heard yesterday. Navy week Navy enthusiasts can look forward to the arrival of dozens of ships at ports across the country, official tours of ships, displays by navy divers, and musical performances by the Hellenic Navy’s band with the launch of «Navy Week» next Sunday June 30, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. Details of the event’s agenda can be found at www.hellenicnavy.gr. Costly publicity An Athens court yesterday sentenced a man to 12 and a half years in jail for the rape of a 26-year-old mother near Mount Parnitha more than five years ago. Constantinos Kranidiotis, 46, was arrested after his victim saw him on a reality television show discussing his marriage with his wife.
