In Brief
PRIMARY EDUCATION
Government insists children go to nursery school before classes The government said yesterday that it is overturning a law passed by the previous New Democracy administration that would have allowed children to enter primary school without having first spent time at a nursery school as of next year. Deputy Education Minister Evi Christofilopoulou said that only children who are at a nursery school, even one without an operating license, this year would be admitted to primary school next year. She said the government aims to make it compulsory for children to have two years of preschool education before starting classes at primary school. H1N1 VIRUS Another death takes total to 20 A 37-year-old woman who tested positive for the H1N1 virus last week died yesterday, bringing the number of fatalities linked to swine flu in Greece to 20. The overwhelming majority of those who have died have had underlying ailments. The inoculation of citizens between the ages of 18 and 49 continued yesterday. Exarchia protest Members of a residents’ association in the bohemian central Athens neighborhood of Exarchia said yesterday that they intend to file a suit against the police due to their behavior in the district. The residents said that they are unhappy that officers are allegedly repeatedly making unnecessary arrests and using violent methods to detain suspects. Vathis Sq mugging A man was stabbed during a mugging in Vathis Square, central Athens, late on Monday, police said yesterday. Witnesses reported seeing two men attacking the victim, an immigrant who was not named, in the square. The robbers, who stole 200 euros and a mobile phone, ran off and the victim was taken to the hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening. Political priests Bishop Nikolaos of Fthiotida yesterday revealed that he has punished six priests for taking an active role in the New Democracy leadership election last Sunday. It was not revealed exactly what the priests had done but the bishop said that he had received complaints from some of his flock. The type of punishment was not revealed either, but Nikolaos said that the Church of Greece strictly forbids its priests from taking an active role in politics so they are not seen to support a particular party. Bloody raid The manager of a branch of ATEbank in the small town of Mytika in the Peloponnesian prefecture of Aetoloacarnania was in the hospital yesterday after being shot at by two robbers during a raid early in the morning. The robbers fled with an unidentified sum. The extent of the manager’s injuries was unclear. ATM theft Unidentified thieves yanked an ATM of Pancretan Bank from the wall in the Cretan port of Iraklio yesterday and fled with some 90,000 euros in cash the machine was believed to have contained. Police found two trucks, one mounted with a crane, and the tools believed to have been used by the thieves in the mountain village of Psiloriti, near Anogeia.
