In Brief
NIKOS KAKAOUNAKIS
Well-known journalist dies after surgery complications Journalist and newspaper publisher Nikos Kakaounakis died at the age of 71 late on Wednesday, December 30. Doctors said that he suffered complications following surgery on his intestine. Kakaounakis was the publisher of the Karfi weekly but was also known for his regular appearances on TV talk shows and news programs. Kakaounakis started his journalistic career working for To Vima daily in 1965 and went on to work for numerous other publications, radio stations and TV channels. «He was a charismatic person and represented a generation that defined itself through reporting and investigation,» said Prime Minister George Papandreou in his message of condolence. «He had an opinion and always expressed it without fear.» CAROLER MUGGINGS Three caught in Thessaloniki Two minors and an adult were being held by police in Thessaloniki yesterday on suspicion of mugging children who had been singing carols in the northern port city. Police said that the three suspects, aged 15, 16 and 22, were seen threatening a group of six children in the Retziki area of Thessaloniki. Some of the children’s parents who witnessed the mugging chased the trio, apprehending the two teenagers. Police arrested the third suspect shortly after. Officers said that during questioning, the suspects admitted to taking 50 euros from another group of children after threatening them with a knife. Armed robberies A pair of armed robbers targeted a patisserie in Thessaloniki shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve, fleeing with some 9,000 euros, police said. According to the manager of the store, the two masked perpetrators threatened him into handing over the week’s takings at gunpoint before fleeing with the cash. Later yesterday two armed assailants held up a gas station a few kilometers outside the northern port city. According to police, the two assailants, who had been wearing motorcycle helmets, threatened the gas station employee at knifepoint. They fled on a motorcycle with an undetermined sum. In Meteora, central Greece, another two robbers fled with 150 euros after threatening the manager of a street kiosk at gunpoint. Suspected suicide A 68-year-old priest found dead in his car, with wounds from shotgun pellets to his head and chest, probably committed suicide, police in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, said on Thursday. The cleric was found in the driving seat of his car, which had been parked on the side of a country road linking Ioannina to Trikala, with a shotgun lying next to him, police said. Emergency landing An Egyptian Airlines aircraft which had been en route to Germany from Cairo yesterday lunchtime was forced to conduct an emergency landing at Athens International Airport after the plane developed engine problems. The aircraft had been flying over the eastern Aegean, with 100 passengers on board, when the problem arose. The pilots requested permission for an emergency landing, which was executed safely.
