NEWS

In Brief

TEMPE WORKS

Minister urges firm to finish highway repairs by Easter Infrastructure Minister Dimitris Reppas said yesterday that he was hopeful that the Vale of Tempe section of the Athens-Thessaloniki highway would be open by Easter, on April 4, but called on the company repairing the road, damaged by a massive rockfall last December, to speed up their work. One person was killed when more than 100 tons of rocks fell on the road in central Greece during heavy rain before Christmas. Work to clear the highway and repair the road surface was delayed as experts studied the site to determine the cause of the rockfall. The government had promised the road would be open by April. «They have to work more intensively,» said Reppas of the company responsible for managing this section of the road, Aegean Motorway SA. «They should send in bigger work teams, because I think they are capable of meeting their targets.» PORTO CARRAS Robbers hit casino jackpot An armed raid at the Porto Carras casino in Halkidiki, northern Greece, early Friday netted the robbers almost 600,000 euros, it was revealed over the weekend. The two armed men, wearing hoods, burst into the casino at 3.20 a.m. and threatened security staff and cashiers with guns before making off with 594,000 euros in cash. Police were studying CCTV footage over the weekend to gain clues. The casino’s management said the building would remain closed until further notice. Missing student Authorities from Crete had been unable by last night to locate a nursing student who went missing from her village near Hania on Thursday. The family of the unnamed 20-year-old said that she left her home to go to a pharmacy in a nearby village. Her car was found near a bridge and all her personal belongings, as well as the car keys, were inside the vehicle. Her family said the woman had been recently suffering from some personal problems. Rowdy party Thirty people that were arrested during a party on University of Athens property in Zografou, eastern Athens, were released from custody yesterday. The suspects were arrested after rector Constantinos Moutzouris notified the police that university property was being destroyed. Riot police and officers from the Delta rapid response team entered grounds as the university asylum that prevents their presence was lifted following Moutzouris’s request. Zagorianos judgment It was announced yesterday that a council of high-ranking judges will convene on Wednesday to decide whether investigating magistrate Nikos Zagorianos, who led the probe into the Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal, should be suspended over dereliction of duty. Bus fire A bus traveling between the Zirineio Stadium in Kifissia, northern Athens, and the suburb of Aghios Stefanos caught fire yesterday. The fire started soon after the bus left Kifissia and all the passengers were able to get off the vehicle safely. The cause of the blaze was not clear.

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