In Brief
Greek-German tension
Berlin rebuffs Pangalos claims on WWII reparations A German government spokesman on Wednesday rejected claims by Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos that it still owes Greece reparations from World War II. Responding to comments made by Pangalos to the BBC – according to which Germany «took away Greek money and they never gave it back» – a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said Germany had «made every effort to compensate,» paying 115 million German marks (the equivalent of 59 million euros) to Athens in 1960. «A discussion about the past does not contribute to solving Greece’s problems and has nothing to do with the current Greek crisis,» said Andreas Peschke. Pangalos made his comments following a spate of German press reports describing Greeks as «cheats» and a «burden on German taxpayers.» Cretan slaying Three brothers detained Police in the Cretan prefecture of Rethymno yesterday were questioning three brothers, aged 35, 36 and 40, in connection with the suspected murder of a 35-year-old farmer in the village of Prasses, a few kilometers outside the port of Rethymno, on Tuesday morning. The siblings, who are from the same village as the victim, reportedly deny any knowledge of the incident and claim to have an alibi for the time of the killing. Police said they were also seeking an uncle of the three suspects, aged 45, in connection with the death. Park killing Four Bangladeshi nationals were detained yesterday in connection with the killing of a 22-year-old compatriot whose corpse was discovered in a park in Ilion, western Athens, on January 25. The 22-year-old had been strangled with a scarf and his body covered with grass, according to police. The four suspects, aged 26, 40, 42 and 45, admitted to their part in the killing, police said. The motive for the killing was not clear but police said the suspects had taken the victim’s cellphone and some documents he had been carrying. Blast claimed A little-known terrorist group called Popular Will on Wednesday claimed responsibility for planting a homemade bomb outside the political office of Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis in Peristeri, western Athens, on Wednesday night last week. The device was destroyed in a controlled explosion by bomb disposal experts. The discovery of the device came a day after a blast outside the offices of US investment firm JP Morgan. Fugitives found Two Albanian detainees who escaped from a police station on Rhodes on February 9 by prising open the iron bars on the window of their holding cell and crawling through were found by officers on the island yesterday. Police said the pair were found hiding in a forest. Bootleg goods A raid on a store in Thessaloniki yesterday led to the confiscation of 15,000 bags, wallets and belts that were counterfeits of designer goods, police said. Officers detained an employee and were seeking the owner of the store in the northern city’s Xyladika district.
