In Brief
GRENADE ATTACK
Hit on home of Intralot CEO causes no injuries Police forensic experts yesterday were examining the remnants of a hand grenade that unidentified assailants hurled at the house of Constantinos Antonopoulos, the chief executive of betting services provider Intralot, in the affluent northern suburb of Kifissia, early yesterday morning. The grenade detonated in the front yard of the house, causing no major damage and no injuries. According to forensic experts, fragments of a cell phone were discovered in the remains of the hand grenade. Police believe the perpetrators attached the phone to the grenade to confuse them. KALLIMARMARO REOPENING Public to get access in April The Panathenaic Stadium, the ancient stadium that was renovated for the 1896 Olympics, is to reopen to the public in mid-April, a Culture Ministry committee revealed yesterday. Entrance to the stadium, also known as the Kallimarmaro, is to cost 3 euros, the commitee said, noting that information points would be set up for visitors on the site. Access to the seating area of the stadium is currently forbidden, though athletes use the gravel track running around it for practice and nearby Ardittou Hill is popular with locals taking walks. Brutal mugging A woman was attacked in Nikaia, near Piraeus, late on Thursday by two assailants who hit her with iron bars before taking from her a bag that reportedly contained some 14,000 euros. The extent of the woman’s injuries was unclear. Earlier in the day, an unidentified assailant threatened an 80-year-old woman in the district of Petralona at gunpoint, forcing her to hand over 200 euros. The woman was unhurt. Firm probe Officers from the police’s financial crimes unit were yesterday probing the accounts of a company called Sirina after it hit the headlines for producing and distributing a pornographic DVD featuring celebrity Julia Alexandratou. According to the myriad of press reports on the subject, thousands of copies of the DVDs were sold within days. Trash woes Municipal street cleaners will not be gathering trash over the weekend as landfill workers stage a 48-hour strike in protest at the government’s austerity measures. Landfill workers have also planned a four-hour work stoppage on Wednesday when they are due to march to Parliament. Rhodes fire A fire that broke out yesterday on forestland in the municipality of Kritinia, in the western part of the island of Rhodes, ravaged some 60 hectares of land, the local fire service said. It is thought that the blaze was the result of negligence rather than arson. The spot had been the focus of a reforestation initiative led by Skai Radio and Television last weekend. River rescue Members of the fire service in Evros yesterday rescued a 37-year-old motorist whose car was swept away after the Ardas River broke its banks. The firemen managed to reach the 37-year-old with the aid of a boat.
