In Brief
MINISTRY WATCH
Progress reports posted on deputy prime minister’s website In keeping with its pledge to foster transparency, the government said yesterday that regular progress reports on how ministers are progressing with the tasks they have been assigned will be published on the website of Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos. The first such report was uploaded yesterday on the site www.antiproedros.gov.gr. It gives voters an indication of how various pieces of legislation are progressing and whether ministries are meeting their targets. Prime Minister George Papandreou has given Pangalos the task of overseeing the effectiveness of the government’s ministers. FLIGHT DISRUPTION Ash delays outbound planes Several aircraft were grounded at airports around the country as a huge cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano spread out across Europe, causing visibility problems. Passengers scheduled to travel from Greek airports over the weekend should contact their airline for information about possible changes to their flights. Teachers’ strikes The executive committee of the Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OLME) yesterday called a 24-hour strike for May 4 and confirmed that its members would be participating in next Thursday’s 24-hour strike by the main civil servants’ union ADEDY. The committee also proposed further strike action as of May 14, the first day of university entrance examinations for senior high school pupils. Unionists said they had failed to find common ground in talks with Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou on Thursday. Armed robberies Police in Athens yesterday were seeking two armed robbers who burst into the supply office at the KAT Hospital in the northern suburb of Kifissia and forced an employee to hand over some 10,000 euros. According to police, the two robbers were both wearing hats and sunglasses and fled without causing any injuries. Meanwhile, in Patra, police were seeking the lone perpetrators of two armed raids on banks in different parts of the western port city. The raids – on branches of Bank of Cyprus and Emporiki Bank – took place within half an hour of each other. Weapons haul Three members of the Roma community from the region of Argolida, in the Peloponnese, yesterday faced a prosecutor in Nafplio. Following a series of raids on Roma settlements across the region, police confiscated several shotguns and a stolen motorcycle. Roadworks The Sternas junction on the Corinth-Tripoli national road will be closed from 7 a.m. on Monday until 2 p.m. on Friday, April 30. The junction is being closed to allow resurfacing work to get under way. Don’t go fish Fishing in the Axios River in northern Greece was banned yesterday, following a decision by Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis. The ban, which aims to protect fish during their reproductive cycle, will be in place until May 31. The ban also applies to all the river’s tributaries and irrigation channels. The Axios is one of Greece’s most heavily polluted rivers.
