In Brief
BATATOUDIS CAUGHT
Ex-PAOK president, convicted embezzler, arrested in Libya Businessman and former PAOK soccer club president Giorgos Batatoudis, who has been wanted by Greek authorities since March 2009 after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzlement, has been arrested in Libya, it was revealed yesterday. Batatoudis was caught after Greece issued an international warrant for his arrest. Batatoudis was found guilty of selling the TV rights to PAOK games between 2001 and 2006 to a company he owned for about a third of the market value. INSIDE JOB? Fare money stolen from bus firm Police yesterday questioned staff at the accounts office of the ETHEL bus company after 120,000 euros went missing from its headquarters in Piraeus on Sunday. Police were unable to find any signs of a break-in and believe that someone at the company must have played a part in the robbery. All of the employees were released after questioning. Train strike There will be no railroad trains running tomorrow as Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) employees stage a 24-hour strike to protest the government’s plans to privatize the loss-making service. Worker action is also expected to disrupt some services today. Voutsinas dies Greek actor Andreas Voutsinas, who starred in more than 20 films, including «The Producers,» has died at the age of 77. During his long career, Voutsinas also coached Hollywood stars such as Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty and Anne Bancroft, before setting up a drama school in France. Route changes Eight bus routes are to be scrapped, two merged and three boosted with more frequent buses, the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) said yesterday. The changes will be implemented by the end of the month and will lead to lines 103 (Kalamaki-Academia), 108 (Ano Kalamaki – Academia), 111 (Aghios Dimitrios – Academia), 245 (Polytechnic – Neos Cosmos), 340 (Glyfada-Pallini), 400 (Sightseeing bus), 525 (Kifissia station – Kato Kifissia) and X92 (Kifissia-Airport) being stopped. Line 746 (Ano Liosia – ODDY) will be merged with Line 711 (Acharnes-Zofria) – the 711 bus will serve all passengers. These changes will lead to 19 buses and 57 drivers being used on other, more popular routes, including lines 109 (Ano Kalamaki – Aghios Dimitrios), 112 (Aghios Dimitrios – Dafni) and 141 (Kalamaki-Dafni). Child abuse Police in Larissa, central Greece, yesterday detained the mother of a mentally disabled 9-year-old boy after finding him tied to a radiator in the family’s basement apartment. Police raided the apartment after being tipped off by neighbors who claimed to have seen her abusing the child. The boy was taken to a hospital. Dead migrant The body of a young man believed to be an African migrant was recovered yesterday from the River Evros, police in Orestiada, northern Greece, said. The man is thought to have been one of a group of migrants who drowned at the end of last month while trying to enter Greece via the Evros from Turkey. Police found the bodies of two Somalis and a Tunisian man, all aged between 20 and 25, in the river on May 26.
