NEWS

In Brief

METRO STOP

Protest by employees to delay this morning’s service The Athens metro will be only partly operational this morning due to a strike over the nonrenewal of short-term work contracts. From 5 a.m., when the service begins, until 10 a.m., trains will only be stopping at the stations of Syntagma, Omonia, Monastiraki, Attiki and Doukissis Plakentias in order to help commuters switch over to the ISAP electric railway or the Proastiakos suburban railway. Travelers wanting to get to Athens International Airport by train during the protest will only be able to do so on the Proastiakos from Doukissis Plakentias station. Otherwise, they can use the regular buses, which depart from Syntagma (number X95), the Kifissos Intercity Bus Station (X93) and Piraeus Port (X96). WILDFIRES Russians can extend stay In a measure to lend its support to fire-stricken Russia, the Greek government announced yesterday that it will be allowing Russian citizens who are on holiday in Greece to remain in the country until September, irrespective of when their travel visas expire. The Foreign Ministry also said that the Greek Embassy in Moscow will continue to operate as usual. Meanwhile, the government announced that it will be sending a special disaster relief unit to help Russian firefighters in the battle against deadly wildfires on the outskirts of Moscow that have claimed 54 lives. In a telegram to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister George Papandreou expressed his condolences for the families of the victims and pledged Greece’s support. Droutsas warning Just a few days after an impromptu meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Rhodes, Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas issued a stern warning to Ankara about infringement in the Aegean. Although the mood during the meeting between the two men on Friday appeared to be positive, Droutsas’s comments yesterday were forceful by diplomatic standards. «We demand that Turkey lives up to its word, there is no more room for provocations or slyness,» he told reporters. Highspeed halt The Highspeed I ferry will not be departing from the port of Piraeus today according to an announcement yesterday by Hellenic Seaways, the operating company, which added that passengers booked on the Highspeed I will be taken to their destination by other vessels. Illegal smokes Narcotics squad officers yesterday seized 3-million euros’ worth of contraband cigarettes at the port of Piraeus. Investigators discovered nearly 1,200 packets of cigarettes in two shipment boxes labeled as containing office supplies, which came into the country on July 19 on ship from Egypt. It is believed that the shipment was destined for Bulgaria. Hit-and-run fatality Corinth traffic police are looking for the driver of a car responsible for the death yesterday of a 48-year-old woman. Police reports say that the vehicle slammed into the woman, whose name was not made public, as she was trying to cross the old Athens-Corinth highway outside Aghious Theodorous yesterday and that the driver subsequently drove off, abandoning the victim.

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