In Brief
TEEN TRIALS
December 2008 rioters to appear at juvenile court Eleven minors charged with a variety of offenses for their participation in the riots that rocked Greece in December 2008 will be tried by a juvenile court, it was announced yesterday. The 11 boys, whose names were not released, had been arrested by police officers during the week-long riots that were sparked by the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by a police officer. Last March, an appeals court reduced the number of crimes with which they were being charged and downgraded them from felonies to misdemeanors. Their trial is set to commence in Larissa on December 9. EMERGENCY LANDING Officials on thwarted flight An Athens-bound flight from New York, which was carrying Citizens’ Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis and Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis, among others, was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday at Manchester Airport. The Delta Airlines Boeing 767 flight, carrying 231 passengers and 12 crew, requested permission to touch down at the airport in northern England early yesterday morning after the pilot became concerned of possible mechanical problems. The aircraft was inspected by maintenance workers and cleared for takeoff. Airport drugs A sniffer dog at Athens International Airport alerted narcotics officers to the luggage of a 24-year-old Greek woman traveling back from Sao Paolo in Brazil, authorities reported yesterday. A search of her luggage revealed more than 3 kilos of cocaine wrapped in five separate parcels. The young woman, who is the daughter of veteran soccer player, according to sports site sport.gr, had flown to Athens via Madrid. Homeless shelter The City of Athens yesterday announced it would be inaugurating a new shelter for the homeless on Monday at 6 p.m. The Hotel for the Homeless, as the establishment has been named, is located in a building bequeathed by a Greek in Istanbul, Lena Pantelidou, to the City of Athens Homeless Foundation. It has a capacity of 60 beds in single and double rooms, private bathroom facilities and medical and psychological support staff. Compensation In a unanimous decision yesterday, Parliament decided to award compensation to the children of armed forces pilots who have been killed in the line of duty since 1996. The decision said that Parliament would pay a set annual stipend to the 29 children of pilots who have died in the past 14 years until they reach the age of 18 or, if they study at university, until they reach 25. Strange death Police and fire service officials are investigating the mysterious death of a man found charred beyond recognition yesterday afternoon. The body of the man, who was not identified, was found in the driver’s seat of a car on a country road between Sekliza and Kastania, near Thessaloniki in northern Greece. Train update Disruptions to Greece’s railway services will continue today as Hellenic Railway Organization (OSE) employees walk off the job 9 a.m. to noon in protest at government plans to deregulate the sector.
