In Brief
VATOPEDI VERDICT
Parties, minus ND, to deliver their findings on Monday The parliamentary committee investigating the Vatopedi real estate swap is due to deliver its findings to the House on Monday. It is expected that the report, which will be signed by the PASOK MPs who form the majority on the committee, will suggest that five ministers in the previous New Democracy government should be indicted and face a special court on a range of charges. The Communist Party, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) will deliver their own judgments. New Democracy will not produce a report, as it walked out of the committee proceedings as it felt that it had turned into a witch hunt against former conservative ministers. SHIPYARDS DEAL Ministry confident of agreement A multimillion-euro deal for the United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi MAR Group to buy ThyssenKrupp’s majority stake in Hellenic Shipyards, also known as Skaramanga, will be concluded by October 22, despite fears earlier this week that the agreement could be scuppered, the Defense Ministry said. The statement was issued after Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos met with both parties. The deal to transfer ThyssenKrupp’s 75.1 percent stake to Abu Dhabi MAR was announced on September 19 but this week it emerged that several outstanding tax and legal issues could prevent the purchase from going through. Erdogan visit A meeting between Prime Minister George Papandreou and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan – when the latter visits Athens on October 21-22 for an international conference on environmental sustainability in the Mediterranean – will take place in the context of «improving Greek-Turkish relations,» Erdogan’s office said in a statement yesterday. Erdogan also visited Athens for talks in May. Tempe rockfall The Athens-Thessaloniki national road was closed briefly yesterday after rocks fell on the highway at the Vale of Tempe, central Greece. Nobody was injured but a truck was damaged. The Tempe section of the highway was closed for several months after a massive rockfall last December in which an engineer was killed. Tipoff off The Greek basketball season will not get under way this weekend after the players overwhelmingly voted to go on strike yesterday over pensions and social insurance coverage. School rape Authorities in Hania, Crete, said yesterday they are investigating allegations that a 16-year-old boy raped a 15-year-old girl at a local high school. The girl reported the incident to police the next day, saying that the boy had forced her into the bathroom during a break and assaulted her. Corfu museum Corfu’s archaeological museum closed yesterday for repair work. It is not known when it will reopen. Kythnos tornado The Cycladic island of Kythnos was hit by a small tornado late on Thursday that uprooted 15 electricity and phone polls. It also caused damage to boats, cars and homes but there were no reports of any injuries.
