In Brief
RAILWAY HALT
No service four out of five weekdays, starting Monday A strike by railway workers next week will mean that there will be no trains anywhere in Greece on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. There will be trains on Thursday, which is a national holiday. The action means that there will be no service on the Proastiakos Suburban Railway, nor will there be any metro trains to the airport. They will all stop at Doukissis Plakentias station instead. The strike was called by the union representing workers at the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), which is opposed to the government’s plans to privatize OSE, leading to wages being cut and some staff being transferred to other areas of the public sector. Koundouros robbed Director in intensive care Film director Nikos Koundouros was attacked and robbed in his Athens home yesterday. Three robbers forced their way into his house in the central neighborhood of Mets. They beat the director, known for films such as «Young Aphrodites» and «The Photographers,» and then stole 3,000 euros in cash from his safe. The filmmaker was taken to the hospital by a friend but, in the meantime, suffered a mild heart attack and was placed in an intensive-care unit. Parliament austerity Parliament will spend some 20 million euros less on MPs wages and other costs next year, according to the draft budget submitted to the House’s economic affairs committee yesterday. The 2011 budget foresees cuts of more than 9 percent compared to this year. This means that MPs will earn a combined total of almost 6 million euros less, while House administrative staff will be paid some 7.5 million euros less. The amount to be spend on renting other buildings will be slashed by 730,000 euros and Parliament’s book expenses will be cut by 270,000 euros. Wasted energy Chief first instance prosecutor Eleni Raikou ordered an investigation yesterday into the sale of gadgets that are supposed to help homeowners reduce their energy consumption. The devices, regularly advertised on TV as being able to halve a household’s energy consumption, are completely ineffective, the General Secretariat for Consumer Affairs discovered. Medicines dumped Two bags full of medicines were found at the bottom of a well near the port of Lavrio, southeast of Athens, yesterday. It is the second time that discarded medicines have been discovered in the area and authorities believe the finds may be linked to a scam to make money from social security funds using bogus prescriptions for drugs. Labor Ministry general secretary Athina Dretta said the discovery was very serious and that systematic efforts had to be made «to close any loopholes so the system does not keep reproducing similar incidents.» Piraeus protest Seamen are due to protest at 10 a.m. today in front of the electric railway station in Piraeus. They will be demanding better passenger ferries, cheaper tickets and more crossings to a range of islands. AEK defeat AEK suffered a 3-0 loss to Anderlecht in Belgium last night for the Europa League group stage via goals by Mbark Boussoufa, Romelu Lukaku and Roland Juhasz. AEK also lost striker Nacho Scocco due to injury.
