NEWS

In Brief

EX-PREMIER DENIAL

Karamanlis denies calling EU-IMF pact ‘necessary evil’ Former Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis never said that the emergency loan agreement between Greece and the European Union and International Monetary Fund was «a necessary evil,» the ex-New Democracy leader’s aides said yesterday, rejecting claims that had appeared in the media. It was alleged that the phrase had been used by Karamanlis during a meeting with business representatives earlier this week. However, Karamanlis’s office insisted that he did not use those words and that his position on the memorandum was no different to ND’s official stance, which is to oppose it. Since losing the October 2009 elections, Karamanlis has not commented publicly on his time in office nor on developments since PASOK came to power. BAR SHOOTOUT Man in hospital after attack A 30-year-old man was in the hospital yesterday after being shot by a pair of gunmen who burst into a bar in the Thessaloniki district of Stavroupoli shortly before 5 a.m. and opened fire on him. The assailants, a Greek man and an immigrant, were arrested after a patrol car saw their vehicle fleeing and gave chase, finally cornering them in a field in the area of Halastra. The victim, whose ethnic origin was not determined, was not believed to have been seriously injured. Food fight An Albanian man who attacked two fast-food delivery workers in Patissia, close to central Athens, late on Thursday night was in the hospital with stab wounds yesterday after the victim of the second mugging turned the robber’s knife against him. The mugger had been accompanied by two accomplices, also Albanians, in both cases. In the first attack, the trio cornered the delivery boy as he was getting onto his scooter and tried to take his wallet after threatening him at knifepoint. In the second attack, the delivery worker disarmed the assailant. The two accomplices remained at large yesterday. Balcony plunge A 22-year-old Frenchman was in a serious condition yesterday after falling from the balcony of a 6th-floor apartment block in the run-down district of Aghios Panteleimonas, near central Athens. The man was in the intensive-care unit of the KAT Hospital in Maroussi, northern Athens, last night. Police were investigating the circumstances of the fall. Turkish overflights The Greek armed forces said yesterday that four Turkish fighter jets and two reconnaissance planes from the neighboring country entered Greek air space just after 1 p.m. yesterday without submitting flight plans and then flew over the small Dodecanese island of Farmakonisi at a height of 22,000 feet. The Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek fighter jets and returned to Turkey’s air space. Indian cooperation Greece and India signed a bilateral agreement in Athens yesterday to cooperate in the areas of education, research and technology. The cooperation will involve the join funding of several research and technology projects. The agreement is one of 30 such bilateral deals that Greece has signed.

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