In Brief
Archbishops meet
Ieronymos welcomes Anglican primate in Athens for talks Archbishop Ieronymos yesterday received the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in Athens for talks. During talks attended by clerics from both churches, the two primates expressed mutual respect. Ieronymos described the archbishop of Canterbury as «a sincere friend of Orthodoxy and a student of the teachings of Orthodox dogma.» «The church has played an important role in the history of both countries,» the Anglican primate told reporters. Cyprus warning Talks could fail, UN chief says United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned yesterday that the latest peace initiative on Cyprus could fail if the two sides do not make essential progress by early next year. In a report made public yesterday, Ban said that UN-mediated talks between Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat «could founder fatally… if substantive agreement is not achieved» before elections scheduled to take place in Cyprus and Turkey in the middle of next year. The United Nations chief said the progress of negotiations has been «frustratingly slow.» Air turbulence Air-traffic controllers yesterday called a 24-hour strike for Tuesday in protest at the government’s plans to restructure the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA). HCAA immediately asked an Athens court to declare the scheduled action illegal and abusive. The authority’s request is to be discussed this afternoon. Piraeus extensions Plans to extend the Athens metro and tram networks to Piraeus are on course and expected to begin by the end of 2011, the Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Ministry said yesterday. The ministry’s statement came in response to allegations by opposition parties that the funding earmarked for the Piraeus extensions had been redirected to other projects. The ministry described the claims as an attempt to score political points and stressed that the funding for both planned projects was «secure.» Railway sabotage Three Bulgarians were in custody in Sidirokastro, northern Greece, yesterday after police confiscated some 500 meters of copper cable in their possession. The suspects, two aged 22 and the third aged 29, are believed to have torn up the cabling from a section of the local railway network. Officers also seized metal cutters and other equipment from the suspects, who are believed to have been planning to sell the copper cable on the black market. Canal corpse A Patra coroner yesterday was seeking to determine the cause of death of a man whose body was recovered from the Corinth Canal on Wednesday night. The man is believed to have been aged between 30 and 35. It was not immediately clear whether the man had drowned or had been killed before being dumped in the canal.
