NEWS

In Brief

LANDFILL PROTEST

Police and locals clash in Keratea ahead of construction Residents of Keratea, southeast of Athens, clashed with riot police yesterday and on Saturday as they attempted to prevent efforts to construct a new landfill in the area. Police used tear gas on both days and several people suffered minor injuries as officers attempted to stop angry locals from blocking the site in the Ovriokastro area. Keratea and Grammatiko, northeast of Athens, were designated several years ago as the sites where Attica’s new landfills would be built but the schemes have been held up by legal wrangles and residents’ protests. PSOMIADIS IN CUSTODY Judge remands insurance boss Pavlos Psomiadis, the president of the defunct Aspis Pronia life insurance firm, was remanded in custody on Saturday on charges of fraud and money laundering. Psomiadis concluded before a magistrate in Athens on Saturday the testimony he began on Friday. The original session was suspended after Psomiadis was attacked by investors who had lost money when Aspis Pronia went bankrupt. ADEDY action The civil servants’ union, ADEDY, decided on Saturday that it would join in with the strike action this week. Civil servants will stage a work stoppage tomorrow between noon and 3 p.m. During that time, a rally will be held outside Parliament. ADEDY members will also be taking part in a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday. Siemens probe The parliamentary committee investigating the Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal has decided to extend the deadline by which it must deliver a report to the House to January 20. The MPs made the decision after the head of the police’s electronic crimes squad, Manolis Sfakianakis, said that his officers needed until January 15 to collect data from the computer hard drive of former Siemens Hellas CEO Michalis Christoforakos’s secretary as well as from the main server at the Siemens offices in Athens. EU push Greece backed Serbia’s European Union bid on Saturday while calling for a clear time-frame to be set by 2014 for all western Balkan states. During a visit to Sofia, in Bulgaria, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas described 2018 as a «realistic date» for Serbia’s EU accession. Droutsas was holding official talks with his Bulgarian and Serbian counterparts, Nikolay Mladenov and Vuk Jeremic. Toxic death A Pakistani immigrant was found dead yesterday in a warehouse in the village of Aghioi Apostoloi, in the Peloponnesian prefecture of Laconia, after inhaling toxic fumes. Four more people, also from Pakistan, were found in a semiconscious state after lighting a wood fire in a metal barrel to protect themselves from the cold. The four are receiving medical care. Police are investigating the incident. Fuel leak An Aegean Star passenger ferry was leaking fuel yesterday after it hit the jetty at the port of Lesvos. The crash caused an 8-meter gash in the side of the ship. Port officials and volunteers were making efforts to pump fuel out of the boat’s tank. The environmental damage caused by the leak has not yet been estimated.

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