NEWS

In Brief

MARATHON WORKS

Appeal against broadening route ‘unacceptable,’ court rules The Council of State has rejected as «unacceptable» an appeal by residents of eastern and northeastern Attica and local conservation societies against broadening the Marathon race route for the 2004 Olympics, court sources said on Saturday. Residents of Aghia Paraskevi, Stavros and Marathon had lodged their appeal in July after the government issued a legislative act for a series of expropriations and alterations to the landscape. Protesters say the action is unconstitutional and contravenes EU legislation. MIGRANTS INTERCEPTED 27 stopped in port of Patras Port authorities in Patras were yesterday detaining 27 Iraqi Kurds and their eight suspected smugglers caught on Friday and Saturday trying to board ferries to Italy. Police arrested German national Ali Hassan and Lithuanian Asta Lycakiene on Friday after finding four migrants in their car, and Italians Salvador Termini and Anna Mastrolembo after discovering eight migrants in their trailer. On Saturday, police arrested Italians Antonio Militello and Samantha Sante after finding 10 migrants in their trailer, and German nationals Osman Aslan and Halik Yildirim who were carrying four migrants in a car and one migrant in a trailer, respectively. 5.0 quake A strong undersea quake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, struck off the coast near Vartholomio, in the western Peloponnesian prefecture of Ileia, just before 11 p.m. on Saturday. The quake, which caused no damage or injuries, was felt in Patras and on the Ionian island of Zakynthos. Oil slick Port authorities on Saturday supervised the clean-up of an 800-meter-long oil slick – spotted off the coast beside the Motor Oil refinery at Aghioi Theodoroi, near Corinth – by a team of the oil firm’s employees. Port authorities also conducted a spot check on ships anchored near the refinery. Three workers contracted out to Motor Oil died at the same refinery last Tuesday after inhaling poisonous hydrogen sulphide fumes in a reactor they were cleaning. Vartholomaios visit Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios is due to arrive in Athens on September 29 for a four-day official visit during which the city’s Agricultural University will confer upon him an honorary doctorate.

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