In Brief
Cyprus officially protested to Pakistan yesterday over the illegal visit to the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island by Pakistan’s Ankara-based military attache. Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the visit by Colonel Javet Iqbal afforded full Pakistani support to the Turkish-Cypriot authorities. Nicosia fears that Turkish Cypriots will seek recognition at today’s meeting in Quatar of foreign ministers from states belonging to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. (AFP) Sfinias MFD official’s heirs exempt from property confiscation A Piraeus court yesterday ruled that two banks seeking the repayment of funds lent to the former managing director and vice president of Minoan Flying Dolphins, Pandelis Sfinias – who killed himself after last September’s Express Samina ferry disaster off Paros – can only claim assets owned by the deceased until his death. The court rejected demands by Eurobank and Alpha Bank for the confiscation of property belonging to Sfinias’s widow and children. Freak accident Truck hits house, killing two A truck carrying building materials went out of control in Polichi, Thessaloniki, yesterday afternoon after its brakes failed, sending it crashing into a home and killing the two occupants, 75-year-old Eirini Stoltidou and her 54-year-old daughter, Georgia Piperidou. The truck driver, Giorgos Palaskas, and seven other people were injured in the crash. Poetess dies. Eleni Vakalo, a prize-winning poetess and the wife of artist Giorgos Vakalo, died of cancer in Athens yesterday at the age of 80. Born in Istanbul, Vakalo came to Greece in 1922 and studied literature in Athens and art history in Paris. She received the state poetry prize in 1991. Strike off. Staff on the Kifissia-Piraeus section of the urban rail network yesterday called off a 24-hour strike planned for tomorrow. Patricide. A mentally disturbed man arrested on Monday on suspicion of stabbing his father to death, dismembering the corpse and eating some of the body parts, will testify before an investigating magistrate today. Vassilis Polemis, 31, allegedly killed his father, Stamatis, in their Ambelokipi apartment where neighbors said the 75-year-old had kept him locked in, refusing to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. Well death. An Albanian workman, Verban Afrim, 26, was killed falling down a 75-meter-deep well in the town of Elefsina, west of Athens, yesterday morning. French visitor. General Yves Crene, the French Army Chief of Staff, arrives in Greece today for a four-day official visit at the invitation of his Greek counterpart. Station drama. Train services were back to normal at the station in Drama, northern Greece, yesterday, after a symbolic sit-in by three parliamentary deputies of the ruling PASOK party, the regional governor, mayors and their staff along with workers from the Softex paper mill. The sit-in was in to draw attention to problems at the mill, which employs a large number of local residents. Sex-for-stardom. The trial of Cypriot musician and TV presenter Doros Georgiadis, 52, for indecent assault on a minor and several adult women was set yesterday for October 15 in Nicosia. The trial is to be conducted behind closed doors. Georgiadis is accused of assaulting a series of women who came to him over the past 12 years for music lessons, in the hope of entering show business. He allegedly told them that having sex with him would improve their delivery of love songs. Popular singer and composer George Seidaris faces similar charges. British Consulate. The Consular Section of the British Embassy will be closed to the public on October 18 and 19 for major building works at the embassy, the embassy said yesterday. Extremely urgent or compassionate cases will be dealt with by contacting the Consul on 727 2600. The building works will continue until mid-December. A normal passport and consular protection service will be provided but with delays. The Visa Section for foreign nationals during this period will be by postal application only.
