NEWS

In Brief

AEGEAN TENSION

After buzzing jetliners, Turkish fighters fly into Athens FIR, Greek airspace As government officials in Athens and Nicosia deplored Thursday’s harassment, by Turkish fighters, of a Greek and a Cypriot passenger jet in the south-eastern Aegean, 10 formations of Turkish military jets infringed on the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) for a second day yesterday in the northern and central Aegean. The intruding jets, which in several cases entered Greek airspace, were chased off by Greek fighters. In three cases, this was preceded by mock dogfights. DETERMINED UK planespotters return to scene of last year’s arrest Three British planespotters, acquitted on Wednesday of spying charges after being arrested – along with another 11 enthusiasts – a year ago at an open day at a military airport outside Kalamata, yesterday revisited the scene of their arrest. Paul Coppin, his wife, Lesley, and Steve Rush were not carrying any recording or observation equipment this time, according to base officials. Military airports all over the country opened to the public yesterday – and will continue to receive visitors until tomorrow – as part of the force’s annual open event. CAMPUS ATTACK Dean mugged on Iraklion campus A female dean at the University of Crete was yesterday hospitalized in Iraklion after being brutally mugged on the university campus, the Athens News Agency reported. Suzanna Papadopoulou, who heads the university’s Materials, Science and Technology Department, was attacked on the way to her car by unidentified assailants who beat her and stole her bag – containing 600 euros. Under Greece’s asylum laws, police cannot enter university grounds unless invited to do so by the university authorities. Avoidable deaths Half of the road fatalities registered every year could have been avoided if organized accident centers had been in operation, the deputy director of Athens’s General Military Hospital told an armed forces medical conference in Thessaloniki yesterday. The annual death toll does not include those who die in hospital after sustaining injuries in road accidents. Match security Strict security measures for Thursday’s scheduled match between Panathinaikos and Turkish team Fenerbahce – whose fans clashed in Istanbul last week – were discussed yesterday during a meeting between police and soccer chiefs. The measures will involve the employment of 3,000 officers both inside and outside Panathinaikos’s central Athens home ground and will be draconian, sources said. According to the security plan – which was forwarded to Turkish officials and is to be approved on Monday – an anticipated 500 Fenerbahce fans will be escorted to and from the stadium and will be segregated from Greek fans inside the 12,000-seat stadium. Kazakos trial Pantelis Kazakos – on trial for murdering two immigrants and wounding another seven in a racially motivated killing spree in 1999 – is anti-social but not psychotic, an in-house psychiatrist from Korydallos Prison told an Athens court yesterday. But Kazakos’s lawyer presented to the court a doctor’s statement concluding that his client is a paranoid psychotic. Kazakos, 27, has appealed for a reduction in his two life sentences and 25-year jail sentence. Pirate taxi A 66-year-old man who took on two passengers in his car and charged them a fee to take them from Piraeus harbor into the town center has been prosecuted for operating as an unlicensed taxi driver, police said yesterday. Weather damage Authorities of Oitylon in western Mani, in the southern Peloponnese, yesterday appealed to the government to intervene after strong hailstorms and floods destroyed local roads and warehouses and threatened a nearby hotel. In August, the same area was ravaged by a large fire which destroyed thousands of olive trees, almond trees and vineyards. US offices closed The US embassy in Athens, including the Consular Section, the US Consulate General in Thessaloniki, and all US government offices in Greece will be closed on Monday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day – a US national holiday.

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