The Athens suburban rail is today to conduct the first test journey from Athens to Corinth. The railway, which currently runs from the capital’s Larissa Station to the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, is to start running the Corinth route by May. The journey time from Athens to Corinth is estimated at 55 minutes and from Corinth to the airport at 1 hour and 10 minutes, with trains running every hour. A total of 475 million euros is being spent on the Corinth line.

The European Court of Justice yesterday condemned Greece for violating European legislation on the incineration of garbage. Greece failed to adopt the necessary legislative provisions which member states were obliged to do by the end of December 2002, the court ruled. Greek authorities have assured the European Commission that a ministerial decision would soon be issued to that effect.

The Supreme Court’s plenary session yesterday rejected an appeal lodged by engineers responsible for structural changes to the Ricomex factory, thereby upholding an appeals court ruling awarding 2 million euros to relatives of those killed when the factory collapsed. A total of 39 people died in the rubble of the Athens factory following the September 1999 earthquake.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday called upon Greek scientists working abroad to return to Greece during the official inauguration of the National Council for Research and Technology. The internationally renowned physicist Dimitris Nanopoulos, who heads the new council, called for reforms to better exploit Greece’s potential in the area of research.

The December European Summit’s conclusions, Cyprus, the issue of a name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Greece’s seat on the UN Security Council will be on the agenda when the cross-party National Council for Foreign Policy convenes on January 25, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said yesterday. Meanwhile, senior Greek and Turkish diplomats are to meet in Athens today for the 26th round of exploratory talks.

Firemen extinguishing a blaze at a motorcycle repair garage in Patissia, central Athens, yesterday discovered a cache of weapons in the basement, police said. The cache, which included 19 hand grenades, seven revolvers, one pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, belonged to a retired police officer and is probably not a cause for concern, police said.

A Thessaloniki court yesterday postponed until October 10 the trial of five Greeks and one Spaniard arrested in the northern city in June 2003 during violent protests against a European Union summit. Supporters staged a rally outside the court. Spaniard Carlos Martinez and five Greek nationals face charges of insurrection and illegal weapon possession.

Cypriot authorities yesterday said they had tightened security at a US listening post after US intelligence warned of a possible attack by a sympathizer of the November 17 terror group, Agence France-Presse reported. But authorities said they did not fear any immediate threat to the Nicosia facility. The agency cited local press reports as saying US intelligence had focused on a Greek student arrested in Britain on terrorism charges after praising N17 on a website. Haralambos Dousemetzis, 25, arrested in Britain in March 2003, fits this description.