In Brief
YIOSSAKIS PROBE
Supreme Court panel censures judge for not filing theft charges A seven-member Supreme Court disciplinary panel, in a decision made public yesterday, officially censured court of first instance judge Anastassia Daviou for neglecting to file charges of antiquities theft against former priest Iakovos Yiossakis. The panel ruled that there had been no intent in Daviou’s decision. Yiossakis was later charged with the theft of antiquities from a monastery in Kythera and his trial has been adjourned until January 16. He has also been accused of acting as a middleman in a trial-fixing ring. ATHENS BLAST Nobody injured at union offices A homemade explosive device went off early on Saturday in Nea Smyrni, southeast Athens, outside the offices of an organization for veterans from the World War II Resistance. No one was hurt in the attack, which caused minor damage to the building. Cyprus talks? Nicosia is in talks with the British high commissioner regarding a possible visit to Cyprus by Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Cypriot Foreign Minister Giorgos Iakovou said on Saturday. Iakovou said that he understood Straw would visit Cyprus later this month before heading on to Turkey. As regards a possible meeting between Straw and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, which the occupying forces claim is scheduled for January 25, Iakovou said he has no objection in principle as long as it does not imply recognition of the Turkish-Cypriots. Cephalonia quake An undersea quake, measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, occurred in the undersea area off the Ionian island of Cephalonia just after 7 a.m. on Saturday but no injuries or damage were reported. The tremor was felt on neighboring Zakynthos. Karapanayiotis dies The managing editor of the Ta Nea newspaper, Leon Karapanayiotis, died of natural causes at the age of 75 on Saturday. He had worked at the daily since 1981 after joining from the Vima newspaper. Then-Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos presented a special award to Karapanayiotis in 2002 for his services to Greek journalism. His funeral will take place in Athens tomorrow. Pilot talk The Hellenic Airline Pilots’ Association (EHPA) handed out leaflets on Saturday aimed at informing passengers at Athens International Airport of their position on the government’s planned privatization of Olympic Airlines (OA). The leaflet, which is being handed out over the next week, says that the pilots are in favor of the sale of OA and the airline operating according to private-sector criteria, on the condition that the company has a solid management team. Epiphany Archimandrite Kyrillos Sykis blesses the waters at the main port of Izmir on Saturday, marking the first time since the Asia Minor disaster of 1922 that the traditional Epiphany ceremony has been conducted at the Turkish port. Turkish forces killed tens of thousands of Greeks in Izmir in September 1922 and hundreds of thousands of Greeks were subsequently uprooted from their homes.
