In Brief

AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

No cuts in EU subsidies for tobacco farmers Greek tobacco farmers will continue to receive EU subsidies for the next three years, Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys confirmed yesterday, at the end of a two-day meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels. The decision will be a relief for farmers, whose protest campaign over the past few months has been chiefly in protest against prospective cuts in EU subsidies. Furthermore, Drys said he does not foresee the EU cutting subsidies even after 2005. FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS Delays expected today due to Olympic Airways strike Passengers scheduled to fly with Olympic Airways (OA) today are advised to reconfirm their flights, as today’s three-hour work stoppage by OA employees ( from noon until 3 p.m.) is expected to cause disruptions. Workers are protesting against government plans to restructure the chronically ailing state carrier into smaller companies, hoping to make it more attractive to potential buyers. This will require 2,000 jobs to be cut. Flight information is available at: 010.966.6666. KALYMNOS Explosives stolen The disappearance of 3,000-euros-worth of dynamite, detonators and fuse wire from the warehouse of a quarrying firm on the Dodecanese island of Kalymnos, made public yesterday, is probably the work of petty thieves hoping to jazz up their Easter fireworks according to island police sources. Local officers have been joined by colleagues from Athens and the neighboring islands of Kos and Rhodes for the investigation. Cyprus United Nations special envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto will travel to Ankara and Athens next Thursday for talks concerning the divided island, a UN spokesman in Nicosia said yesterday. Meanwhile, the US ambassador in Nicosia, Donald Bandler, said that US diplomats will join efforts to ensure that the June deadline for a settlement on Cyprus is met. Special Coordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston is due to arrive in Nicosia today to be briefed on the progress so far in talks between the Cypriot leaders. ‘Undesirable.’ Plans for US Ambassador Thomas Miller to plant trees over one hectare of land next to the St John Kareas monastery on Mount Hymettus, on the eastern outskirts of Athens, this weekend were scrapped after local authorities ruled that Miller’s participation in the reforestation initiative would be «undesirable,» the Eleftherotypia daily reported yesterday. The mayor of the eastern municipality of Ilioupolis, Theodoros Giorgiakis – who had invited Miller to join the tree planting – called an emergency council session after receiving objections to Miller’s participation from the mayors of the neighboring Kaisariani and Vyronas municipalities, Giorgos Katimertzis and Nikos Rogakos. The council decided it would be hypocritical for the representative of a country «which has led the environmental destruction of the planet» to lead an ecological initiative. Plot probed An Athens prosecutor yesterday ordered an investigation into a report in the Avriani daily which alleged that a Health Ministry official planned the murder of a prosecutor with the aim of attributing the crime to terrorist organization November 17. The report claims that a gang of criminals was recruited by Health Ministry employee Giorgos Yousios, a former Korydallos convict who served a jail sentence for fraud and is currently facing trial for alleged blackmail. OTE chief The newly elected chief executive officer of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), Lefteris Antonakopoulos, yesterday said he is stepping down as president of the Federation of Greek Industries to focus on his new role. Matricide A man, who killed his mother yesterday following a fierce row, allegedly held her responsible for his unmarried status and psychological problems, according to neighbors of the family in the village of Akropotamia, near the western town of Arta. Constantinos Costas, 43, turned himself in to police yesterday after killing his mother Evanthia, 70, by strangling her with a cable. Neighbors said Costas frequently argued with his mother, with whom he had lived for years following the death of his father. Matricide