In Brief
Cyprus talks
Athens backs UN envoy; Moscow won’t recognize north Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday expressed Greece’s full support for the mission being undertaken by the UN’s new envoy for Cyprus, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who passed through Athens before traveling on to Ankara. Downer said his visits were aimed at sounding out each side before the launch of fresh peace talks. Meanwhile Russia’s envoy on Cyprus, Alexander Alexeev, said that Moscow would not recognize the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, stressing that the region has nothing in common with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Daughter death Former diplomat, wife charged A former Japanese diplomat and his wife were yesterday charged with murdering their 36-year-old daughter at the family’s holiday home on Evia. A prosecutor also charged the 77-year-old ex-diplomat, named as Masami Tanida, and his 67-year-old wife Maria with illegal possession and use of a weapon. The couple deny killing their daughter and insist she committed suicide. The body of Amphithea Tanida was found in a bathroom at the house on Friday. According to sources, a coroner found that she had been strangled and her wrist had been cut. Dangers of travel A 38-year-old travel agency employee was in hospital yesterday after an unidentified assailant burst into his office in Argyroupolis, a southeast district of Athens, at 10 a.m. and fired a gun at him, injuring him in the leg. The gunman had been accompanied by an accomplice, according to the victim. Police said the attack had probably been carried out by a rival travel agent. Rickety schools One in four schools in Piraeus is dilapidated and requires extra finances to keep it operating, Mayor Panayiotis Fassoulas claimed yesterday just a few days before the start of the new school year. He claimed that 40 of the 160 schools in Piraeus, where just over 20,000 children attend classes, are in desperate need of repairs to keep them running. Fassoulas said the state funding received by the municipality for operating schools had been cut by 25 percent. Furtive caper Thieves broke into a fur store in Thessaloniki yesterday and made off with 18 coats. Police said the robbers broke in from the shop next door. The value of their loot was not clear. Creche tragedy Police in Athens were investigating the cause of death of a 1-year-old girl at a private creche in Patissia yesterday. The girl is believed to have choked to death. Rising prices The prices of some items required by children for primary school have gone up by 10 percent since July, the Consumer Protection Center (KEPKA) said yesterday. The consumer watchdog said that the price of goods for high school students, including copybooks and pens, had increased by up to 7 percent. Bus checks The traffic police said yesterday that they would step up checks on school buses ahead of the start of the new academic year on Thursday. Last year, just over 5,000 of the yellow buses were checked and 251 offenses were recorded.
