Issue No. 13390

 

 

CONSTRUCTION of Greece’s first ever crematorium is slated to begin this year, after the relevant joint decision was signed by the ministries of health, environment and interior on April 11. “Our main goal is to get in line with international practices in developed countries where the state gives people the choice of cremation according to their religious or ideological beliefs,” Environment Minister Tina Birbili (photo) told reporters. At present, burial is the only option in Greece. According to the law, crematoriums will be created in cemeteries run by municipalities.

 

 

 

PRIME Minister George Papandreou (C) was present on May 12 at the demolition of an illegal structure on the southeastern Athens coast of Alimos, a structure that housed a well-known summer nightclub. Papandreou and Environment Tina Birbili were on the spot as bulldozers razed the Fantasia nightclub, judged as a highly symbolic gesture in the campaign to demolish whatever illegal structures and illicit business blocking access to Athens’ closest beaches.

 

 

 

GREECE’S major umbrella trade unions for the public and private sector, ADEDY and GSEE, have called a nationwide 24-hour strike for May 20, in opposition to a government draft law on social security, which GSEE president Yiannis Panagopoulos called “socially unfair”. On May 18 the two trade unions will give a press conference to present their positions and demands. The communist union Pame has said it will also strike on the same day.

 

 

 

RECENT events in the capital have left their mark on the tourist industry, according to the Athens-Attica Hoteliers Association, which announced on May 13 that its members have received some 17,000 since the May 5 attack on a bank branch that left three people dead. The association said it expected more cancellations. It added that the bookings for May and June, traditionally the best for Athens, are also down on previous years. 

 

 

 

ENVIRONMENT Minister Tina Birbili on May 12 unveiled plans to complete the archaeological unification project and create a walk linking all the major archaeological sites of Athens through improvements to Vassilisis Olgas Avenue. Birbili said the project called for the linking of the Zappeio and the National Gardens with the temple of Olympian Zeus site and the completion of a 4km archaeological walk of the city that will begin at the Kallimarmaro stadium to Kerameikos Square in Gazi. The budget for the project has been tentatively set at four million euros.

 

 

 

THE GOVERNMENT on May 11 announced that it would not implement fare hikes in public transports for the remainder of 2010. “The issue has not been put on the table,” Infrastructure Minster Dimitris Reppas stressed. However, he left open the likelihood of fare increases for debt-ridden Hellenic Railways (OSE), underlining that train fares are very low. He also said the issue will be considered when the state-run enterprise’s reform plan is implemented. Reppas also said a dialogue is underway with the interested parties regarding the deregulation of the taxi and intercity buses (Ktel) sectors, expressing optimism that an agreement is achievable.

 

 

ONE OF the two gunmen involved in a shootout with police in downtown Kerameikos district of Athens was remanded in custody after his testimony before an examining judge on May 11. The man, implicated in a string of urban terrorism-related crimes, was apprehended following a bloody robbery at a department store last week. Simeon Seisidis is hospitalised under guard at a northern Athens location, where he is being treated for serious leg wound he sustained during the shootout with police. Seisidis has denied the charges and has filed a lawsuit against the police officer who shot him. His attorney claims that authorities took a DNA sample from his client without his consent, a sample that allegedly linked Seisidis to at least two other crimes.

 

 

 

AN EARTHQUAKE measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale jolted the island of Evia on the morning of May 11, and was also felt in parts of Athens and the wider region. The earthquake was recorded at 10.03am at a distance of 75 kilometres northeast of Athens, with its epicentre in the village of Psachna. No damage was reported.

 

 

ATHENS NEWS 30/08/2010, page: 12-13