A round-up of today's other world new in brief ...
Greek tycoon kidnapped
ATHENS – A Greek shipping tycoon was kidnapped at gunpoint near his home in the coastal suburbs of Athens yesterday, the third such high-profile abduction in Greece since June.
Pericles Panagopoulos, founder of Greek ferry operator Superfast Ferries, was taken from his car by three armed men during the short drive from his home to his office in the coastal suburb of Kavouri. No one was injured in the incident.
Mr Panagopoulos (74) and his driver were handcuffed and bundled into a waiting van.
The driver was later released in Koropi, a town northeast of Athens.
The kidnapping, which comes amid the suspected re-emergence of left-wing guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle, was being investigated by anti-terrorist police, but a spokesman said it was believed to be the work of a criminal gang seeking a ransom. – ( Reuters)
Amy's divorce
LONDON – The husband of British pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose recording success has been overshadowed by a troubled private life, is seeking a divorce, the lawyer acting for Blake Fielder-Civil said yesterday. “I can confirm that I have been instructed to commence divorce proceedings on the grounds of Amy’s adultery,” solicitor Henri Brandman said.
Winehouse's representatives confirmed the move. "Papers have been received and the matter is with Amy's lawyers," a spokesman said. – ( Reuters)
Continental Airlines to stand trial in 2010 over Concorde crash
PONTOISE – Continental Airlines will stand trial next year for involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 113 people in the crash of a Concorde jet in July 2000, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Pontoise, France, said yesterday.
A titanium strip fell off a Continental DC-10 taking off before the Concorde, causing the second aircraft’s tire to explode. The debris pierced the fuel tanks, causing the crash at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, the prosecutors’ investigation found.
“Continental Airlines looks forward to the opportunity to have the issues surrounding the Concorde accident finally resolved,” a spokesman for the Houston-based carrier said yesterday.
“Neither Continental nor its employees were the cause of this tragedy and we will defend ourselves vigorously against these charges.”
The hearings will begin on February 2nd, 2010, the spokeswoman for prosecutors in Pontoise said. – ( Bloomberg)
Bombs found in coup plot inquiry
ANKARA – Turkish police found several explosives and bullets in Ankara yesterday in an investigation linked to coup plot allegations, according to the state Anatolian news agency.
The police unearthed 30 hand grenades, nine smoke bombs and hundreds of G-3 rifle bullets in the garden of a deserted house in an Ankara suburb.
Some 40 people, including army officers, were detained this month in a case that has further tested relations between the Islamist-rooted government and the powerful military.
“It is obvious that these weapons were not hidden to be used against an invading army, but to be used for illegal activities,” Radikal newspaper commentator Ertugrul Mavioglu said.
Eighty-six people, including retired army officers, politicians and lawyers, are on trial in the "Ergenekon" coup plot investigation. – ( Reuters)
245 still missing in ferry disaster
PARE-PARE – Almost 250 people remained missing after an Indonesian ferry sank in heavy seas at the weekend, officials said yesterday, as bad weather hampered rescue efforts.
Indonesian transport minister Jusman Syafi’i Djamal told a news conference that a preliminary investigation showed that the boat was hit by waves, causing it to
capsize.
He said 22 survivors had been found so far, while 245 were missing. – (Reuters)