Former socialist minister Valyrakis found dead at sea

Sifis Valyrakis, a former minister and resistance fighter against Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship, was found dead at sea Sunday night, the coast guard has announced. He was 77.

Valyrakis had sailed with his inflatable craft at noon off the coast of the island of Evia in central Greece,where his family has a vacation home. His wife alerted authorities to his absence. His craft was found in the afternoon without him and his body was found just after 8:30 p.m. local (1830 GMT), the Coast Guard announced.

Conditions at sea were "good," a Coast Guard spokeswoman told the Associated Press, adding that no cause of death can be given yet.

Valyrakis was Minister of Public Order, in charge of the security and intelligence services, from March 1995 to January 1996. Earlier, in the 1980s and 1990s, he was deputy Public Order Minister (1988-89 and 1994-95), Sports...