Two workmen were killed on Saturday evening when a cylinder of propane gas exploded in a meat processing factory in Athens’s main meat market in the suburb of Rendi. Dimitris Stefanou, 30, and his assistant Petros Monoholias, 18, died instantly when the four-liter cylinder, which they had been using for welding jobs, exploded. Police believe the blast was caused by a leak.

An Iraklion court on Saturday passed a 40-month jail sentence on a 22-year-old British tourist who bit the nose off a bar owner in the swinging Cretan resort of Mallia last Wednesday. Daniel Bollon was given the option of paying 20,000 euros for his sentence to be suspended pending an appeal. Bollon attacked Mantheos Kalogerakis, 29, in his bar late on Wednesday night after the man allegedly pushed his girlfriend.

A Cretan court on Friday sentenced in absentia a 20-year-old US sailor to 10 years in jail and fined him 30,000 euros for violently mugging a female shopkeeper in Hania on February 2 last year. Joshua Vossler was convicted of attacking and beating Mina Kallou with fellow serviceman Steven Wright, also 20. Wright was also convicted for the incident earlier this year and received a 10-year jail sentence. Vossler, who is reportedly in US custody, has appealed against his sentence.

Police in Halkidiki on Saturday arrested two English soccer fans after they tried to use forged 50-euro notes in a shoe store and a nightclub in Kallithea. Officers subsequently confiscated a total of 45 50-euro notes from J.S., 42, and M.H., 38, who had been traveling with an organized group of English soccer supporters for Saturday’s soccer match between England and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Skopje.

Actor and cinema critic Artemis Matsas died in Athens on yesterday at the age of 73. He is best known for his roles in the films “Never on Sunday,” “The Island of the Brave,” and “Bouboulina.” His funeral is to take place at Kaisariani Cemetery at 6 p.m. today.