In Brief
EARTHQUAKES
Ionian islands, Peloponnese shaken A series of quakes struck the Ionian and the southwestern Peloponnese over the past two days, but no damage or injuries were reported. An undersea quake, measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, occurred at 9.30 a.m. yesterday off Kyparissia. A 4.8-magnitude quake had struck the same area on Sunday morning. Also, very early yesterday morning, three moderate tremors struck the Ionian Sea northwest of Zakynthos. The tremors, which measured 4.3, 4.3, and 4.4 Richter, occured between 12.20 and 12.50 a.m. Normandy visit President Costis Stephanopoulos will to visit Normandy on Sunday, June 6 to attend celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the WWII allied D-Day landings and the liberation of France, it was announced yesterday. Stephanopoulos has been invited to the event by French President Jacques Chirac. Out of season As Greeks flocked to the beaches to make the most of the long weekend’s warm weather, a skier performs a descent during a display on Thessaloniki’s waterfront yesterday, on a specially erected artificial snow piste. The show included snowboard acrobatics, as part of a promotion of «extreme sports.» On another stage, BMX bike riders performed stunts on vertical walls. Advertising up Greek newspapers registered a spectacular 54.3 percent increase in advertising revenue last year, according to figures made public yesterday at the 57th Annual World Newspaper Congress in Istanbul, Agence France-Presse reported. According to the report, advertising revenue increased by an average 2.0 percent across the (then) 15 EU members. Forged euros Three forged 5-euro notes and one forged 50-euro note have been discovered in four banks in Kavala, police said on Sunday. Discoveries of forged 50- and 100-euro notes – most of which are imported from Bulgaria – are not unusual, but yesterday’s was the first reported discovery of a fake 5-euro note.
