In Brief
TIME CHANGE
Clocks go forward one hour at 3 a.m. tomorrow as summer time begins Clocks will be set forward one hour – from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. – tomorrow (Sunday) morning as summer time begins, the Transport and Communications Ministry said yesterday. TANKER BLAST At least 3 dead, 14 trapped after Greek vessel explodes at Ghana port A Greek fuel tanker went up in flames in Ghana’s main port yesterday, killing at least three people and trapping another 14, including one Greek, who are feared dead, officials said. Sparks from welding work are believed to have started the blaze on the Greek-registered MV Polaris, which had been undergoing repairs at Tema. Port Authority officials said the chance of finding any survivors was slim. STRAY PLANE Radio problem sparks security alert A small private aircraft, which sparked a security alert on Thursday when it flew through Greek air space without making radio contact with Greek air traffic controllers, landed in Paphos, southern Cyprus, later that afternoon after being intercepted by Greek fighter jets. The US national flying the Cessna plane said he had been heading for Indonesia via Cyprus but had been unable to establish radio contact. Albanian visit President Karolos Papoulias is due to receive his Albanian counterpart Alfred Moisiu in Ioannina on Monday for talks on bilateral issues. Meanwhile, a joint Greek-Albanian interministerial committee is to convene in the northwestern town under the chairmanship of Deputy Interior Minister Evripidis Stylianidis and Albanian Economy Minister Anastas Angeli. Firemen convicted An Athens appeals court yesterday upheld suspended jail sentences of three years and 10 months against three fire service officers found guilty of the manslaughter through negligence of two firemen. Andreas Bosinas and Pavlos Skourtis died in July 1999 when a fire engine fell into a Mount Hymettus ravine above the suburb of Voula. The court ruled that Haralambos Kontonis, Nikos Tsiopos and Achilleas Boyiatzopoulos had known that the vehicle Bosinas and Skourtis had been riding in had defective brakes. Muslim union A spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday criticized a January decision by Greece’s Supreme Court to ban a minority group called the «Turkish Union of Xanthi.» The court’s decision «is not compatible with the current positive climate in Greek-Turkish relations,» Namik Tan said. Contraband cigarettes Three men have been arrested following the seizure of 422,000 packs of contraband cigarettes destined for a warehouse in Thessaloniki, police said on Thursday. The cigarettes had been hidden in a container from China that had been loaded onto a truck ostensibly destined for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), police said. Two FYROM nationals and their suspected Greek accomplice face smuggling charges. Violent robbery A hooded assailant struck a night guard outside a car showroom in the western Athenian suburb of Aspropyrgos with the butt of his pistol before nabbing an unspecified sum of money, police said on Thursday. The robber fled on foot shortly after 3 a.m., police said. Fatal argument A 67-year-old pensioner fatally knifed his 63-year-old wife following an argument on Thursday night in their Kifissia home, police in Athens said yesterday. Dimitris Papacostas handed himself over to police after stabbing his wife Efrosini. Documents stolen An unidentified thief on Wednesday stole a file containing 22 applications for passport issuance or renewal from a Citizens’ Information Center (KEP) in Syntagma Square, police said on Thursday. Migrants detained Port Authority officials on Chios on Thursday detained 15 illegal immigrants who had reached the island from Turkey in a wooden fishing boat, the Merchant Marine Ministry said.
