NEWS

In Brief

DANGEROUS BATTERIES

Consumers advised to return Apple goods due to ‘risk of catching fire’ The Development Ministry yesterday urged consumers who have purchased Apple-brand rechargeable lithium LG batteries for their laptops to stop using them, as they face the risk of overheating and possibly catching fire. The firm Rainbow, which represents Apple in Greece, said it had sent out letters to all 228 laptop owners who may have purchased one of the batteries since last October. It said that consumers could get a free replacement for their faulty battery. MOLOTOV ATTACK Youths target police in Exarchia A group of five hooded youths hurled Molotov cocktail bombs at a police van parked at a road junction in the central Athenian district of Exarchia early yesterday. No one was injured in the attack. Humanitarian permit A Brazilian woman living in Lesvos with her 6-year-old daughter, who is suffering from leukemia, was yesterday issued with a special residence permit, removing the risk of imminent deportation she had faced. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos issued Leia Soares with the permit on humanitarian grounds. Soares, who has been living on Lesvos for the past six months, had applied for a residence permit in March but had been rejected. Greek-US ties Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis yesterday received Archbishop Demetrios of America in Athens for talks on improving Greek-US relations and promoting the teaching of Greek to the diaspora in the USA. The archbishop later yesterday met with US Ambassador to Greece Charles Ries. Cypriot property Britain’s Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Douglas Alexander yesterday warned Britons considering buying property in northern Cyprus that they could face practical, economic and legal complications in view of the unofficial status of the regime and the implications of a possible peace settlement on the divided island. Alexander advised prospective investors to seek legal advice. Detox programs The state Organization Against Drugs (OKANA) is opening a new detoxification center on Corfu – with the capacity for 50 patients – with several new units due to open in different parts of Attica soon, OKANA president Christos Giannakis told a press conference yesterday. Therapy at the centers will be based on the provision of Buprenorphine, commonly used to treat opiate and cocaine abuse, he said. More than 3,000 drug addicts are currently on the waiting list for OKANA rehabilitation programs. Close shave An army sewage truck lies upside down after narrowly avoiding crashing into a gas station in the northwestern town of Ioannina following a frenzied descent down a steep road yesterday. The truck crashed into a car shortly after its brakes malfunctioned near the top of central Voreiou Ipirou Street. It then continued careering downward, toward the gas station at the end of the street, but the driver managed to steer the vehicle into a nearby park. There were no injuries. Fraudsters caught Three women who allegedly posed as nuns in order to sell fake icons, crosses and rosaries to unsuspecting believers have been arrested, police in Alexandroupolis said yesterday after seizing a large amount of religious paraphernalia. The women, two aged 48 and one aged 42, allegedly peddled their wares from house to house, claiming to be from a monastery on Tinos. Meanwhile, police in Athens arrested a 54-year-old who had sold tickets to bogus events by presenting himself as a member of an ex-servicemen’s union. Bootleg DVDs Around 6,500 bootleg DVDs were confiscated from the warehouse of an audio equipment wholesaler in Athens on Tuesday, police said yesterday.

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