In Brief
FERRY STRIKE
Services halted for two more days after workers extend action All passenger ferries are to remain moored until Monday after dissatisfied seamean voted to extend a nationwide strike they began on Thursday morning. The seamen’s union was unmoved by Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis’s response to their demands, which include higher pensions, measures to tackle unemployment in their sector and a new collective labor agreement. Seamen also object to legislation foreseeing the creation of private merchant marine academies. NIGHTCLUB VIOLATIONS Inspectors catch clubs breaching health codes The Prefecture of Athens said yesterday that it has referred the owners of five nightclubs to the prosecutor after they were discovered to be breaching health code violations. Some 40 clubs were checked by inspectors between November 2005 and January 2006. Two nightclubs were caught operating without proper licensing while five more had packed far too many patrons into their locales. Officials also took samples from the bar to check on the quality of the drinks being served. CEPHALONIA QUAKE 4.4 Richter tremor hits Ionian An earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale shook the Ionian island of Cephalonia yesterday but there were no reports of injuries or damage. The tremor, which struck at 1.05 p.m., had an epicenter 280 kilometers west of Athens in an undersea area. Fans indicted A Thessaloniki court yesterday indicted two young supporters of Thessaloniki’s Iraklis basketball team who are alleged to have thrown Molotov cocktail bombs at police and fans of rival Panathinaikos after a game at Iraklis’s home ground last October. ND election New Democracy’s central committee will convene next Friday to appoint a new party secretary, Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis said yesterday following a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. Meimarakis will no longer serve as ND party secretary as he assumed the Cabinet’s Defense portfolio in this week’s reshuffle. Royal visit Denmark’s Queen Margrethe will travel to Greece May 24-26 on an official visit, the royal palace said yesterday. Margrethe and her French-born husband, Prince Henrik, have been invited by Greek President Karolos Papoulias. Details of the visit were not immediately available. The 65-year-old monarch attended the Athens Olympics in 2004 with other members of Denmark’s royal family. (AP) Passenger recovering A passenger seriously injured in a train crash on Thursday that killed two people near Serres in northern Greece was no longer in critical condition, authorities said yesterday. Eight of the 18 people injured in the collision between a train and a small truck were allowed to leave the hospital yesterday while seven more will remain under doctor supervision for precautionary reasons. Body found The coast guard found a partially decomposed body of a man off the shore of Mount Athos in northern Greece late Thursday, it said yesterday. The body, which has not been identified, has been taken to a coroner for an autopsy. Armed robbery Two armed men held up a post office in Thessaloniki yesterday and made away with an unknown amount of cash, police said. The robbery took place shortly before midday and the two men escaped from the scene on a motorbike, according to witnesses. Rape charge A 55-year old man on the island of Rhodes was charged yesterday with raping his teenage stepdaughter for more than four years. The 16-year-old girl told police that she was sexually abused by the suspect from 2001 to the start of February this year.
