In Brief
HOSPITAL DISRUPTION
Staff to step up industrial action by calling strike and stoppages The union of state hospital staff said yesterday that it would be intensifying its industrial action by calling a 24-hour strike for June 13 and work stoppages for June 14, 15, 16, 20 and 22. The action will be accompanied by marches and protests rallies, unionists said. Employees want more staff to be hired at state hospitals and are demanding the government spend more money on the national health service. Unionists have also asked for their jobs to be classified as hazardous and unhealthy, which would qualify hospital workers for extra pay. TITAN DEATHS Three charged with negligence after fatal workplace accident A prosecutor charged two employees of Titan Cement with negligence yesterday after two workers were killed on Wednesday at the cement company’s facilities in Elefsina when a crane collapsed. Titan factory manager Dimitris Dedes, along with Ioannis Kokkinopoulos, who is in charge of safety, were charged along with Anastassios Tsigros, a foreman from MESKA, the company that had been contracted to work on the crane. POLICEMEN KILLED Two motorcyclists die in road crash Two 21-year-old police officers, Spyros Tomoutzoglou and Vassilis Polichronis, were killed yesterday when a car smashed into the motorbikes they were riding on Vassileos Constantinou Street in central Athens. Police said the accident occurred at 5.30 p.m. when a 61-year-old taxi driver, Constantinos Gallios, ran a stop sign. Cock fights Prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos ordered a preliminary investigation yesterday into allegations that cock fights have been taking place around Attica with bets on the contests running as high as 3,000 euros each time. According to press reports, the cock fights have been taking place in Spata, Aspropyrgos and Mandra up to three times a week. Child prostitution Police arrested a 45-year-old Egyptian man in Athens yesterday in connection with the alleged rape and prostitution of his daughter for some seven years. The unnamed man was allegedly assisted in procuring his daughter, who is now 15 years old, by his wife – the girl’s stepmother. A Syrian man was also arrested in connection with the case, police said. Food fines The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) yesterday imposed fines totaling 433,500 euros on 23 companies for violating health and safety standards. Most of the fines targeted bakeries, retailers of dairy products and restaurants. In two cases, the violations called for fines so large that the EFET did not have the authority to impose them. The watchdog has asked the Development Ministry to impose a 150,000-euro fine on an import-export firm and a 100,000-euro fine on a dairy producer. Robbery spree An armed man wearing sunglasses and a hat held up a branch of Emporiki Bank in Thessaloniki yesterday and walked away with 36,000 euros, police said. Meanwhile in Athens, two men wearing crash helmets robbed the post office in Glyfada. A branch of Eurobank in Nea Erythraia, northern Athens, was held up by two armed men while a betting shop in Kolonos in central Athens was also targeted by two robbers. Cretan stabbing A 30-year-old Polish national yesterday stabbed to death a fellow countryman, also aged 30, following an argument in a park in the port of Iraklion, police said after arresting the alleged assailant. The Pole admitted to killing his acquaintance, according to police, who said they found specks of blood on his shoes. Both men were drunk, police said. Hang-gliding plunge A British tourist on holiday in Cyprus died yesterday when his motorized hang-glider crashed to the ground from a height of around 300 meters (1,000 feet), police said. The incident happened at around 8.50 a.m. near the southern coastal resort of Pissouri outside Limassol. Eyewitnesses said the glider came down in a vineyard. The name of the Briton was not immediately released by police. State pathologist Eleni Antoniou said the Briton died on impact and suffered multiple fractures, especially in the lower half of his body. (Reuters)
