In Brief
DEADLY DIVE
Boy, 6, dies after swimming in pool on family vacation in Hania A 6-year-old Austrian boy died on Saturday afternoon, moments after his family had checked into rented rooms near Hania, Crete. Police said the boy dove into a swimming pool at the complex without his parents’ knowledge. They later saw the child at the bottom of the pool and pulled him out. The boy was still breathing when an ambulance arrived at the complex in Parigoria but he died on the way to the hospital. A local coroner is due to examine the unnamed child’s body today to determine the exact cause of death. BAD MARKS Minister blasts students’ stance Speaking to the New Democracy youth wing on the island of Lefkada yesterday, Education Minister Marietta Giannakou said that «small groups» could no longer hold back reforms in tertiary education. Giannakou said that she was the only education minister in the European Union that attended EU councils without being accompanied by a student representative from her country. Sales start Window shoppers took a stroll along Ermou Street in central Athens yesterday to look at the price reductions which will be on offer from today when the summer sales begin. The sales will run until the end of August and reductions in the price of clothes are expected to reach 20-50 percent. The price of shoes is likely to come down by 20-30 percent. Consumer group INKA reminded shoppers to be wary of large discounts and to always ask for a receipt. The head of INKA, Constantinos Tsekeris, said that rushing to buy something in case it might sell out is not a good policy for shoppers. Firefighters shunned In a decision made public yesterday, the Council of State ruled as illegal the government’s decision to hire seasonal firefighters to work from May 1 to October 31. Greece’s highest administrative court said the policy contradicted Article 103 of the Constitution, which only allows these types of hirings in extreme circumstances. Stabbing death A man who was found dead last week after a fire in his apartment in Omonia, central Athens, had been stabbed 14 times, police said on Saturday. The charred remains of the man, who has not been identified yet, were found on Thursday. But after an examination by a coroner, authorities said the victim had died of the stabbing instead of in the fire. Soccer service Bishop Anthimos of Thessaloniki criticized Christians during his service yesterday for being more interested in watching the soccer World Cup instead of following the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. He also blasted former French captain Zinedine Zidane for being sent off in the final after head-butting an opponent. «He stained his reputation with this behavior,» said Anthimos. «I don’t know what religion he is but he stained it with this behavior.» Mass brawl A man was being treated in the Erythros Stavros hospital in Athens yesterday after being stabbed during an argument involving some 15 people in Aghios Panteleimonas near the city center, police said. The man who is suspected of stabbing the victim was arrested, officers added. It was not clear what provoked the argument and police did not make public the details of the two men apart from saying that they are not Greek.
