In Brief
GERMANOS FINE
Electronics retailer rapped for selling product without a guarantee in Greek The Development Ministry’s general secretary for consumer affairs, Thanassis Skordas, fined retailer Germanos 6,000 euros yesterday for selling a hands-free phone appliance with a guarantee that was not written in Greek. The Sony Ericsson HPB-60 included a guarantee written in six foreign languages. The ministry said that it had followed up on a complaint received from a consumer. MOUNTAIN DEATH German climber, 50, dies on Samos; search continues for 70-year-old A 50-year-old German tourist died late on Tuesday while climbing Mount Kerki on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, authorities said yesterday. A member of the man’s climbing party informed authorities that the unnamed 50-year-old was not feeling well and could not descend the mountain. But by the time emergency services reached the man, he had died. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Meanwhile, authorities on the island were continuing yesterday to look for a missing 70-year-old German. A specially trained sniffer dog has been brought in to help with the search. BUSY PORTS 6.4 mln passengers this summer More than 6.4 million passengers have traveled on board a ferry from the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrion from the start of the tourist season until now, according to data released by the Merchant Marine Ministry yesterday. Some 20,000 ferry routes were also conducted in the same time period, beginning April 17. Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis met with senior port officials yesterday to oversee measures that will help with the large number of travelers expected to return to Athens from their holidays in coming days. Tycoon extradited Greece extradited a wanted Croatian tycoon, believed to be a close ally of fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina, to Zagreb on Tuesday, Reuters reported yesterday. Hrvoje Petrac, who has been sentenced in absentia to six years in jail for kidnapping a 12-year-old child, landed in Zagreb on a special aircraft under tight police security and was taken to prison, Reuters quoted state radio as saying. Petrac was seized by the Greek coast guard on an international arrest warrant last August and had been in Greek custody since then. Shooting arrest Athens police yesterday charged a 23-year-old Albanian man in connection with a taverna shooting in the district of Polygono early this month. The unnamed 23-year-old allegedly fired several times at a fellow Albanian, aged 20, on the afternoon of August 3 but failed to hit him, officers said. According to police, the 23-year-old has a longstanding dispute with the younger man and has attacked him twice before – once with a knife and once with a gun – both times without success. Thessaloniki cleanup The Thessaloniki City Council will start a campaign aimed at cleaning graffiti and posters from schools and other public buildings in central parts of the city, Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos said yesterday. «This is an innovative step taken by the council. I also call on all residents to clean up their own homes,» said Papageorgopoulos. Karystos catch A 30-year-old truckdriver and a 19-year-old woman were arrested yesterday by coast guard officers in Karystos, southern Evia, as they were poised to pick up nine illegal immigrants, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. The coast guard said that both suspects were foreigners but did not reveal the identity of the migrants or how they arrived at the seaside area where they were found and detained. Election leave Civil servants should be given up to two days off work so they can vote in the October local elections, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. In a statement, the ministry said that bureaucrats who work a five-day week and have to travel between 200 and 400 kilometers to cast their ballot should be given one day’s leave. Those traveling more than 400 kilometers should get two days, the ministry said.
