In Brief
NUCLEAR TEST
Greece joins in blasting North Korea for conducting underground explosion Greece joined other members of the international community yesterday in condemning North Korea’s apparent underground nuclear test. Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis accused North Korea of «disregarding the concerns and appeals of the international community.» «Greece condemns such a provocative action which contravenes the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, disregards Security Council Resolution 1695 and constitutes a threat to international stability, security and peace,» Bakoyannis said in a statement. AIDS SCARE Donor, 39, gave blood that was infected with HIV, ministry says Tests at the end of last month on a 39-year-old blood donor, who had also given blood in March, revealed him to be infected with HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, the Health Ministry learned yesterday. Tests, using the nucleic acid testing (NAT) method, were subsequently carried out on blood serum in storage since March and revealed evidence of HIV. A 63-year-old blood transfusion patient who was given the infected blood at the end of March died on April 19 from a brain hemorrhage unrelated to possible HIV infection, doctors told the ministry. HELIOS REPORT Results due to be submitted today The final report into what caused a Cypriot airliner to crash north of Athens last August, killing all 121 people on board, is due to be handed over to Greek and Cypriot authorities today. «The report will be delivered to the Greek transport minister and subsequently to the Greek prosecutor’s office on Tuesday morning,» head of the investigation team Akrivos Tsolakis told Agence France-Presse yesterday. «I will then board a plane for Cyprus to deliver the report to authorities there,» he added. The report is expected to indicate that the cause of the Helios Airways crash centered around a pressure valve which had been switched to the wrong setting. Safe flight Ajet, the airline which succeeded Helios Airways in Cyprus, has not been included on a European Union list of unsafe airlines, officials said yesterday. There was speculation that Ajet would become the first airline from an EU country to be added to the list. But Agence France-Presse quoted an EU source yesterday who said the airline, which mainly operates charter flights to and from Britain, will not be blacklisted. The company denies it was ever under threat of being put on the list. Fuel fines The Development Ministry yesterday fined two gas stations in Attica 361,110 euros for selling illegally diluted fuel. The first gas station, on Mesogeion Avenue, was fined 211,110 euros, while a 150,000-euro fine was slapped on an outlet in Aspropyrgos, west of Athens. Trolley stoppage There will be no trolley buses in Athens today when drivers stage a four-hour work stoppage from noon so that they can attend their union’s general meeting. Cannabis arrests Two Albanian men were arrested on the Greek-Albanian border close to Ioannina yesterday after a border patrol officer caught them transporting into Greece two sacks full of cannabis. The men had allegedly walked into the country via an unguarded point on the border carrying 48 kilos of cannabis between the two of them. Separately, three men were arrested also in Ioannina for smuggling into Greece cannabis and heroin. No further details were available. Weekend theft Thieves who broke into a jewelry workshop on Tritis Septemvriou Street, central Athens, made away with 300,000 euros’ worth of goods, police said yesterday. The break-in took place sometime over the weekend as the owners opened for business yesterday morning to discover the missing jewelry. None of the residents of the apartment building in which the workshop is housed reported hearing anything unusual, police said. Margarine recall The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) announced yesterday the recall of a margarine called Remia Sunflower Margarine that contains a milk product not included on its packaging. The dairy product can cause an allergic reaction.
