In Brief
Ferry holdup
Passengers stranded on small island after engine problem The passenger ferry Dimitroula remained moored yesterday at the small Aegean island of Leipsoi for several hours after two of its four engines suffered a serious malfunction. None of the 193 passengers aboard the Dimitroula were injured. The ferry, which set sail from Piraeus at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, had been due to dock at Leros, Kos, Kalymnos and Symi before reaching its final destination of Rhodes. Anti-Semitic protest Internet video sparks outrage The organization representing the Jewish community in Greece has lodged an official complaint with authorities following the posting on the Internet of a video that apparently shows a youth urinating on a Holocaust memorial on Rhodes, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. The video on YouTube is accompanied by strongly anti-Semitic lyrics. «We are troubled by this incident and disappointed by the absence of an official reaction,» Moses Constantinis, president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities (KIS) told AFP. Forest fires Several forest fires were reported across the country yesterday, the worst of which were near the village of Zacharo, in the Peloponnese, which was hard hit in last summer’s fires. There were also blazes near Hania on Crete, Koropi in southeastern Attica and near Drama in northern Greece. There were no reports of any residential areas being threatened. Unlucky number? Police in Thessaloniki yesterday detained three suspected members of a burglary gang believed to have broken into at least 13 homes in the northern city over the past two years. The three suspects, all foreign nationals, were caught red-handed trying to break open the door of an apartment earlier this month. A raid on their homes uncovered some of their loot, estimated to be worth over 40,000 euros, along with a number of burglary tools. Cyprus hopes Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said yesterday that he believes a Cyprus solution could be reached by the end of the year. Talat said he was ready to enter a new round of negotiations with «good will» and «flexibility.» Nicosia’s new permanent representative to the United Nations, Minas Hadjimichael, said that Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias was committed to the process of talks. There had been no comment by Christofias himself by late yesterday. Dodgy TVs Philips Hellas has recalled some 5,500 flat-screen television sets sold between March and August this year due to a problem with the wiring that could cause a short circuit. Philips Hellas had already withdrawn 2,000 of the TVs, having serial numbers from CG1A0813 to CG1A0832. The defective televisions have not caused any injuries, according to a statement by the firm. Traffic jam Hundreds of motorists found themselves stuck in traffic yesterday after police blocked off a section of the Athens-Lamia national highway because of a fuel spill. It is unclear what caused the spill near the Tsounta Bridge junction.
