NEWS

In Brief

Seamen’s strike

Action to disrupt ferry routes from today as staff seek pay A strike beginning today by the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation will disrupt coastal shipping as some 11 ferries belonging to major firms such as ANEK and NEL Lines are involved. Seamen are demanding 11 months in unpaid salaries. The federation’s general secretary, Yiannis Halas, said the action would continue until the outstanding payments have been made. «We will not work on ships that do not fulfill their obligations – if they start behaving we will stop our action,» he said. The Merchant Marine Ministry said it had asked shipping firms to pay their debts or face legal action. Human traffickers Two Iraqis held as suspects Two Iraqi men have been arrested in Athens on suspicion of holding hostage six migrants in the northern suburb of Acharnes, officers said yesterday. The suspects allegedly imprisoned the men in order to force their families to pay between 4,000 and 6,000 euros each for their passage to Greece. Police did not reveal the origin of the migrants but said that they are looking for another six suspects. Equine cover The 30-year-old Bulgarian driver of a truck carrying horses had 1.3 kilos of cannabis hidden in one of the wheels, police near the border of the Balkan country said yesterday. The man is believed to have brought large quantities of cannabis and heroin into the country while posing as a horse trader, officers said. Actor killed Constantinos Papachronis, a 31-year-old actor, was killed early yesterday when the motorcycle he was riding was struck by a car in central Athens. Papachronis, an up-and-coming name in the theater, was knocked off his bike by a car at the junction of Amalias Avenue and Xenofontos Street. He had been wearing a helmet at the time of the collision but landed on his neck, police said. Festive fire A fire that broke out in a store selling Christmas decorations in Aghia Paraskevi, northeastern Athens, late on Monday had gutted most of the building before firefighters managed to douse it. The blaze, believed to have been caused by a short circuit in a string of Christmas lights, caused no injuries as there had been no one at the store when it broke out. The presence of a large quantity of flammable materials in the store fueled the fire, which spread from the ground floor to the first and second floors but did not reach adjacent buildings. Double trouble Police in Hania yesterday were questioning two brothers in connection with two armed raids on local stores, one on Sunday and one yesterday. The pair, who have in the past been detained for drug-related offenses, netted some 2,000 euros in the two raids. Archive attacked Vandals attacked the Historical Archive in Hania, Crete, late on Monday night, authorities have revealed. The assailants threw bottles of black paint at the entrance to the building, where some of the island’s most historically valuable items are kept. The director of the archive said that it was the second time that vandals had targeted the building recently. During the previous attack, they pulled down the Greek flag.

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