NEWS

In Brief

ADEDY STRIKE

Civil servants’ union to take action before month is out Civil servants’ union ADEDY, which represents close to a million public sector workers, said yesterday that its members would stage a strike, possibly for 24 hours, later this month. The union did not elaborate on the date or length of the action but said it was in response to the government’s apparent intentions to fire civil servants. «The intensity of the threat to fire people in the public sector and the government’s failure to categorically deny this is the case… clearly elevates to extreme levels a policy that harms labor and the people,» ADEDY said. The private sector union, GSEE, is due to hold a 24-hour strike on December 15. SAFE RETURN Robbers ditch coffer near scene Burglars made off with the safe from a catering firm in southeastern Athens early yesterday only to dump it a few hundred meters from the site of the break-in. Police said that the burglars entered the company’s premises on Varis-Koropiou Avenue after breaking a window in the main entrance. They then appear to have loaded the safe onto a vehicle and driven off. The break-in was discovered by the firm’s owner at 7.30 a.m. He notified police, who found the safe had been abandoned by the side of the road near the catering company. Officers said that the burglars probably got rid of the safe because they thought someone had seen them or because they realized they could not crack it. Aristotle fight A clash between rival groups appears to have been the reason that firebombs were thrown late on Tuesday at an abandoned railway carriage on the campus of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, which has for the past few years been used as the impromptu headquarters of self-styled anarchists. Authorities said that a rival group, whose affiliations were not clear, entered the university grounds at about 11 p.m. The fire was put out by university staff and firefighters. Ambulance crash An ambulance from a health center in Megalopoli in the Peloponnese crashed into a parked car as it was delivering a patient to Kalamata Hospital yesterday. Authorities said the accident occurred as the ambulance entered hospital grounds. None of the people on board the vehicle suffered any injuries. Doorstep muggers Police in Thessaloniki yesterday were questioning a 35-year-old Romanian convict and a female compatriot over a string of muggings outside apartment blocks. According to police, the pair would ambush residents as they returned home. On Tuesday, the pair are alleged to have attacked a 60-year-old woman and stolen her cell phone and 20 euros. A similar attack two weeks ago on a 70-year-old woman was more lucrative. The muggers made off with 500 euros and the victim’s bank deposit book, according to police. The 35-year-old has been on the run since receiving a five-year jail sentence for theft, police said. US Embassy The US Embassy in Athens and its consular section, the US Consulate General in Thessaloniki and all US government offices in Greece will be closed today in observance of Veterans’ Day, a US national holiday.

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