In Brief
PRICE CHECK
President proposes ‘black list’ for overpriced consumer goods A black list of certain goods which are excessively overpriced should be the focus of future consumer boycotts, President Costis Stephanopoulos said yesterday during a discussion with Prime Minister Costas Simitis broadcast on state television. Stephanopoulos stressed that restricting the boycott to the more expensive products would be useful as consumers have still not grasped the real value of the euro, prompting Simitis to note that consumers appear to be spending too freely. The Hellenic Union of Retail Stores yesterday said Tuesday’s consumer boycott did not have any adverse affect on their sales. LIBEL SUIT Ex-minister seeks 1 mln euros from right-wing MP over N17 claim Former Public Order Minister and PASOK MP Athanassios Tsouras yesterday lodged a 1-million-euro libel suit against the chairman of the LAOS extreme right-wing party, Giorgos Karadzaferis, for linking him, and PASOK, to November 17 terrorists. Tsouras filed his suit following allegations by Karadzaferis in radio and press interviews that the PASOK MP was harboring N17 operatives. Karadzaferis also quipped that half of PASOK’s MPs will be in jail by the time the N17 investigation is finished. PORT POLICE Five officers to be disciplined Five port police officers charged with the alleged beating of two taxi drivers during standard vehicle inspections are to face disciplinary action following the completion of an internal investigation into their behavior, Merchant Marine Minister Giorgos Anomeritis decided yesterday. Permits extended Temporary residence permits about to expire held by immigrants living in Greece are to be extended until December 31, Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis announced yesterday. Also, residence and work permits valid until the end of December will be issued to illegal immigrants in need of humanitarian aid, Skandalidis added. From January, in accordance with a new EU regulation, all legal immigrants in Greece will be given new residence permits in the form of a sticker on their travel documents. Drowned migrants Rescue crews in the southwestern Peloponnese had yesterday recovered the bodies of three drowned immigrants and were searching for another five believed missing since Tuesday’s sinking of a fishing boat off the coast of Kyparissia. Police yesterday detained 36 migrants who said they had been aboard a smuggling ship carrying around 100 migrants, mostly Pakistanis, to Greece from Turkey. The migrants said they had been leaving the ship aboard two smaller boats when one sank. A land and sea search for the Turkish ship was under way yesterday. FYROM agreement A seven-year interim agreement signed in 1995 between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with the aim of determining a name for the latter which is acceptable to both countries, should not be renewed when it expires in a few days, three PASOK MPs argued yesterday. The pact always favored FYROM which exploited Greece’s generosity (when Greece was providing economic support to Skopje), the MPs complained. French aerobatics A French air force aerobatics team begins its practice displays over Thessaloniki today ahead of performances planned to entertain visitors to Thessaloniki’s 67th international trade fair over the weekend. France’s status as this year’s honored country at the fair has prompted the first-ever visit to Greece by La Patrouille de France, founded in 1953. 5.0 quake A strong earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, shook the Dodecanese island of Karpathos just before 10.30 a.m. yesterday without causing any injuries or damage. Hymettus corpse The body of an unidentified man was discovered yesterday in bushes near the Kaisariani Monastery on Mount Hymettus east of Athens. The victim, aged around 25, died of severe head injuries, a coroner found.
