Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-06-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] English fans - Hooliganism - Trial

[02] Greek defence minister - FYROM - Violence

[03] Moderate quake - E. Aegean

[04] Terrorists set bomb outside Kallithea OAED offices, no casualties

[05] Pilot makes emergency landing to let off drunken passenger

[01] English fans - Hooliganism - Trial

Five out of the nine British nationals arrested last Wednesday in northern Athens prior to the Greece-England World Cup qualifying match were acquitted of hooliganism-related charges by a misdemeanors court here on Sunday.

Conversely, the other four were convicted mainly on destruction of foreign property, simple assault and misprision charges.

The three-judge court sentenced the men to suspended sentences ranging from nine months to two years.

All four were subsequently released, as the suspended sentences under Greek law carry no jail time, but probation instead.

In their defence, the four Britons claimed they were inebriated at the time of their arrest and failed to realise that they were committing criminal offences.

[02] Greek defence minister - FYROM - Violence

Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos appeared optimistic on Sunday that the latest political initiative to resolve the crisis in the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will succeed.

He also blamed the violence in FYROM on what he called ?extremists? emanating from NATO-administered Kosovo.

Speaking at the BCA ?Money Show? conference in Athens on the issue of ?Security, Development and Greeces Role in the Mediterranean?, Tsohatzopoulos also emphasised Greeces role in efforts by other Balkan states to join Euro-Atlantic organisations.

[03] Moderate quake - E. Aegean

A moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale shook the eastern-central Aegean and the opposite Asia Minor coast Sunday afternoon, being felt from the Cyclades to Izmir.

Seismologists pinpointed the tremors epicentre in a sea region west of the island of Hios and south of the Psara island, some 170 kilometres east of Athens. It was recorded at 4:11 p.m. local time. No damages or injuries had been reported by press time.

According to wire reports, staff from an observatory in western Turkey measured the quake at 5.7 on the Richter scale. No reports of damages were issued from Turkey either.

Meanwhile, seismologists at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki were later quoted as saying that the quake emanated from an approximately 50-kilometre rift valley known as the Greek portion of the well-known ?Anatolia? rift.

More than 18,000 people were killed when two devastating earthquakes hit northwestern Turkey in 1999. A few days later, a quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck Athens, killing more than 140 people.

The same underground fissure in the eastern Aegean has been inactive since 1890, when a 6.2 on the Richter scale earthquake devastated Hios and Psara, researchers in Thessaloniki said.

[04] Terrorists set bomb outside Kallithea OAED offices, no casualties

A make-shift bomb exploded outside the offices of the Kallithea OAED Manpower Employment Organisation on Synggrou Avenue shortly at 17:30 on Sunday, causing damage to the building but no casualties.

Police had been alerted 15 minutes earlier through a call to the newspaper "Eleftherotypia," in which the organisation "Freedom Fighters" had claimed responsibility for the attack, and managed to cordon off the area surrounding the building in good time.

The bomb had been set at the entrance of the six-storey office block, behind a parked car, while the blast was heard for a great distance, breaking windows on the first storey and damaging the entrance to the building.

Members of the bomb and anti-terrorism squads are now searching the area for fragments of the explosive device.

[05] Pilot makes emergency landing to let off drunken passenger

One of the nouveau hazards of air travel - overindulgence in the drinks trolley - forced a Cyprus Airlines pilot to interrupt a flight from Moscow to Larnaca on Thursday night and land at Thessaloniki airport to let off a disruptive passenger.

The culprit was 35-year-old Russian national Hussein Mozed Mohammed, who got drunk and began acting provocatively toward other passengers and crew throughout the flight, resisting all attempts to calm him down.

As he approached Thessaloniki at 20:20 on Thursday, the pilot requested permission to land, which was granted. The inebriated Russian was delivered into the hands of airport security staff and stands to face charges of disrupting transport systems.

The aircraft continued its journey to Larnaca with a slight delay.

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