Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-07-16

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Book market grew by 8.9% in 2006

[02] Fire on Mount Hymettus subsiding

[01] Book market grew by 8.9% in 2006

The survey noted that the small size of most enterprises in the business offered flexibility and specialization but also created problems such as reduced liquidity.

The book publication market is widely open, with larger enterprises in the sector presenting only limited market shares. A total of 730 publishers were active in the Greek market in 2006, up from 374 in 1996. ICAP stressed, however, that larger enterprises were increasingly strengthening their position in the market at the expense of small and medium sized publishers.

Book prices grew by 4.5 pct in the 1995-2006 period, while the number of new book titles rose by 9.0 percent in 2006 compared with the previous year. ICAP said the Greek book market's value grew by 8.8 pct in 2005 and by 8.9 pct in 2006.

[02] Fire on Mount Hymettus subsiding

Fire-fighters said that the strong winds that were blowing in the area earlier in the afternoon had died down, assisting their efforts to get the fire under control, but stressed that strong fire-fighting forces would remain to ensure that it did not flare up again.

The fire broke out at around 15:00 on Monday near the Kessariani junction on the Kareas ring road and was quickly fanned to large dimensions by strong winds blowing in the area, forcing traffic to halt in both directions on the Hymettus orbital highway.

The fire broke out for unknown reasons just beneath the Hymettus orbital road and quickly spread over a large distance along its length, while it was not far from residential areas.

A strong force of 30 firefighters with ten fire engines was initially sent to battle the blaze, assisted by three firefighting airplanes and three helicopters. Additional reinforcements were quickly sent in, led by the chief of the fire brigade Andreas Kois, in a bid to get the fire under control before it grew even further.

Taking part in the fire-fighting effort were six aircraft, three helicopters, 60 firemen with 20 fire engines and a 50-strong force of fire-fighters on foot, while more reinforcements were arriving constantly.

The Katechaki ring road was closed to traffic from Pindos Street and from the Kessariani junction on the other side, where traffic was being diverted, while traffic was forbidden to go up Ethnikis Antistaseos Road.

Meanwhile, at least two more large blazes have been reported around the country, one on the island of Evia and another near a village in Lamia.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article