An alarming earthquake that  measured 5.0 on the Richter scale hit the island of Samothraki.  It made its residents and residents of the opposite coastline fearful that more quakes will soon take place. The earthquake’s epicenter was in the sea region of the island. Reportedly it did not cause any damages or injuries.
Seismologist  and professor at Aristotle University of  Thessaloniki Manolis Skordilis, underlined that this quake has nothing to do with the one in Serbia that also took place at daybreak and killed two people.  Many seismologists who are further investigating, note that the earthquakes are standard and that local people have no reason to worry.

A cargo jet carrying a suspicious envelope made an emergency landing in Bologna late Tuesday evening after Greek authorities received information that the package — reportedly destined for the office of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — contained explosives.
The incident came after roughly 13 parcel and mail bombs were intercepted and neutralised in the greater Athens area on Monday and Tuesday.  Most were addressed to foreign embassies in Athens.  One was headed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office.
Two arrests were made on Monday along a busy Athens street of suspects believed to have mailed one such mail bomb minutes earlier. According to police, the two suspects are both local men in their early 20s and were armed and found in possession of similar parcel bombs.
Initial reports claim the pair is linked to the ultra-leftist, self-styled anarchist terrorist (ANA-MPA) underworld active in the Greek capital in recent years, with a law enforcement investigation now in high gear. Another five suspects are wanted. The incidents are unrelated to the recent mailings of more powerful parcel bombs from the Middle East to US destinations; cases believed to be the work of Islamic terrorists.
The emergency landing came hours after a bomb disposal squad conducted a controlled detonation of two envelopes discovered in the cargo terminal of Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport on Tuesday evening.
According to initial reports the envelopes were first isolated.  One was destined for Europol headquarters at The Hague and the other for the European Court of Justice.
The private cargo plane took off from Athens carrying the letter addressed to Berlusconi’s office and was first headed to Paris before its final destination of Lyon, where the plane’s load of cargo would have been sorted and forwarded to recipients.
(source: ana-mpa)

Two suspicious packages were discovered at the Athens Airport and are to be detonated by police. Ιt’s not clear if these were found as cargo or if they were deposited at the airport. Police have confirmed that the devices contained explosives.
The impact on flights and other operations at the airport is not clear at this time, but travelers should not be surprised at delays and increased screening for at least several days at all airports in Greece.

With the purchase of 100% of the capital of three clinics formerly belonging to the Turkish group Safak, Greek company Hygeia has strengthened its presence in the nation. With the nine new purchases, Hygeia now owns ten hospital centres in the south-eastern Europe states of: Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Albania.
The group’s latest clinic is the Hygeia Hospital Tirana and is priced at 60 million Euros.  It opened at the end of September in the Albanian capital.

A court decision bound to be applicable for similar cases was issued by the Court of Appeals of Thessaloniki, according to which the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Pontian Associations (POPS), Charalambos Apostolides was found innocent.
Apostolides refused to pay fees for intellectual property rights for Pontian songs being broadcast through the radio station of the federation, to the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AEPI).
The President of POPS lawyer Charalambos Apostolides, was charged with violation of property rights law because he refused to pay compensation for intellectual property in order to broadcast Pontian songs through the Federation’s radio station in Thessaloniki. Following a proposal of the district attorney to remove charges, the judges unanimously decided on the president’s acquittal, while the reasoning behind the court decision is bound to be released in the near future.
“By written opinion of scientists – folklorists, Pontian songs are classified as folk and of unknown composer and lyricist. Therefore, having to pay compensation for intellectual property rights by the Radio Station of POPS would be considered as an act of sacrilege and exploitation of our birthplace”, mentioned the President of the Greeks of Pontus in court, adding that “POPS will not pay a single cent, to those who exploit the culture of Hellenism of Pontus”.