The former head of the Fire Service and the Civil Protection Authority, Panayiotis Fourlas, turned up at the central police station in Lamia, central Greece, yesterday after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of possessing illegally procured antiquities. Police launched the search for Fourlas on Wednesday following the discovery of stone artifacts on the grounds of his home in the village of Ypati in Fthiotida. According to police, Fourlas claimed to have inherited the pieces from his grandfather and not to have known that they dated to antiquity.

An ecclesiastical court decided yesterday to defrock the former archbishop of Attica, Panteleimon, who is currently serving a six-year jail sentence in Korydallos Prison for embezzling 195,000 euros from an Attica monastery. Panteleimon was convicted in June 2006 but in March this year the Holy Synod decided that the disgraced cleric would not have to answer to additional charges before a Church court. The move prompted speculation that Panteleimon would try to regain his post.

A 35-year-old man was found hanging from a basketball hoop in the Athens neighborhood of Aghioi Anargyroi yesterday in an apparent suicide, police said. The body of the unnamed man was found hanging in a basketball court located behind the municipal hall. No further details were given.

Passengers on the Kifissia-Piraeus electric railway are set to experience further disruptions to their journeys over the next two weekends as trains will not be running between the Kallithea and Omonia stations. A bus replacement service (X7) will be running instead. The bus will depart from Eleftherios Venizelos Street in Kallithea and Athinas Street near Omonia Square. For further information, commuters can call 210.329.30.00.

The European Parliament’s office in Greece said yesterday that it will set up a kiosk in Syntagma Square from May 21 to inform citizens about the upcoming Euro elections. The kiosk will be set up at the entrance to Syntagma metro station and will give people the opportunity to learn more about the issues that concern Europeans, such as immigration, energy, the environment and security.

A quake measuring 4.7 Richter struck the Dodecanese island of Karpathos just after noon yesterday but did not cause any damage, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. The tremor was recorded at 12.13 p.m. and its epicenter was in the sea northwest of the island.

The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) said yesterday that it was withdrawing three types of breakfast cereal because they contain higher levels of 4-methylbenzophenone, a substance used in printing inks, than regulations permit. The watchdog said that the cereals being withdrawn are Hahne Flakes & Fruits, Hahne Cornflakes 0% Crystal Sugar and Hahne Flakes & Fruits Yogurt Orange.