Panathinaikos will face Olympiakos’s conquerors Anorthosis Famagusta as well as Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan and German side Werder Bremen in the group stages of the Champions League, following yesterday’s draw. Anorthosis became the first Cypriot side to make this stage of the competition after a 1-0 defeat against the Greek champion on Wednesday night. The result meant the Cypriots won their two-legged tie 3-1 on aggregate. Olympiakos will compete in the UEFA Cup, where they will be Greece’s sole representatives after Aris and AEK crashed out of the tournament last night. Aris lost 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate) against Slaven Koprivnica of Croatia. AEK drew 2-2 with Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus but had lost the first leg in Athens 1-0.

Captured fugitive Vassilis Palaiocostas is to be charged with the attempted murder of a Traffic Police officer, in addition to charges of abducting high-profile businessman Giorgos Mylonas, police said yesterday. The 42-year-old serial robber is alleged to have fired shots at the driver of a Traffic Police patrol car in Thessaloniki in April. Palaiocostas, who had still been at large at the time, refused to stop for police, triggering the car chase. The gun believed to have been used by the fugitive that day was found in a hideout where Palaiocostas is alleged to have detained Mylonas in June.

The director of a police unit in Elassona, in the central region of Thessaly, has been transfered to another post following reports that he ordered the transportation of seven illegal immigrants in a pick-up truck instead of a police vehicle, it was revealed yesterday. The unnamed officer reportedly ordered the migrants to be crammed into the back of a truck and covered with a sheet of canvas to conceal their presence. It was unclear where the official was being transfered.

Employees of a bar in the southern Athens suburb of Aghios Dimitrios yesterday discovered a live hand grenade on the premises. It is thought that unidentified assailants had hurled the grenade into the store a few hours earlier in an attempted attack on the bar. Forensic experts were yesterday examining the grenade for fingerprints.

A passenger ferry that had been due to depart from the northwestern port of Igoumenitsa for the Italian port of Brindisi on Wednesday night remained moored due to a problem with the vessel’s ramp. Following a three-hour delay, the 387 passengers aboard the Penelope were transfered to another ferry sailing to the port of Bari, some 100 kilometers from Brindisi.

A 38-year-old farmer from the small town of Meligala in the Peloponnese was killed late on Wednesday night when his tractor overturned on him. The farmer had been trying to connect the tractor to a grass-cutting machine, police were told.

Police and Development Ministry officials are looking for trucks carrying foreign potatoes which are being sold as Greek after a shipment of 30 tons was seized at the Rendi market yesterday.