A 48-year-old foreigner being detained at a jail in Kassandreia, Halkidiki, on people-smuggling charges hanged himself in his cell on Saturday night, jail authorities said yesterday. The man, who had been facing deportation for his alleged crime, was found hanging from the bars of his cell, according to authorities who said he had used his bedsheet to create a noose.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday reassured Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias of the UN’s commitment to helping representatives of both communities on the island reach a settlement, Christofias said. Christofias, who met Ban on the sidelines of the Mediterranean Union summit in Paris, said he is willing “to work hard with persistence and patience” to break the deadlock. He is due to meet later this month with Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. It is hoped that the meeting will lead to a relaunch of peace talks.

Unidentified vandals broke into three faculty buildings of the Technical College of Crete in Hania on Saturday night and caused serious damage, a local academic said yesterday. It appears that the vandals used a nearby water hose, intended for use as a fire extinguisher, to spray water all over expensive technical equipment which was totally ruined, the academic said.

A 59-year-old man believed to have knifed his 88-year-old mother to death turned himself in to police in Kyparissia, in the

southwestern Peloponnese, on Saturday. The circumstances surrounding the attack were still unclear yesterday.

A 38-year-old foreign man and a 40-year-old Greek woman were being detained by Athens narcotics unit officers yesterday, after a police search found 1.5 kilos of heroin in their possession. The pair faced a prosecutor yesterday.