Matthew Nimetz, the United Nations mediator for the name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), is to meet with the negotiators from both sides in Geneva on June 22, sources said yesterday. Nimetz is expected to ask ambassadors Adamantios Vassilakis and Zoran Jolevski for their respective government’s current stance in a bid to get the stalled negotiation process back on track. The envoy is subsequently due to visit Skopje and Athens on July 6 and 8, respectively. It is thought that Nimetz will try to continue talks on the basis of his latest proposal for the name Republic of Northern Macedonia.

Residents of the village of Mavrorachi, some 40 kilometers north of Thessaloniki, yesterday blocked municipal garbage trucks from accessing a local landfill which they claim is being used to dump toxic hospital waste. A Thessaloniki prosecutor has asked police to disperse the protesters, who have blocked access to the landfill several times in the past. Locals have also taken legal action against “anyone responsible” for allegedly putting their health at risk.

Two Turkish F16s violated Greek air space over the tiny Aegean islet of Agathonisi yesterday afternoon, flying over at an altitude of just 300 meters. The Turkish jets were chased off by Greek aircraft. The incident interrupted several weeks of calm in the region following a spike in violations by Turkish jets that accompanied the appointment of Ahmet Davutoglu, a respected but controversial diplomat, as Turkey’s foreign minister.

A 24-year-old Greek student, who returned to Athens from London on Sunday, yesterday became the sixth person in Greece to test positive for swine flu. The student, who was admitted to the capital’s Sismanogleio Hospital, has a mild case of the H1N1 virus, as had the five other Greek cases, who have since all been discharged from hospital with clean bills of health, according to the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

A 40-year-old nightclub owner was shot dead in broad daylight yesterday afternoon while leaving a cafe in the Athens district of Galatsi. The victim died instantly after being shot three times, twice in the head and once in the chest, at virtually point-blank range by two gunmen who then fled by motorcycle. According to police, the 40-year-old, who owned a string of night spots, had survived two previous attempts on his life, one outside his home in Kalogreza, north of Athens, and another in Aghioi Anargyroi, western Athens, in a hit using a homemade bomb.

Police in northeastern Attica yesterday were questioning two Georgian nationals in connection with a total of 65 burglaries in the Athens districts of Nea Smyrni and Vyronas and the suburbs of Maroussi and Pefki. Residents of these areas who have been burgled over the past few months can contact police in northeastern Attica and arrange for a visit to inspect retrieved loot.