Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis said yesterday that the government would not be hiring any public servants next year. He added that hirings would resume in 2011 but that one person would be taken on for every five that leave the civil service. Ragousis added that some 3,500 former Olympic Airlines employees who have been left without jobs since the carrier’s privatization would be moved to other departments in the public sector by next month.

Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou indicated yesterday that she wants a continuation of the dialogue over reforms in primary and secondary education and will not be seeking to immediately adopt recommendations submitted to her by a council of experts. The advisers, led by Professor Giorgos Babiniotis, delivered their findings after eight months of consultation initiated by the previous New Democracy government. But Diamantopoulou said the report would be used as a basis for taking discussions about education reforms to the next phase.

Three lawyers defending Vassilis Stefanakos and Yiannis Skaftouros, two men suspected of being at the center of a widespread crime syndicate, were yesterday released after a witness in the case against the two suspects accused the attorneys of breaching his privacy rights. The unnamed witness accused the lawyers of disclosing some of his personal details during the trial. All three lawyers were released after questioning.

The Council of State has reversed a 2005 law that relaxed restrictions on construction on the popular island of Myconos, it was revealed yesterday. Greece’s highest administrative court ruled that previous rules restricting building activity by the sea, in areas of natural beauty and on small plots of land should apply again. The court said that any landowners who feel wronged by the imposition of the restrictions could sue for compensation.

State hospital doctors said yesterday that they would go on strike on November 30 to demand more government spending on the health system and the hiring of 2,000 more doctors. The doctors said that they would only treat patients thought to be suffering from the H1N1 virus on November 30.

An explosive device made from gas canisters went off early yesterday at the headquarters of the municipal police in Nea Ionia, northern Athens. Nobody was injured in the attack, which damaged the entrance to the building and a parked car. Meanwhile, a PASOK office in the Aghios Pavlos-Evangelistria area of Thessaloniki suffered damage in a blaze early yesterday. It was not clear what caused the fire to break out.

Police in Thessaloniki revealed yesterday that they arrested a 29-year-old man in the city after an international warrant for his arrest was issued by Albanian authorities. Officers said that when they caught the unnamed Albanian man, he was carrying a loaded handgun.