There will be no metro service between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. today because of a work stoppage by employees. The action was announced yesterday and is the second work stoppage in consecutive weeks on the metro line. Employees are demanding that management agree to a collective contract. Meanwhile, the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway (ISAP) announced yesterday that it has created parking for bicycles at all its stations, as well as ramps so the bikes can be taken onto trains at specific times during the day.

The Merchant Marine Ministry yesterday submitted a request to the Foreign and Defense ministries asking for a Greek navy ship to be sent to the Indian Ocean to patrol waters off Somalia when Greek vessels pass through there. The request comes after two Greek-flagged tankers were taken over by pirates in the last few days. Any Greek navy ship would be part of an international force already operating in the area.

A court in Thessaloniki yesterday upheld a six-and-a-half year sentence for a man found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl with physical and mental disabilities. The incident took place six years ago when the unnamed man was 21.

The City of Athens tore down five illegal mobile phone masts yesterday. Four of the antennas had been placed on the roofs of apartment blocks and disguised as chimney stacks. Deputy Mayor Nikos Avramidis said the mobile phone companies had appealed against the move to remove the masts but were unsuccessful. The municipality plans to tear down another three mobile phone antennas tomorrow.

A nightclub owner was robbed at gunpoint outside one of his establishments on coastal Poseidonos Avenue, southern Athens, yesterday. Police said that two men, one brandishing a gun and the other a knife, approached the businessman as he left the club at noon. They forced him to hand over the keys to his car, in which they drove off. The nightclub owner said that he had 3,000 euros in cash in the trunk of the car. The businessman and the club were not named.

Five sheep have been found dead near a waste-processing plant on Crete, prompting fears that a toxic liquid has seeped into the surrounding area. The sheep were discovered after a local livestock breeder reported that 30 of his animals were missing. It was not clear what happened to the remaining sheep. A similar incident occurred last year at the plant in Akrotiri.

An illegal migrant boat carrying 83 Egyptians headed for Europe has gone missing off the coast of Greece after leaving Egypt three days ago, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. “The Foreign Ministry has learned that the boat left Damietta (on Egypt’s northern coast) three days ago and that communications were cut off, and there has been nothing to suggest it reached the Greek shore,” the ministry said in a statement. (Reuters)