A gynecologist has been arrested after allegedly accepting a –500 bribe to admit a pregnant woman to a hospital in Nikaia, southwest Athens, so she could have a Caesarean section, police said yesterday. The unnamed doctor allegedly asked for –900 initially. This prompted the 30-year-old Albanian woman to go to the police. An undercover officer posed as a friend of the pregnant woman and accompanied her to a meeting with the gynecologist. The doctor was arrested as soon as he allegedly accepted the marked bills. He was later charged.

The Development Ministry yesterday banned Super League soccer clubs PAOK and Iraklis from signing any new players this month because of discrepancies concerning their financial records. Five lower division soccer clubs as well as Maroussi and Olympia Larissa basketball clubs have also been banned from signing players. PAOK said it would ignore the decision.

Health and hygiene inspectors from the Athens Prefecture have confiscated almost two tons of unsuitable food and filed charges against nine people or companies over the last 10 days, officials said yesterday. Two of those being sued are butchers working at Athens’s main Varvakeios market. Both were found to be selling meat that had gone bad. The Carrefour Marinopoulos chain was also sued twice as two of its stores were found to be selling moldy cold cuts and fish that was unsuitable for consumption.

Arsonists damaged a post office in Kallithea, southern Athens, early yesterday after setting off a homemade explosive device outside the building. Police said the device contained five camping gas canisters and it caused minor damage. Nobody was injured. Meanwhile, suspected anarchists also damaged two parked cars in Exarchia, central Athens, after throwing firebombs at them. Officers said that youths also attempted to throw a Molotov cocktail at a police van but missed their target.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which last year returned two ancient artifacts from its collection to Greece, late Wednesday refuted allegations in The Los Angeles Times newspaper that it had acquired a looted statue of the goddess Aphrodite. Getty officials said they bought the 2,400-year-old statue for $18 million in 1988 based on “information and research” available at the time but The Times report bolsters claims that the piece was illicitly excavated in Sicily.

Bomb disposal experts conducted a controlled explosion at a car dealership in Haidari, western Athens, yesterday after a suspicious package was discovered at the premises. Police said that the package contained a stun grenade and explosive material but did not give more details.

Police have arrested a teenager and are looking for three other men who are suspected of killing a 24-year-old man in Ano Petralona, southern Athens, on December 27. Officers said that the four suspects, all Albanian nationals, killed their victim, also an Albanian, because of a personal dispute. The 24-year-old had allegedly been involved in an incident a few days before his death that resulted in the father of two of the suspects being injured. Police did not name any of the alleged attackers.

A 32-year-old man was arrested in Nea Moudania, Halkidiki, after attempting to sell more than half a kilo of heroin to an undercover officer, police said yesterday. The suspect, a foreign national, was arrested after accepting –6,500 in marked notes.