Four youths aged between 16-20 were killed yesterday when the car in which they were traveling ran into a wall on the national highway outside Patras before going up in flames. No further details were immediately available. Separately, a 1-year-old girl was killed in a road accident close to Katerini, southeast of Thessaloniki, while traveling on a motorbike, along with her parents. The bike smashed head on into an oncoming car. The parents, aged 30 and 26, were seriously injured.

The bishop of Thessaloniki, Anthimos, led a memorial service at the city’s Aghia Sofia Church yesterday for the victims of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina in the USA and the Lebanon conflict. The service was organized by the American-Hellenic Education Progressive Association (AHEPA) and was attended by US Ambassador to Greece Charles Ries and Macedonia-Thrace Minister Giorgios Kalatzis. Bishop Anthimos said there needed to be a “spiritual rebirth of man and world renovation.”

Olympiakos warmed up for their opening game in this year’s Champions League - against Valencia in Athens tomorrow - with a 2-0 win over PAOK on Saturday. Fellow Champions League hopefuls AEK, however, were held 1-1 by Atromitos, their third draw of the season. In Saturday’s other game, Panathinaikos beat Xanthi 1-0. In games played yesterday, it was: Aegaleo-Aris, 1-1; Ionikos-Apollon Kalamarias, 1-0; Iraklis-OFI, 2-3; and Corfu-Larissa, 0-0. In Round 3’s remaining game, Ergotelis hosted Panionios later last night.

A suspect escaped from a holding cell in a police station in Aegaleo, western Athens, during the early hours of yesterday morning, police said. The 32-year-old Algerian national used some type of blade to cut through the bars on the window of his cell and then climbed into an unguarded area, according to officers.

Cyprus wants to avoid a crisis over Turkey’s bid to join the European Union but warned that Brussels should not let Ankara continue to refuse to open its airports and harbors to Cypriot airplanes and ships, President Tassos Papadopoulos said on Saturday. “We are trying to avert any kind of crisis because I believe the general impression in Europe is that it would be a bad development if Turkey’s negotiations course faced insurmountable difficulties,” he said.

An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale shook the town of Kiato in the Peloponnese yesterday, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The tremor struck at 7.40 a.m. and its epicenter was located north of Kiato in an undersea area.

A Swedish soldier, aged 25, was killed in Halkidiki, northern Greece, and another was slightly injured after they were run over by a car early yesterday. The two soldiers, serving in the peacekeeping force in Kosovo, were on holiday in Halkidiki. The car was driven by a 50-year-old woman, police said.

Two gamekeepers were slightly injured close to Iraklion, Crete, on Saturday when they tried to stop two illegal hunters, authorities said. A patrol consisting of four gamekeepers came across the hunters and called on them to stop while firing shots in the air. The shots were returned and injured two of the guards. One of the two suspects was arrested while the other man escaped, police added.