A strike by the Panhellenic Union of Railway Workers means that train services across the country will be severely disrupted and the Proastiakos Suburban Railway will not be running at all. As a result of the strike, there will be no metro service to or from Athens International Airport. People without their own transportation wishing to travel to the airport will have to use the regular bus service or a taxi. The metro will be stopping at Doukissis Plakentias. Meanwhile, metro employees also announced that they will be holding a four-hour work stoppage from noon tomorrow to protest what they believe are delays on the part of management in agreeing to a collective contract.

An armed man caused panic at the main hospital in Trikala, central Greece, yesterday when he took a security guard hostage and started moving toward the emergency room, insisting that he be seen by doctors immediately. The man was disarmed following police intervention. It was unclear what health problem the man had.

One in 10 Greek schoolchildren does not eat any breakfast and four in 10 only have some milk or fruit to start the day, according to a poll made public yesterday. The survey, conducted by the Aristides Daskalopoulos Foundation, suggested that the older children get, the less likely they are to eat a proper breakfast. One in four of 16 to 18-year-olds do not have anything to eat in the morning, according to the poll, for which 1,305 schoolchildren were questioned.

Yiannis Glykas, the mayor of Perama, southwest of Athens, told Kathimerini yesterday that he has collected 5,000 signatures for a petition demanding that oil companies move their fuel tanks from the area, as they are damaging the local environment. Glykas said that he will collect 20,000 signatures by the end of the month. “Having fuel tanks so close to inhabited areas carries with it a lot of dangers, including to the lives of residents and that is why we want them removed,” he said.

Police at Athens International Airport yesterday arrested a 39-year-old Somalian man arriving on a flight from London after a search of his luggage revealed nearly 17 kilos of the amphetamine-like drug khat. According to Reuters, the suspect told police that he had been paid by a group of Africans in London to take the drug to their associates in Athens.

A mild undersea quake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, occurred off the western coast of the island of Milos just before 6 a.m. yesterday. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The offices of a private security firm in Thessaloniki were badly damaged in an arson attack yesterday. Nobody was injured in the early morning raid in the area of Triandria. Assailants left three homemade incendiary devices containing camping gas canisters outside the offices, the fire service said.