President Karolos Papoulias yesterday called on Turkey to cooperate with Greece, stressing that improved relations were in the best interests of the EU candidate state. «Turkey's political and military leadership must realize that it is in its interest to cooperate with Greece without ulterior motives,» Papoulias said during a speech in Thessaloniki yesterday on the public holiday commemorating Greece joining World War II in 1940. «We are struggling daily to improve Greek-Turkish relations,» he said.

About 50 people from northern Greece on a trip to western parts of the country were hospitalized yesterday after suffering gastroenteritis, authorities said. The remaining 40 people from the tour group were staying at a hotel in Mesolongi. Initially 35 people complained of stomach pains and the number then grew to 50, authorities said. Tests were being conducted at the restaurants the travelers had visited.

Greece joined the international community yesterday in condemning a call by Iran that Israel should be wiped off the map. Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said that such threats are unacceptable. «Threats of violence against any state hurt the spirit of international justice. Greece along with the international community unequivocally condemns this,» he said.

The new head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem has filed a legal suit in the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding that Israel recognize his status as patriarch, The Associated Press quoted a Church official as saying on Thursday. The petition was filed on Wednesday, AP quoted Archbishop Aristarchus, chief secretary of the church in Jerusalem, as saying. Patriarch Theophilos was appointed in August following the ousting in May of his predecessor Irenaios, who was found to have leased Church property to Jewish investors.

Cypriot authorities blamed human error yesterday for a plane accident where two National Guard pilots where killed in September. The investigation ruled out a mechanical cause of the crash, saying that «the human factor contributed decisively to the cause of the accident.» The single engine military plane was flying off-course and at a very low altitude before it crashed in what authorities described as unusual circumstances.

Five crew members of a boat trying to smuggle 147 illegal immigrants into Greece were jailed on Thursday in Crete pending trial. The five men were charged with illegally transporting migrants and endangering their lives. The coast guard caught the men last Monday. The immigrants are now being held at a hotel on the island.

Police in Athens on Thursday arrested a 37-year-old foreigner believed to have been advertising over the Internet drugs such as Tamiflu - an anti-viral drug used to ward off bird flu - at double their normal price. According to police, potential customers paid for the drugs but would not receive them. Meanwhile, a retired professor from Sweden was arrested on Crete for selling Viagra and other drugs over the Internet.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will visit Mount Athos while in Greece next week, sources said. He will pay an unofficial visit to Serbian monks at the Chilandariou Monastery on Tuesday.

A storeowner in central Athens tried to set himself alight on Thursday after finding out that he was being evicted. The man doused himself with petrol but police stopped him from carrying out the threat.

Three people were killed in a road accident near Thessaloniki late on Thursday when two cars collided. The two drivers, aged 41 and 26, were both killed as was a 15-year-old passenger.

Clocks go back one hour at 4 a.m. on Sunday to 3 a.m. as summer time ends.