Passenger ferries are to remain moored across the country today and tomorrow due to a 48-hour strike by sailors, starting at 6 a.m. The Panhellenic Seamen's Federation is calling for improved social security benefits for its members. Unionists yesterday advised those planning to travel by sea over the next two days to postpone their trips. They warned of further strike action unless the government offers «satisfactory» responses to their demands.

A 28-year-old Albanian laborer, charged with the rape last November of an Athenian woman and her 12-year-old daughter in Galatsi, is believed to have tried to rape another two women before and after the double attack, police said yesterday. Petrit Antemi is thought to have robbed a 22-year-old woman in Patissia, brandishing a screwdriver as a weapon, before trying to rape her just a few hours before attacking the mother and daughter, police said. Also, he is believed to have attacked a 35-year-old woman in Menidi four days later, they said.

Greece generally respects the human rights of its citizens but there are still instances of abuse of illegal immigrants and Gypsies by security forces, according to the US State Department's annual human rights report that was made public yesterday. The report also criticized cramped conditions in prisons and the smuggling of foreign women by prostitution rings.

Hundreds of farmers burned cotton and dumped fruit outside the prefect's office in Larissa yesterday, reiterating demands for higher crop subsidies. They threatened to intensify their action on March 27, the 94th anniversary of the uprising of the Kileler farmers. Raisin producers from Aigialeia, who blocked the Patras-Corinth national highway at the Meganiti bridge early yesterday, withdrew in the afternoon after regional officials agreed to pay subsidies to 300 farmers and to reimburse losses caused by bad weather.

Last December saw an 18.4 percent increase in the number of accidents on Greek roads and a 12.6 percent increase in road fatalities compared to December 2003, according to statistics released by the National Statistics Service yesterday. A total of 134 people died in road accidents last December.

A bust of the late popular actress Aliki Vouyiouklaki was yesterday unveiled in Mavili Square, in Ambelokipi, by Athens Deputy Mayor Nitsa Loule. A bust of Vouyiouklaki erected on the same spot following the actress's death, aged 64, in 1997 had been vandalized and replaced by an ironing board.

Authorities in Macedonia and Thrace yesterday remained on standby for a 13th day after heavy rain again swelled the Evros and Ardas rivers. The level of the Ardas rose to 5.70 meters, above the danger level of 5.20 meters. At Pythion, the Evros rose to 5.55 meters, where the danger level is 5.70 meters. A section of the railway at Mandras, suspended from service on Sunday night following heavy rain, was still not operating late yesterday.

Tourism Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos is today to launch a promotional tour of Greece in Los Angeles. Avramopoulos's mission includes luring Hollywood movie producers to Greece.

Heavy rainfall and storms are expected to buffet Thessaly, Evia and the Peloponnese over the next couple of days, the National Meteorological Service (EMY) said yesterday. Heavy rain is expected across Attica, it said. Yesterday, the KAT station on Athens's urban electric railway (OASA) was closed for five hours due to heavy rain. A storm that struck Lemnos on Sunday night damaged the port of Myrina, parked cars and stores, local authorities said yesterday.

A 7-year-old boy on Chios was seriously injured yesterday after a pit bull dog bit him in the face. Local doctors requested the boy's transfer to an Athens hospital. The dog's owner was arrested.