A prosecutor in Rethymnon, Crete, yesterday charged an 18-year-old local army conscript with the premeditated murder of a 17-year-old Albanian national he allegedly stabbed to death on New Year’s Day. Five other Greek men, including the main suspect’s 40-year-old father, as well as a Bulgarian woman, were also charged with the same offense. The woman was also charged with causing serious bodily harm to the victim’s father, who was in the house at the time of the attack. Rethymnon Prefect Giorgos Papadakis yesterday condemned the incident as interethnic tension remained high.

The court hearing the appeals of convicted members of the November 17 terrorist group yesterday appointed a fresh group of three lawyers to represent N17’s convicted leader Alexandros Yotopoulos. This was the court’s third attempt to provide Yotopoulos with legal representation after the 61-year-old dismissed his original three lawyers, prompting the court to assign him another three, who refused to represent Yotopoulos citing health and financial concerns.

Composer and former PASOK culture minister Thanos Mikroutsikos, the artistic director of Patras 2006 — European Cultural Capital, resigned yesterday citing organizational problems, lack of funding from the current Culture Ministry and friction with other organizers. Patras, in the Peloponnese, will take over as Europe’s culture capital as of next Tuesday from Cork, Ireland.

Greece had the third-highest rate of road deaths per million inhabitants in Europe in 2004, according to European Commission figures made public yesterday. There were 153 deaths on Greek roads per million inhabitants in 2004, although this was down from 216 per million a decade earlier, figures showed. Lithuania came second and Latvia first for the number of deaths from traffic accidents in the EU.

A 60-year-old man died during a fire in his apartment in Koukaki, central Athens, yesterday morning. The fire broke out in his fourth-floor apartment at 10.20 a.m. though it is unclear what sparked it. The fire brigade found the charred body of the unnamed man inside his home.

The Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) said yesterday that six more kilometers will be added to the capital’s bus lanes early this year. The bus lanes will be carved out in the areas of Ilissia and Pangrati, OASA added. In 2005, Athens added 13 kilometers of new bus lanes to total 52 kilometers.

A total of 28 Turkish fighter jets violated Greek national air space in the Aegean yesterday. The Turkish jets were chased off by Greek planes and there were five simulated dogfights.

Police in Crete said that arsonists yesterday destroyed two cars belonging to Therisos Mayor Evangelos Hnaras and his wife while the vehicles were parked next to the couple’s home. Hnaras said that his political opponents in the municipality were responsible for the attack but did not name anybody.

Chief prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos ordered a preliminary investigation yesterday into the conditions behind OTE Telecom issuing to its competitor Newsphone Hellas the number 11880 for directory inquiries. The investigation will look into why the particular number, which is often confused with OTE’s own 11888 directory assistance, was issued and whether there was any criminal wrongdoing.

Environmentalist group Greenpeace accused the government yesterday of ignoring EU guidelines that require newly constructed buildings to adopt energy-friendly systems. Greenpeace said Greece had to include the EU rules in legislation by today but has yet to act on the guideline that will help cut energy consumption by up to 40 percent.