The details of the investigation into the disappearance, and suspected murder, of 11-year-old Alex Meshivili in Veria, northern Greece, last year were yesterday delivered to appeals prosecutor Zacharias Mouratis in Thessaloniki yesterday as the next phase of the case gets under way. Magistrate Michalakis Georgiou has finished collecting evidence and testimonies after questioning the five schoolboys implicated in the case, as well as their parents and relatives, over a period of eight months. Mouratis, Michalakis’s superior, will now consider the evidence and recommend to the Council of Appeals Judges who should stand trial. Apart from the five boys, nine adults have also been charged so far.

Independent MP Stefanos Manos is set to become the first deputy to post his messages on the popular video-sharing website YouTube. In a statement yesterday, Manos said that he would post videos of all his announcements and speeches in Parliament on www.youtube.com. He said that people interested in viewing the messages should enter “TheLiberals” into the search facility to locate the videos. Manos was elected to Parliament on the PASOK ticket in the 2004 general elections.

A Scottish woman drowned in the swimming pool of her parents’ holiday home in a coastal resort in eastern Cyprus, officials said yesterday. Lynn MacDonald, 23, was swimming with friends in her parents’ pool in Ayia Napa Thursday afternoon when she fell unconscious, police said. She was pulled out of the pool by her friends who tried to resuscitate her, said Zacharias Chrysostomou, the Famagusta deputy police chief. He said a postmortem examination showed that MacDonald had drowned. Police have ruled out foul play. (AP)

Two tax officers were arrested in Thessaloniki yesterday accused of seeking a bribe in exchange for helping to return 480,000 euros in VAT tax to a local businessman, authorities said. The two officials, a man and a woman, had taken delivery of a 30,000-euro amount in marked bills at a canteen near the tax office when police intervened and arrested them. They have both been suspended from their duties and will be subject to disciplinary measures.

The Athens Bar Association (ABA) yesterday blasted the conditions at the Athens First Instance Court during an annual inspection by the Supreme Court. The ABA said that understaffing was the main problem at the court as there are 101 places yet to be filled. The lawyers’ association also criticized a small number of judges as lax, which means that the remaining justices are given extra work. The ABA called on the Justice Ministry to rectify the problems. Meanwhile, the Piraeus Bar Association said that they will strike on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to protest conditions in the area’s main courthouse.

Skai Radio and TV is continuing its efforts to help clean up Athens’s rivers and beaches this weekend and is looking for the help of volunteers. The cleanup operations will take place from 6 a.m. tomorrow at Loutsa, Schinias, Psathas and Votsalakia beaches. Special machinery provided by Ram Europe, which manufactures equipment to clean beaches, will be used in the efforts.

A 35-year-old female archaeologist committed suicide yesterday by jumping off a first-floor balcony at a hospital in Kalamata, southern Greece, police said. The woman had attempted to take her life on another two occasions, according to officers.

The Athens Prefecture has ordered the recall of Chinese-made plastic spoons used for infants after it was found that they are unsafe. Repeated use of the “By Luv ‘n’ Care” spoons, which change color according to the temperature of the food, showed that they released dangerous substances and contaminated the food. Separately, Thessaloniki prefectural authorities fined six food companies 16,000 euros for not operating with the right permits.