The European Court of Human Rights yesterday issued a ruling condemning the “usurpation” by Turkish authorities of a historic Orthodox orphanage on the Princes’ Islands off Istanbul. According to the verdict, Turkish authorities violated the ownership rights of the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios. The orphanage, one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, is the only property to which the Istanbul-based Patriarchate has full ownership rights.

An 8-year-old boy was fatally injured yesterday after being crushed by an excavation truck at the site of the old horse-racing course in Tzitzifies, near the coast in southern Athens. According to witnesses, the child had been sleeping when the incident occurred during works to demolish seating. The boy was transfered to Nikaia hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The truck driver was brought before a prosecutor. It was unclear whether the boy was a member of a local Roma community.

The Social Security Foundation (IKA) will start offering free vaccines against cervical cancer for all girls aged between 12 and 15 in September, Labor Minister Fani Palli-Petralia said yesterday, a day after a cancer awareness-raising group slammed IKA for allegedly failing to make good on a Health Ministry decision last February. The launch of a subsequent drive, offering vaccines to women aged between 16 and 26, is to follow later next year.

The United Nations mediator in the Macedonia name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, is to meet the negotiator for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in New York on Friday and Greece’s negotiator on Monday, also in New York.

Three suspected human traffickers were yesterday remanded in custody in Larissa, central Greece, after being caught putting ashore 49 Pakistani migrants from a yacht at Aghiokambos on Saturday night. A total of four suspects, two Ukrainians and two Pakistanis, were initially arrested. The nationality of the man that was released on bail yesterday was not mentioned. The migrants are being held in custody pending their repatriation.

Train operator TRAINOSE yesterday announced which journeys will be affected by rolling work stoppages by employees tomorrow, as well as on July 11 and 17. Passengers can find out more details by calling 1110.

Two banks were attacked by arsonists early yesterday. An improvised incendiary device went off outside a branch of Alpha Bank in Ilion, western Athens, causing some damage to the bank’s entrance. A branch of Emporiki Bank in the southern suburb of Alimos was also targeted. There were no injuries or arrests.