New Democracy remains 4 percent ahead of PASOK in a VPRC opinion poll made public yesterday, less than a month after local elections. The survey puts the ruling conservatives on 42.5 percent and the Socialists on 38.5 percent - the same figures as VPRC published before last month’s municipal and prefectural elections. This month’s poll suggests that 40 percent of respondents believe that ND benefited most from local election results, compared to 16 percent who said PASOK was the moral victor.

An oil pipeline leak at an electricity plant in Aliveri, central Greece, caused an 800-square-meter oil spill off the island of Evia, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The ministry placed floating barriers to contain the spill, while two private crews helped to clean up the spill. The pipeline was repaired immediately, the ministry added.

A search for the stepfather and mother of a 10-year-old boy has been launched after the child sought help from neighbors in the village of Halkoutsi in northern Attica, claiming that he had been beaten at home. Police said yesterday that doctors who examined the child said he had bruises all over his body. The boy said that his stepfather had hit him with a belt. The man and the boy’s mother, who is a Russian national, have not been named.

Three people went on trial in a Piraeus court yesterday, charged with aiding and abetting the convicted murderer Peter Sedom with escaping from Korydallos Prison in May 2002. Sedom, a US national, escaped with the assistance of the prison psychologist Olga Atzamoglou. Neither has been seen since. The former prison warden, Antonis Arvantinos, prison guard Panayiotis Chrysovergis and ex-convict Giorgos Papageorgiou have been charged with helping Sedom to escape. Sedom had been jailed after admitting to the murder of a 20-year-old student.

A man wanted in connection with attempted murder, drug dealing and armed robbery has been arrested, police said yesterday. The 32-year-old suspect, an Albanian national, was caught in Piraeus on Tuesday after officers found a 9-millimeter pistol on him during a search. The unnamed man is thought to have fired a gun in June in a bar in Kolonos, near central Athens, which led to a man being injured. The suspect was also allegedly part of a gang that in June shot and injured a man in Ano Liosia, northwestern Athens, and then stole 34,000 euros from him.

A Thessaloniki court yesterday passed down a 10-year jail sentence on a 65-year-old man found guilty of strangling his 89-year-old father with his bare hands over a property dispute in June 2005. The unnamed man, who lived in an apartment neighboring his father’s in the city’s Ambelokipi district, visited his father on June 18 and attacked him after an argument over ownership of the two apartments.

Police said yesterday that they had arrested four minors, including a 13-year-old girl, in Attica on suspicion of robbery. The young girl was arrested in Piraeus where she would allegedly enter stores and steal customers’ wallets. A 13-year-old boy was also arrested for stealing toys from a large store. Two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, were arrested for stealing a motorcycle.

Two armed youngsters held up a convenience store in Thessaloniki yesterday and made away with 50 euros after attacking the 30-year-old owner, police said. The suspects struck the owner over the head with a gun after the proprietor refused to hand over any money. The woman was treated for minor injuries.

Police said yesterday they arrested two men, both Albanian nationals, in Ioannina, northern Greece, after they were found to be in possession of 105 kilos of cannabis and a stolen car. Police stopped the first suspect as he was driving a stolen car and uncovered the narcotics during an inspection of the vehicle. A second man, who was escorting the stolen car in a separate vehicle, was also caught.