A prosecutor in Thessaloniki yesterday launched an urgent preliminary investigation into how a baby, now 8 months old, had contracted hepatitis C after undergoing several operations at local hospitals. Panayiotis Ioannidis wants the directors of the Ippocrateio, Giorgos Gennimatas, and AHEPA hospitals to testify so that their evidence can be cross-checked with an investigation by the Health Ministry, which concluded that the child did not contract the blood disease from transfusions.

A 40-year-old shepherd from Aspropyrgos, west of Athens, was charged yesterday with the murder of his 31-year-old wife. Yiannis Angelopoulos allegedly beat Olympia Marini severely and then abandoned her at a hospital, where she died. Angelopoulos claimed he did not intend to kill his wife. He was also charged with illegally owning a hunting rifle and ammunition but these were not used in the incident.

Health inspectors from the Piraeus Prefecture seized more than half a ton of meat from the municipal market yesterday as part of checks that are being stepped up before Easter. The officials also confiscated 600 kilos of beef, 40 kilos of lamb and 40 kilos of pork from local butchers. The meat was seized because it was deemed unfit for human consumption or because it lacked the proper stamps.

Fake labels, inflated prices getting slapped onto lambs and goats imported to meet Easter demand...

A 50-year-old retired policemen has been arrested in connection with an attempted rape and two robberies in Zografou, near central Athens, officers said yesterday. Police said they were also looking into the possibility that the suspect was responsible for 25 assaults on women in the area, during which he threatened them with a screwdriver.

Police said yesterday that they have arrested two Albanians believed to have netted more than 7,000 euros in cash and valuables from a string of raids on mini-markets and street kiosks in the northern Athenian suburbs over the past six months. Officers are also seeking a Greek man thought to have led the ring. The Albanians, aged 25 and 27, were caught on Sunday following a raid on a street kiosk in the suburb of Nea Ionia. Police caught the duo after the kiosk owner described their getaway car.

Police in Thessaloniki said yesterday that during the first three months of this year they had stopped 499 car drivers and 76 motorcycle riders for using their mobile phones while driving. Officers pleaded with drivers to stop using phones while driving their vehicles as it delays their reaction time by up to 18 percent.

Motoring organization ELPA called on parents and teachers yesterday to escort their children traveling to and from school while also teaching them about road safety as data currently show that every day two children under the age of 15 are involved in a traffic accident. Half of all child deaths in Greece every year are due to traffic accidents, ELPA added.

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted the eastern Aegean island of Karpathos yesterday, causing no injuries or damage, authorities said. The earthquake struck an undersea area south of the island at 2.27 a.m. Seismologists said there is no evidence that seismic activity in the area is increasing.

The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) yesterday confiscated 24,000 cans of stuffed vine leaves from a wholesaler in northern Greece that had incorrect markings on their labels which were misleading consumers. The cans indicated the product was made in Greece but it actually had been produced in Turkey and Bulgaria. EFET authorities also confiscated 250 kilos of pork from a butcher in Afidnes, northern Attica, that was not fit for consumption.