A security blimp which will monitor the capital from the air during the Olympics yesterday carried out its first reconnaissance flight over the Bay of Faliron, accompanied by a navy frigate. The airship, which is being rented by the Greek Police as part of a large-scale security operation for the Games, features special electronic equipment and extremely sensitive cameras that can provide security officials with detailed photos. The blimp is currently white but is due to be adorned with the police symbol in the next few days.

Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis yesterday began an official visit to Istanbul where he is to discuss security cooperation for the Olympics. Voulgarakis will meet Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu today.

Teams of firemen yesterday struggled to extinguish four blazes which broke out in the prefectures of Attica, the Argolid and Fthiotis. The extent of damage to forestland and agricultural tracts wreaked by the fires in Aspropyrgos, Halkoutsi, Nafplion and Kamena Vourla was unclear, but no houses were burnt. Today, the fire risk is greatest in Crete, the Cyclades, the Peloponnese, the eastern mainland and Macedonia, and the prefectures of Thessaloniki and Halkidiki, according to the General Secretariat for Civil Defense.

An undersea quake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale shook the western coastal town of Parga just before 2.30 p.m. yesterday. No injuries or major damage were reported. Some stores suffered minor damage. The epicenter was located about 8 kilometers northwest of Paxos in the Ionian Sea.

There will be no newspapers available tomorrow and Thursday as journalists, printers and others involved in producing newspapers join a 48-hour strike starting at 8 a.m. today. There will also be restricted news coverage on radio and television channels. Unionists demand a new collective labor contract.

Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) suspect Costas Agapiou yesterday denied any involvement in attacks carried out by the group. Agapiou accused the Athens court trying the five alleged ELA terrorists of conducting a “premeditated process of prosecution” against him. He also charged that chief prosecution witness Sofia Kyriakidou was unreliable, maintaining that her testimony had been fabricated.

One-third of Greek Cypriots believe that their lives will have improved one year after Cyprus’s accession to the European Union, according to a poll commissioned by the European Commission which was conducted last March. Meanwhile, one-quarter of those questioned believe that life will be worse next May, according to the poll, which was made public yesterday.

Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase yesterday visited Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios at the Patriarchate in Istanbul’s Phanar district. Vartholomaios told Nastase that he intended to visit Bucharest in October.