The measures that Greek police will take to prevent acts of hooliganism at soccer’s Champions League final in Athens will be unveiled on Friday. Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras met yesterday with the head of the Hellenic Football Federation, Vassilis Gagatsis, to discuss how to control the influx of thousands of supporters from abroad. Greek police officers are due to travel to Britain on Monday for consultations with their British counterparts. At least one of the two finalists will be an English team. Another group of four officers will travel to England and Italy to observe how the authorities in those countries police football matches. British officers are likely to travel to the final in Athens on May 23 to help Greek authorities keep tabs on possible troublemakers.

The country’s highest administrative court has ruled against an objection submitted by the residents of Grammatiko, eastern Attica, protesting against the creation of a new landfill in their area. The Council of State ruled that the dump was in conformity with local and EU rules. The residents are opposed to the landfill on the grounds that it will be unlawfully close to the sea and will pollute underground water resources.

A 28-year-old man died after being hit by a train near Patras on Tuesday evening, authorities said yesterday. Police said that the unnamed man attempted to cross the railway track in the area of Tsaousi in order to drink some water from a nearby tap. Nobody on board the train was injured.

An elderly man, found dead early yesterday morning in a stream at Nea Peramo, west of Athens, had probably fallen in while relieving himself during the night, police said yesterday. The man, who was not identified, had been celebrating his daughter’s engagement when he popped out of his house, probably to urinate, witnesses told police. His body was found by prefectural workers who arrived in the area in the morning to begin work on a rainwater drain.

A Huey military helicopter was yesterday forced to make an emergency landing at Megara air base after developing a mechanical failure. None of the three crew aboard the helicopter was injured. The Huey had been on a training flight when the failure occurred at around 2.30 p.m.

A 24-year-old man was handed a life sentence in Thessaloniki yesterday for murdering a woman in 2005 after she repeatedly rejected his sexual advances. The man was found guilty of killing the 38-year-old woman after first punching her. He then dragged her to a building site where he beat her to death with a piece of wood. Police said the man had turned himself in on the evening of the murder and confessed to the crime.

The French Embassy in Athens said yesterday that it would open its doors to visitors this Sunday and on May 6 so they can watch live coverage of the French presidential election on a big TV screen. The broadcast will begin at 8 p.m.

Authorities yesterday shut down a slimming center in Piraeus for operating without the necessary license. The operation of the center on Iroon Polytechniou Street was suspended for six months. In a separate development, prefectural officials yesterday confiscated 300 kilos of lamb meat from a butcher at the Piraeus market. The meat was considered unfit for human consumption.

Police yesterday arrested an Albanian national near Ioannina, northern Greece, after finding 64 kilos of cannabis and a loaded Kalashnikov rifle in the car he was driving. The suspect told police that he had taken delivery of the cannabis on the Greek-Albanian border and was transporting it to Athens.