Traffic police will cordon off parts of central Athens today and tomorrow due to Easter Church celebrations. From 5 p.m. today parts of Kolonaki Square, Mitropoleos Street and Syntagma Square will be blocked off, while restrictions around the Athens Cathedral will be enforced tomorrow as of 11 p.m.

A car chase in western Athens on Tuesday ended with the arrest of a 14-year-old boy who is accused of stealing nine cars, police said yesterday. Authorities detained the boy in Kamatero, northwest Athens, as he was driving a vehicle that had been stolen in Peristeri. The teenager is also suspected of stealing 300 euros from a church, police added. A search is under way for the suspect’s 16-year-old accomplice.

The head of the executive committee of Olympic Airlines, Petros Papageorgiou, was sacked yesterday and replaced by Ilias Karatzalis, the Transport Ministry said in a statement. No reason was given for Papageorgiou’s sacking. Karatzalis is a lawyer and a member of the executive committee, the ministry said. The government is currently seeking private investors to buy a stake in the airline. PASOK accused the government of making things worse rather than better at OA.

The website of the Turkish Embassy in Washington features a map showing the Aegean islets of Imia located within Turkey’s territorial waters and designated with the Turkish name of Kardak, Kathimerini has discovered. Meanwhile, the website of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry in Ankara features a section condemning the alleged repression of the rights of the Muslim minority in Thrace, which the site refers to as Thrace’s “Turkish minority.”

Two butchers at the Varvakeios Market in central Athens were fined yesterday for selling meat from the Netherlands without indicating its country of origin and price, the Development Ministry said. Inspectors also seized and destroyed some 200 kilos of frozen liver from the Netherlands that butchers at the market had been selling as fresh. The ministry reminded consumers that shops will only be open between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. today. Stores and supermarkets will be open until 9 p.m. on Saturday. Butchers will be open between noon and 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Inspectors from the Athens Prefecture yesterday supplied 23 files to a prosecutor about stores which they believe should be sued for not adhering to hygienic standards. The files were compiled following checks between March 28 and April 17. The stores were not named. Five supermarket chains — Atlantik, Veropoulos, Dia, Champion and Ilias Doukas — are also facing fines for not storing some products at recommended temperatures.

Police and rescue teams were searching yesterday for a man who leapt out of a moving train that was traveling from Thessaloniki to Alexandroupolis. Passengers said they saw the man jump out of the train’s window. Police had failed to locate the passenger, as they suspect he managed to pull off his stunt without incurring any injuries.

A waiter at a central Athens restaurant was treated for head injuries yesterday after he tried to break up a party of five that had started arguing. The waiter stepped in and tried to calm things down but one of the patrons pulled out a gun, fired two shots in the air and struck the waiter over the head with the weapon.