The recent spell of hot weather, which has seen temperatures reach 36 Celsius (97F) in some parts of the country, is set to continue until Thursday, Dimitris Ziakopoulos of the National Meteorological Service (EMY) told Kathimerini yesterday. He said that the temperature would drop by around 6 degrees from Thursday and the weather would be more seasonal during the weekend. Ziakopoulos said that humidity at this time of year is 10-15 percent higher than during July and August, meaning that the unusually high temperatures for this time of year feel even warmer.

Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said yesterday, according to reports, that the results of the parliamentary elections in Cyprus on Sunday would not help reunification efforts on the island. The centrist DIKO party of President Tassos Papadopoulos won 17.9 percent of the vote — up 3 percent from 2001 — to gain 11 seats in the 56-seat Parliament. Communist party AKEL, Papadopoulos’s main partner, won 31.2 percent of the vote and 18 seats. “It is a reality that these results, which I respect, will not contribute to the peace and solution process in coming days,” Talat told the Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Kibris.

The political council of New Democracy yesterday approved the candidates that will represent the party in 41 prefectures, 35 municipalities and six major cities in the local elections in October. The conservatives are still expected to name the candidates for the remaining 11 prefectures as well as for the coveted role of Athens-Piraeus prefect. Among the candidates approved yesterday were outspoken Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis and current Drama-Kavala-Xanthi Prefect Costas Tsatsis.

Greece will continue to do all it can to help maintain stability in the Balkans, alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said yesterday, after the majority of Montenegrins voted for independence from Serbia in a weekend referendum. “Greece has undertaken many initiatives and with its economic presence helps the situation remain stable,” said Antonaros. “On the other hand, Greece cannot dictate the way a people chooses to express itself,” he added after being asked whether the result in Montenegro would affect stability in the Balkans.

The EU backs Montenegro...

Two thieves — arrested earlier this month — targeted expensive houses in Kifissia, northern Athens, allegedly stealing paintings and other valuables that were worth hundreds of thousands of euros, police said yesterday. The pair, aged 61 and 28, broke into at least 12 houses in the area since March. Neither of the suspects has been named.

A 70-year-old woman was run over and killed by a train near Trikala, central Greece, yesterday. Yioula Alexandrou tried to cross from an opening in the fence along the railway lines near the village of Kipaki, witnesses told police, but the heel of her shoe became trapped in the tracks and she could not get it loose in time. The train had been traveling from Trikala to Kalabaka. Nobody aboard the train was injured in the incident.

Several homemade explosive devices went off early yesterday outside an army draft office in Rouf, central Athens, police said. Nobody was injured in the attack but the building was damaged. The area had been cordoned off by police after a telephone warning to the Eleftherotypia newspaper. The attack was claimed by a group called the Revolutionary Brigades.

An illegal immigrant from Albania was arrested by police in Grevena, northern Greece, yesterday in connection to three attempted homicides and tens of break-ins in Attica. Authorities detained the 29-year-old suspect while he was traveling in a car, along with two other men, and found in his possession a handgun and small quantities of drugs.