Poet Miltos Sachtouris died early yesterday morning at the age of 86. Sachtouris received several awards for his poetic works, the most recent being the 2003 Grand State Literature Prize for his life's work. His last collection of poems - «Anapoda Girisan ta Rologia» (The Clocks Went Backward) - was published in 1998. He is to be buried in Athens's First Cemetery on Friday afternoon.

The Health Ministry has ordered 500,000 doses of an antidote to bird flu to ensure that the country is prepared in the event of an epidemic, Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis said yesterday. The antidote has been ordered as part of a broader action plan by the ministry and the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Kaklamanis said.

Athens's municipal council yesterday said it would set up seven local crime prevention councils as part of a scheme to involve citizens in reducing criminal activity in their area. The chief aims of the neighborhood watch scheme will be to stop violence at schools, reduce racist attacks, curb drug dealing and make local roads safer. The local councils are to comprise volunteers who will be trained and will work closely with the municipal police, council officials said.

Two drug addicts fatally beat a third in central Omonia early on Monday afternoon following an argument over a handful of pills, police in Athens said yesterday. The unidentified 27-year-old man died in an ambulance after allegedly being punched and kicked by his two assailants, aged 24 and 26, who tried to flee with the victim's mobile phone and pills but were caught by police.

The trade deficit increased by 3 percent to 2.24 million euros last January, as compared to 2.17 million euros in January last year, the National Statistics Service (NSS) said yesterday. The total value of imports last January was 3.09 million euros, as compared to 3.05 million euros in January 2004, the NSS said. Exports fell by 2.9 percent to 845.7 million euros from 870 million euros in January 2004, it said.

Special coupons providing free travel on public transport to disabled citizens will henceforth be available at Citizens' Information Centers (KEPs), Deputy Interior Minister Apostolos Andreoulakos said yesterday.

A field of wildflowers on the slopes of Mount Kissavos in central Greece is bathed in sunlight yesterday as temperatures soared across the country, reaching 20C (68F) in Athens.

A special electoral court will consider an appeal by two PASOK deputies who face losing their seats to New Democracy MPs, following a ruling contesting the results of last year's elections, the court's president, Christos Geraris, said yesterday.

A 17-year-old foreign laborer, whose name was not made public, was crushed to death yesterday by a wall at a building site in the village of Athitos in Halkidiki. The supervisor of the site and the owner of the building were arrested.

Police yesterday arrested a 49-year-old man from Tirnavos, near Larissa, after unearthing a large cache of drugs and weapons from a warehouse near his home. The cache included 8 kilos of cannabis, 6.5 kilos of cocaine, 2 kilos of heroin, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic rifle, various hand grenades and packs of dynamite.