Almost two years after believing he had won some 3.6 million euros on a soccer betting game, an unnamed man can collect his winnings after an Athens court yesterday ordered the state betting agency OPAP to hand over the money. The man had submitted six identical betting slips in the “Pame Stoichima” game, which turned out to be completely correct, but OPAP refused to pay him for all six. Instead, he was told that he could only claim winnings of some 733,000 euros for one of the betting slips.

A midwife and a Bulgarian woman were arrested at a private medical clinic in Volos after being caught trying to sell a five-day-old baby for 18,000 euros, police said yesterday. The 32-year-old Bulgarian woman, who gave birth to the child at the clinic, was caught with the money in her possession after two police officers posed as a couple interested in buying the child. The woman was going to give 10,000 euros to the midwife who delivered the baby and helped arrange the adoption paperwork.

Post offices will be operating on skeleton staff today as Hellenic Post (ELTA) employees stage a 24-hour strike to protest plans to list the state Postal Savings Bank on the Athens Stock Exchange. The employees fear that a prospective merger of the two organizations would endanger their jobs. Protesters are due to stage a demonstration at noon at Kotzia Square in central Athens before marching to the Economy Ministry.

A 36-year-old man alleged to have attempted to rape three women while masquerading as a police officer was yesterday indicted to appear before a Thessaloniki court. The man, identified only as H.D., is alleged to have approached young women in remote areas on three occasions last October on the pretext of running an identity check before trying to sexually assault them. On one occasion he threatened his would-be victim with a gun, police said. He faces charges of attempted rape and usurping authority.

Police on the island of Rhodes said yesterday that a 37-year-old man had confessed to strangling and burying the husband of his lover. The two men allegedly began fighting after meeting by chance on Saturday night. The 38-year-old father of two was allegedly knocked out during the fight and the suspect then strangled him with a piece of rope he had in his car, officers said. He then allegedly buried the body on the site of the builder’s yard where he worked. The police did not name either of the men.

The General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) said yesterday that its members who work at public utilities and banks will go on a 24-hour strike on May 10. The action has been called to defend labor and social security rights and to protest against the government’s planned reforms for public utilities.

The Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) reminded commuters yesterday that old tickets for public transport will have to be used by May 31. From the beginning of June, only tickets that have been sold at the new prices, introduced on March 1, will be valid.

Thessaloniki taxi drivers will finally get their way and be allowed to drive in the city’s bus lanes, Transport Minister Michalis Liapis said yesterday. But the measure will only come into force when work begins to construct the Thessaloniki metro and, even then, cabbies will only be allowed in bus lanes during certain off-peak hours. The city’s taxi drivers have long been pushing for free access to the lanes.

Coast Guard officers picked up 28 illegal immigrants on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The migrants were found in the areas of Krionteri and the port of Karlovasi. All 28 are thought to have sailed to Greece in a wooden boat from Turkey.