The United Nations mediator in the Macedonia name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, has invited mediators from Athens and Skopje to meet him in New York on Thursday for a resumption of talks aimed at reaching a settlement, Nimetz’s office said yesterday. Nimetz is expected to hold separate meetings with the two envoys. The Greek representative, Adamantios Vassilakis, is expected to express Greece’s reservations about what progress new talks might bring in view of domestic tensions in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia (FYROM ) which faces repeat general elections on Sunday.

Police in Ileia said yesterday they had busted a prostitution ring after arresting a Greek man, three Bulgarians and an Albanian following a raid on a nightclub. Officers, who also detained three Bulgarian women believed to be victims of sex trafficking, said they received a tip-off from another Bulgarian woman who managed to escape from her alleged captors. The Greek bar owner is believed to be the head of the ring and to have been forcing foreign women to have sex with clients for 100 euros per date. Another bar owner in Tripolis was arrested yesterday on similar charges.

A Cretan woman had to take her 11-year-old son to the hospital after a random gunshot caused him a minor chest injury. According to the woman’s account, she and her child had been in a car with a friend when a bullet pierced the car’s fabric covering and grazed the child’s chest. The mother said all three of them heard the gunshot but no one saw where it came from. Guns are owned by a large proportion of Cretans, who often fire them at weddings and other celebrations.

A 35-year-old man has been arrested in Petralona, southern Athens, on suspicion of being one of the two robbers involved in a shootout with police during a bank heist in central Athens in January. The other robber, a 42-year-old man, was shot dead during the heist at the Postal Savings Bank. Police yesterday identified the dead man as the 35-year-old’s brother. Neither man was named. Police believe the brothers carried out at least seven robberies at banks and post offices, which netted them some 65,000 euros.

Three men wearing hoods held up a jewelry shop in Glyfada, southern Athens, yesterday morning and grabbed a number of valuable items before making off in a getaway car. The robbers dumped the vehicle and set it on fire in the nearby suburb of Voula. Police think the trio then used another car to complete their escape. The value of the stolen goods was not immediately known.

Greece’s largest private workers’ union, the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), announced yesterday that it will be holding a rally, in cooperation with other unions and consumer groups, in central Athens on June 19 to protest against rising prices and profiteering. GSEE President Yiannis Panagopoulos said that protesters would be demanding immediate government action against cartels and market monopolies.

Two armed robbers netted 18,000 euros in a raid on a bank in Thessaloniki yesterday. The assailants, both wearing motorcycle helmets, burst into the store just before 10 a.m. and threatened cashiers at gunpoint before fleeing with cash by motorbike.

A 51-year-old motorist and his 79-year-old father were killed when their car collided with another vehicle on a country road outside Trikala, central Greece. The driver of the second car was in critical condition in the hospital yesterday. It was unclear what caused the collision. Meanwhile, a pileup of some 20 cars on the Athens-Lamia national road near Thebes caused serious traffic problems. It was unclear what provoked the pileup but there had been heavy rainfall at the time.

Police in Attica said yesterday that they had traced the culprits behind a series of robberies and burglaries. The ring is believed to be behind a recent raid on a gas station in Kifissia that resulted in the death of the gas station owner. It has also been linked to the Mafia-style execution of two Albanians in the Aghios Panteleimonas region. The suspected ring leader of the ring is currently serving time in Korydallos Prison.