An Interior Ministry bill, approved by the government’s Inner Cabinet yesterday, envisages a clear separation of duties between officers of the Greek Police and their municipal colleagues. The changes are aimed at relieving police officers of certain duties so that they can be more effective in core responsibilities like fighting crime. Municipal officers will be more involved with providing information to tourists, initiatives aimed at protecting the environment and guarding public buildings.

An improvised explosive device that went off outside a bar on a coastal road in the district of Piraeus early yesterday morning caused serious damage to the establishment, located on the ground floor of an apartment block, as well as to apartments above and next to it. The owner of the bar, who had been on the premises at the time of the explosion, was not injured in the blast, which police attributed to a settling of accounts, as the store had been targeted two months ago.

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday sent a letter to her Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan to express her condolences over yesterday’s apparent terrorist attack outside the US Consulate in Istanbul which resulted in the deaths of three policemen and the injury of several passers-by. Three gunmen were also killed by officers returning fire at the assailants, believed to be al-Qaida operatives. “Such acts of indiscriminate violence undermine social cohesion,” Bakoyannis wrote.

Prosecutor Panayiotis Athanassiou yesterday charged the former president of the Interamerican insurance company and current owner of Alpha TV, Dimitris Kontominas, with embezzlement following a two-year investigation. The probe followed complaints from Greeks living in Germany, South Africa, Belgium and the Netherlands that they had taken out insurance with Interamerican but their policies were later declared worthless.

A 20-year-old Greek man was among several Spaniards and tourists to be injured in the Spanish town of Pamplona yesterday, the third day of a centuries-old bull-running festival. The Greek suffered a broken nose and other facial injuries during the bull run and was admitted to hospital for treatment. His injuries were relatively light. A 22-year-old Californian man was gored in the abdomen while others suffered broken ribs.

Prefectural authorities in Piraeus yesterday blocked imports of products from Switzerland thought to contain traces of toxic sunflower oil. Authorities imposed the ban after seizing two consignments, weighing a total of 781 kilos, of Primerba Basil, a herb-flavored paste distributed by Knorr Best Food Hellas. Tests on samples of the paste indicated that it contained traces of Ukrainian sunflower oil mixed with toxic mineral oil.