The government yesterday distanced itself from a decision by Andreas Vgenopoulos, the vice chairman of the Margin Investment Group (MIG), to sue the Synaspismos Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras after he criticized MIG's decision to sell its shares in OTE telecom to Deutsche Telekom. «We do not agree with the idea of suing party leaders because they exercise political criticism,» said government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros. Marfin has pressed defamation charges over 1 million euros against Tsipras, and has promised to donate the damages to Synaspismos. MIG, Greece's biggest buyout fund, is also suing Star TV for 150 million euros over its reporting of the deal.

Former Culture Ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos will continue giving evidence to a magistrate on Monday after not being able to complete his deposition yesterday due to ill health. Zachopoulos is recovering from a failed suicide attempt after allegedly being blackmailed by his assistant Evi Tsekou, who has been in custody since December. Magistrate Dimitris Economou is waiting to finish questioning Zachopoulos before deciding whether Tsekou or anyone else should stand trial.

A 50-year-old high school teacher has been removed from a school in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, after allegations he had been involved in a sexual relationship with one of his female pupils and had left her pregnant. The teacher has been transferred to another school, where he is to continue teaching until an internal probe into the allegations against him gets under way, local education officials said. He is alleged to have slept with the student during a class trip to Prague.

An undersea earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale shook the island of Crete yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, authorities said. The quake, which had an epicenter north of Iraklion, struck at 2.14 a.m. Later in the day, at 11.01 a.m. another earthquake struck the area of Samos. There were no reports of damage from the 4.7 Richter tremor that shook the eastern Aegean island.

The City of Athens will launch on Monday a pilot program aimed at replacing plastic supermarket bags with recyclable bags. At an event to be held in Syntagma Square, central Athens, volunteers will hand out fabric bags and pamphlets to raise awareness on the issue. A number of large supermarkets, including AB Vassilopoulos and Veropoulos, are involved in the initiative that is also backed by fast-food chain Grigoris.

Police have called for witnesses to come forward who may have seen the beating of a man in Kolonos, western Athens, late on Thursday. Authorities said a man, aged between 25 to 30, was hospitalized in critical condition after early yesterday suffering several fractures to the skull.

The Greek Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage issued a statement yesterday questioning whether there were ulterior motives for the arrest of its president, Costas Karras, this week on suspicion of possessing undeclared antiquities. The society said that it has documents that show that in 1989 it made authorities aware of the presence of antiquities on the premises.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis yesterday oversaw the planting of 300 olive trees in the inner city district of Elaionas - part of a broader urban regeneration project. Primary and secondary school pupils assisted in the tree-planting, which was also attended by singer Alkistis Protopsalti. The planting of the 300 trees in Elaionas - which means «olive grove» in Greek - will be followed by followed by similar initiatives to spruce up the area, Kaklamanis said.

Police in Thessaloniki yesterday detained a 45-year-old man after discovering a cache of antiquities in his home believed to have been illegally acquired. Officers confiscated several artifacts.