Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday signed a joint declaration with his Bulgarian counterpart Sergei Stanishev in Sofia, pledging to boost bilateral cooperation and undertake joint efforts to avert floods. “We have laid the foundations for a new partnership, within the context of the EU, which will allow us to capitalize upon the fruits of our previous cooperation,” Karamanlis said. The leaders agreed to implement “an early warning system” to avert widespread floods, such as those that hit both countries last month after the Ardas and Evros rivers broke their banks.

A Thessaloniki court yesterday passed down a three-year jail sentence to a 26-year-old policeman found guilty of accepting a bribe to release a woman who had been detained in connection with drug-related offenses. The officer was arrested in the act of receiving 2,000 euros — which was to have been the first installment of a 20,000-euro bribe for releasing the detained woman. The officer, who was identified only as S.V., told the court that he had not intended to mediate in the woman’s release and had merely sought a loan from her husband, whom he claimed to have known in the past.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos yesterday denied accusations from PASOK MP Socrates Kosmidis that New Democracy had hired more than 230,000 people in the public sector to satisfy vested interests. Kosmidis alleged that these employees had been hired since ND came to power in 2003 on time-specific or project contracts which meant they did not have to go through a selection process. Pavlopoulos said the figures were “grossly inaccurate.”

Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas yesterday described as “fairy tales” the corruption allegations made by the former president of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), Yiannis Paleokrassas. In a file submitted to a prosecutor, Paleokrassas alleged that the ministry had been involved in keeping alive a corrupt system which favored certain businesses. Sioufas said the claims did not affect him and that it was up to the justice system to rule on the matter.

Seven in 10 of all firework injuries occur during the Easter period, the Center for Accident Prevention and Research (KEPA) said yesterday while warning parents to keep their children away from fireworks this festive season. KEPA said that at least 154 children are injured each year by fireworks. In 92 percent of cases there had been no supervision by parents, according to the watchdog.

The General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) said yesterday that it has decided to stage a 24-hour general strike on May 1. GSEE, the country’s largest union group, had previously announced a one-day strike for employees at banks and public utilities on May 4.

A 42-year-old man was arrested in Thessaloniki, police said yesterday, in connection with an alleged smuggling racket that would steal cars in Italy and then sell the parts in Greece. The detainee is the owner of a used car parts retailer that was stocking parts from nine vehicles that had been reported stolen in Italy. Authorities are also looking into who prepared the fake documents which accompanied the parts into Greece.

Municipal authorities in Kilkis, northern Greece, said yesterday that a hailstorm had caused extensive damage to wheat fields, vineyards and fruit-bearing trees. Local officials have started recording the full extent of the damage so they can begin awarding compensation to farmers.