The Association of Hospital Doctors of Athens and Piraeus has lodged a legal suit with Supreme Court prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas over staff shortages in their sector, it was revealed yesterday. The union wants immediate action to be taken to boost dwindling staff levels and inadequate infrastructure in their sector.

The government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) made it clear yesterday that it was unlikely to give an official response to the proposal of United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz within the two-week period requested. Officials in Skopje said the proposal for their country to be called Republic of Northern Macedonia would be discussed further next week. Last week top FYROM officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the idea.

A strong explosion provoked by a liquid gas canister leak at the home of a Cretan family near Rethymnon yesterday injured four people, including two children. The two minors hurt in the blast were being treated for burns in the children’s unit of the Iraklion hospital while their mother and grandmother, whose burns were more serious, had to undergo surgery.

A group of youngsters raided a supermarket near Victoria Square in central Athens yesterday, just one day after a similar robbery at a store in the nearby district of Patissia. The robbers filled bags with food products which they then distributed to passers-by in surrounding streets after streaming past the checkouts without paying.

A homemade explosive device caused serious damage to a bar in the western district of Aegaleo when it detonated early yesterday. The device, which comprised a kilo of dynamite, is believed to have been planted by assailants on behalf of a rival bar. The force of the blast damaged another five adjacent stores and two parked cars but no one was injured.

Police in Athens were investigating the circumstances behind the death of a 30-year-old Romanian man whose body was found in his home in the district of Aghios Panteleimonas. Officers were informed by the victim’s live-in girlfriend who telephoned them at 7.20 a.m. saying that she had awoken and found him dead in the apartment. The cause of the man’s death was unclear yesterday.

A fire broke out yesterday on a coach en route to Thessaloniki from Ukraine but none of the 23 passengers aboard were injured. It is unclear what provoked the fire, which started in the engine and spread to the interior of the coach.

President Karolos Papoulias was stuck in Vietnam yesterday after technical problems prevented his plane from taking off. The Airbus A340 plane carrying Papoulias and 171 officials and crew was forced to remain on the ground due to an aircraft engine problem. Airport authorities said the problem would not take long to fix.