All public transport in Athens will be operating on a restricted timetable over this Easter weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday), the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) said yesterday. The tram, however, will continue to run around the clock on Friday and Saturday. Other transportation services will stop before 11 p.m. on Saturday. On Sunday and Monday the latter will also operate on a reduced schedule, while tomorrow and Tuesday they will run on a normal Saturday timetable.

Heart problems are responsible for 45 percent of deaths among Greek men, doctors said yesterday at a press conference ahead of an international conference on clinical cardiology to be held in the capital on April 27-29. They added that 44 percent of Greek women also die from heart disease. Greece is one of the few countries in Europe where the number of people suffering from heart disease is still on the rise. The large number of obese children (one in three) and the rising number of young women who smoke are key contributors to increased heart problems in Greece.

An undersea quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook Zakynthos shortly after 6 p.m. yesterday but no serious damage or injuries were reported. The tremor was the latest in a series of at least 10 quakes and dozens of smaller tremors that have shaken the island since the beginning of the month.

A council of appeals court judges in Thessaloniki yesterday ordered a 53-year-old man who allegedly attempted to kidnap his niece’s baby be remanded in custody after deeming that he posed a danger. The judges ruled that the unnamed man, who had been released after questioning, had the potential to reoffend while on release. The suspect is alleged to have planned to hold the 18-month-old boy to a 1.5-million-euro ransom.

A 43-year-old suspected drug dealer was arrested at his home in Liosia, western Athens, yesterday after a police sniffer dog helped officers find half a kilo of heroin hidden in the man’s television. Police raided the apartment after arresting a young couple in Kamatero. Officers found 5.3 grams of heroin in their possession.

Contractors at a building site in Acharnes, northwestern Athens, were surprised yesterday morning to find 44 kilos of hashish hidden in the partially erected block they were working on. Police said the bundles of the drug had been hidden at the building site the previous night with the intention that the dealers would retrieve it at a later date.

Police yesterday confiscated 17,100 firecrackers, often used during Easter celebrations, from a store on the island of Rhodes, authorities said yesterday. Police located the illegal items with the help of sniffer dogs trained to detect explosive devices.

Fruit and vegetable vendors gave away 15 tons of fresh produce at an outdoor market in Thessaloniki yesterday in protest at a recent government decision to remove the street market from the Rotonda area. The sellers also handed out free greeting cards and candles for Easter as they thanked the local residents who signed a petition to keep the market there.

Piraeus prefectural officials yesterday confiscated 270 kilos of various meats unfit for consumption from the island of Salamina. Prefectural authorities have stepped up inspections on food traders in the last few days due to increased customer traffic ahead of Easter.

Traffic police in Thessaloniki said yesterday that from today they will hand out red Easter eggs along with information leaflets to drivers leaving the city for the holidays. The officers, who will be positioned at busy road junctions, are using this novel method to attract drivers’ attention to road safety matters.