US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take part in a meeting of foreign ministers from the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is due to take place on Corfu on June 27 and 28, it was revealed yesterday. Greece currently holds the rotating presidency of the OECD. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to attend the high-level meeting, which will focus on the issue of security in Europe.

The 19-year-old Greek-American student who was diagnosed with the first case of swine flu in Greece earlier this week is in good condition, according to doctors, and could be discharged from the hospital on Saturday. None of the passengers who shared the same flight from the USA as the teenager have tested positive for the potentially fatal disease.

Police in Thessaloniki yesterday were questioning a 35-year-old ethnic Greek from the former Soviet Union believed to be behind a string of 11 bank raids in the northern city that are believed to have netted some 200,000 euros over the past three years. Officers are also seeking a suspected accomplice.

A team of 200 officers was involved in a police sweep on Wednesday night in the Athens district of Aghios Panteleimonas that led to dozens of arrests. Of those detained for questioning, charges were brought against 43, most on charges of pandering or illegal residence.

A 50-year-old Cretan businessman, whose charred remains were discovered in the trunk of his car near the port of Iraklion early on Wednesday, had been strangled prior to being burned, police said yesterday. Officers said the victim, abducted on Monday, might have been killed after recognizing his kidnappers, as his family had provided the ransom demanded on time.

Veterans of the Battle of Crete and their families from Britain, Australia and New Zealand are to join their Cretan former colleagues for celebrations to mark the battle's 68th anniversary in Rethymnon and Hania. The celebrations, to continue through tomorrow, will feature a performance by the Red Arrows, the aerobatic team of Britain's Royal Air Force.

The owner of a betting agency in Thessaloniki was mugged yesterday morning in the western part of the city. The man had parked his car near the central offices of the state betting agency OPAP when two assailants attacked him, punching him before grabbing a bag he had been carrying. They fled with some 24,000 euros.

Unidentified assailants early yesterday vandalized a supermarket in the district of Rizoupoli, in northwestern Athens, before torching it, giving rise to a large fire that caused serious damage but no injuries. According to police, the vandals used sledgehammers to smash up the store's glass facade before dousing shelves and cash registers with gasoline and setting them alight.