Alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros insisted yesterday that the ruling conservatives are committed to fighting corruption after President Karolos Papoulias blasted Greece's political parties for not doing enough to eradicate graft. Antonaros said, «The basic tenet of the government's policy is dealing effectively with corruption and protecting transparency.» PASOK leader George Papandreou acknowledged Papoulias's comments and said that «personal and political responsibility» was needed to «breathe new life into democratic institutions.»

Two lawyers who were accused of helping former Culture Ministry employee Evi Tsekou blackmail her ex-boss Christos Zachopoulos were released from custody yesterday. Dimitris Balerbas and Iraklis Koutelidas had to each post 30,000 euros bail and were banned from leaving the country. The pair had been in custody for more than a month on charges that they breached Zachopoulos's privacy and contributed to his suicide attempt but were released following a decision by a council of judges.

A plastic surgeon was ordered to pay 70,000 euros in damages to a patient yesterday after the Supreme Court ruled that he had been negligent in treating a woman who lost most of her sight in one eye following an operation on her eyelid. The court found that, given the patient's medical history, the doctor should have kept a closer watch on her after the operation. The woman lost 84 percent of the vision in her right eye after the surgery.

The Justice Ministry yesterday hit out at suggestions by the outgoing head of the committee to fight money laundering, Giorgos Zorbas, that Supreme Court prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas failed to cooperate with him on a number of investigations. «It would be better for Mr Zorbas to show us the specific written requests that he sent to the prosecutor and which he failed to act upon rather than refer to notes and messengers,» said the Justice Ministry in a statement, which also asked why Zorbas had not made these statements earlier.

Port Authority officials said they had detained 179 illegal migrants on three different islands yesterday. The largest group of immigrants, 113, was found on Lesvos. Another 21 migrants were detained on Samos. An additional 45 migrants were detained on Farmakonisi.

A man from the village of Platano in Thesprotia, central Greece, was beaten up by three immigrants he had offered to provide with food, police said yesterday. The victim, who found the migrants waiting outside his home when he returned from work, offered them food but they beat, bound and robbed him, officers said. The migrants are alleged to have gagged their victim before forcing him to give them 250 euros.

The US Embassy's consular section will be closed on Wednesday, July 30, as is usual each last Wednesday of the month, an embassy spokesman said.