Italian judicial authorities yesterday rejected Greek requests for the extradition from Italy of Apostolos Vavilis, a drug dealer who has been linked to a series of shady deals involving the scandal-ridden Church of Greece, the police and foreign secret services. Greece will now need to reapply for his extradition or send a prosecutor to Italy to question him. The 44-year-old has been charged with a range of offenses, including breach of state secrets, fraud and embezzlement. He was arrested in Bologna in April and imprisoned in Italy because he had an outstanding seven-year prison sentence for heroin smuggling to serve.

The driver and front-seat passenger in a car traveling on a country road near Kastoria in northern Greece were killed yesterday when their vehicle skidded off the road and crashed into a tree. The two passengers sitting in the back seat were seriously injured. A driver was also killed when his car crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed into another vehicle as he was driving to Nea Moudania in Halkidiki. The two people in the other car were slightly injured.

Checks on 23 Greek firms, including several well-known supermarket chains, revealed some 28 offenses in connection to the labeling of sugar as Greek when it was actually imported, the Development Ministry said yesterday. The relevant details have been passed on to the public prosecutor and the food safety watchdog EFET, the ministry added.

A dog owner was arrested by Thessaloniki police yesterday after the animal bit a 5-year-old child, who was then taken to the hospital, officers said. The dog was off its leash and not wearing a muzzle when it attacked the boy. The dog was taken for veterinary tests.

Two Albanian nationals have been arrested in connection with 16 thefts from houses and building sites that took place in western Attica over the last eight months, police said yesterday. The pair, a 24-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, were arrested on Saturday but have not been named.

The bishop of Kythera, Kyrillos, was elected as the new bishop of Thessaliotis yesterday, replacing Theoklitos, who resigned in February after being investigated by the Holy Synod over allegations he was involved in drug dealing. Archimandrite Serapheim Stergioulis was voted in to replace Kyrillos as the new bishop of Kythera.

Two formations of Turkish military aircraft violated Greek air space in the northern Aegean, defense sources said. The six jets, one of which was armed, were chased off by Greek planes, resulting in a mock dogfight between two aircraft.

Pallbearers carry the coffin of prominent existential poet Manolis Anagnostakis into the chapel of the First Cemetery in Athens yesterday for his funeral service. Anagnostakis died of natural causes last week at the age of 80. His funeral was attended by top political and cultural figures.

A 55-year-old woman was arrested yesterday in the southern Athenian suburb of Palaio Faliron after she hit a boy, aged 5, with her vehicle and failed to stop. Police caught the driver after a relative who had been walking with the boy reported the incident. The boy was taken to the hospital for treatment after being hit by the car’s side mirror, but was later released.

Two foreign nationals, aged 20 and 23, were charged yesterday in Thessaloniki with dealing in drugs after police said they caught them in possession of heroin. The two men were arrested in the farming area of Ionia after officers found 48 bundles of heroin, of a total weight of almost 1.5 kilos, on them. The two men’s nationalities were not disclosed.