NEWS

In Brief

NIMETZ HOPEFUL

UN mediator sees name solution this year as he begins visits United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz believes that a solution to Greece’s name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) can be achieved this year. «If both parties invest serious efforts in this matter, a resolution will come soon,» Nimetz told a TV station in FYROM on Saturday, though he admitted that the dispute is «rather complicated.» The mediator is due to be in Skopje for talks today and tomorrow before arriving in Athens. «I’ll demand from negotiators to invest serious efforts and work hard,» he said. SWINE FLU Seven more cases confirmed Seven new cases of swine flu, including an 18-year-old British woman and a 23-year-old British man, were detected in Greece over the weekend, taking the country’s total to 147. Of those, 54 have completed hospital care and are out of danger. Another 13 people (12 American tourists and a Greek guide) are due to be discharged from the AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki today. Firebombed An Interior Ministry building suffered serious damage early on Saturday, after incendiary devices made of cooking-gas canisters exploded. Police said that assailants smashed the windows of the ministry’s information service in Neos Cosmos, near central Athens, and tossed the devices inside. The entire ground floor of the building was destroyed by the ensuing fire, which also damaged part of the first floor. Nobody was injured and no arrests were made. River death A 27-year-old man was killed in Serres, northern Greece, on Saturday after falling into a river after a night out with friends. The man, who was not named, was found dead in the river by passers-by on Saturday morning. He had suffered serious head injuries, which a coroner said were caused by the rocks on which he fell. No worries Prison guards in Larissa, central Greece, intercepted a set of komboloi, or worry beads, that had been sent to an inmate but which contained a small amount of cocaine, it was revealed on Saturday. The prison authorities found 4 grams of the drug hidden inside the 21 hollow beads. The komboloi had been sent by post to a 38-year-old convict who is serving a seven-year sentence for robbery. Youth club An incendiary device went off outside a youth club in Thessaloniki early yesterday but did not cause any injuries. Police said that the firebomb was set off at about 3 a.m. outside the building on Makriyianni Street. The fire caused damage to the exterior of the building and some parked cars. Unruly inmates Police in the town of Litohoro got more than they bargained for when they arrested two Romanian brothers on Saturday, after the pair allegedly stole a woman’s handbag from a car. The younger of the two brothers, who are 33 and 37 years old, began banging his head against a window in the toilets of the local police station and once taken back to his cell, set fire to his mattress, injuring his brother in the process. Both men were taken to the hospital for treatment before being transferred to Pieria police headquarters.

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