Greece

If she runs away from her life of prostitution, her parents will become sick and die. At least that’s what this Nigerian woman believes. The threatened curse, she claims, is part of a voodoo rite performed in her homeland just weeks before she was brought to Greece by a prostitution ring.

Greek landlords are demanding the withdrawal of a television advert campaign for bank mortgages, complaining they are being depicted as anti-social, racist, rude, or "simply pathetic". The campaign is aimed at luring renters to buy property instead.

Seven months after a scandal that shook the Athens Olympics, Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were cleared of evading drug tests in a surprise decision that could be challenged by the International Association of Athletics Federations. A Greek sporting tribunal voted 4-1 to clear the runners on Friday.

South African President Thabo Mbeki called on the European Union on Thursday to do more to help African countries fight poverty, stressing that hunger remains a ”serious problem” for the continent. Mbeki, in Athens on a two-day official visit, said hunger, poverty and underdevelopment are the central challenges facing his country and the rest of Africa.

A tense 18-hour hostage drama in an Athens suburb ended without casualties on Wednesday night when two men who had hijacked a bus and threatened to blow it up surrendered to the police. The men, identified as Albanians, left the bus shortly after midnight with their hands on their heads after throwing shotguns out of the door.

Two more hostages have been released by two men who hijacked a Greek bus with 25 passengers on board early on Wednesday, Greek television reported. The armed hijackers had earlier released two men and three women, one of whom told the private Greek radio station Skai that a ransom demand of one million euros had been made.

A fisherman found a 2 400-year-old bronze statue in his net near the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos, the Culture Ministry said on Tuesday. The statue — missing a head, arm and leg — measures 1,43m and weighs nearly 70kg. Fisherman Costas Spyrakis handed the statue over to a mainland port authority.

A Greek taxi driver was hailed as a hero in Athens on Wednesday after returning an Olympic silver medal left in the back of his cab by a Dutch rower. The driver is to be honoured by Athens Olympic Games organisers for swiftly handing back the medal after it was mislaid by a member of The Netherlands’ men’s eight rowing team.

Olympic city Athens was jolted by a small earthquake on Tuesday but there were no reports of any damage. The tremor was measured at 4,5 on the Richter scale. Two brief jolts were felt at 3.38pm local time, with an epicentre about 70km north of the Greek capital. Greece is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

A Greek extremist group claimed responsibility on Thursday for bomb attacks in the run-up to the Olympic Games and issued a veiled threat against visitors to the sporting extravaganza. The warning came after makeshift bombs exploded at a Greek bank in Athens early on Thursday and another device was found at a nearby British bank.

Three bombs exploded next to a police station in Athens early on Wednesday, police said, causing no injuries but further raising security fears just 100 days before the Greek capital hosts the 2004 Olympic Games. Athens is struggling to finalise preparations for the Olympic Games, scheduled to run from August 13 to 29.

Twenty-seven people were injured, including four seriously, when the train they were on derailed on Wednesday in southern Greece, hospital sources said. Thirty-seven people were on the train when two of its coaches derailed near the town of Megalopolis under circumstances that are under investigation.

Five homemade explosive devices were set off overnight in Athens in front of Greek banks and the offices of the conservative party, causing damage, police said on Friday. Investigators suspect ”anarchists” to be behind the violence following their calls for the release of seven anti-globalistation activists arrested in June.

A German transport plane that crashed into the Mediterranean sea during World War II has been brought to the surface by Greek armed forces. A human skeleton was found in the plane that lay 40m deep about 500m off the Aegean island of Leros, a Greek air force spokesperson said.

A motorist on the Greek island of Lesvos got a rare glimpse of the positive side of Greek bureaucracy after receiving half a traffic ticket over a parking violation, a report said on Thursday. Motorist Petros Kakasavelis had illegally double-parked his car at a busy spot near the island’s harbour, but was saved by a jurisdiction conflict between the Greek traffic police and the port police.