Foreign Minister George Papandreou yesterday reiterated Greece’s request for the return of the Elgin, or Parthenon, Marbles during a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. He said saying the British Museum, which owns the 5th century BC sculptures, could use as its own branch part of the new Acropolis museum that the Greek government plans to build to host the works. “This can become a win-win situation for all of us,” Papandreou said. The question of the Marbles will be discussed again next week when the Greek and British culture ministers meet in London, Papandreou said after meeting Blair and Foreign Minister Jack Straw. Papandreou also briefed Blair on Cyprus.

Police yesterday confiscated 400 kilos of cannabis after raiding an apartment in Aspropyrgos, western Attica. Officers arrested a Greek national and two Albanians, believed to have been using the apartment as a storeroom for drugs imported from Albania. Police are seeking other suspected members of the ring they believe is headed by one of the Albanians. Earlier this week, officers arrested two Gypsies and an Albanian after seizing 600 kilos of cannabis in raids on a warehouse in Aspropyrgos and a house in the northwestern outskirts of Attica.

A 28-year-old policeman fatally shot his 22-year-old girlfriend with his service revolver before turning the gun on himself. Police, who found a suicide note near the two lovers’ bodies in the woman’s Patissia apartment on Wednesday night, attributed the crime to jealousy. Crime squad officer Efthymios Efthymiou reportedly waited outside the apartment that Vassiliki Moustaka shared with her brother until the latter left before shooting the beauty school student under the chin. He then shot himself in the head. Moustaka’s brother alerted the police after discovering the two bodies when he returned to the apartment.

Athens 2004 organizing committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and Greek Police Chief Fotis Nasiakos yesterday met to discuss progress in the preparation of security measures for the Olympics.

Hundreds of demonstrators endured freezing temperatures to march through central Athens yesterday in protest against the impact of Olympic security measures on civil rights and freedoms.

The Athens office of Greenpeace yesterday asked the government to work toward banning genetically modified organisms (GMO) from Greece. The group has already appealed to the authorities of the country’s 54 prefectures to declare themselves “GMO-free zones” and has received positive replies from nine (Ileia, Kilkis, Kozani, Lefkada, Rhodope, Samos, Fokida, Halkidiki and Hania). Greenpeace launched the initiative ahead of the anticipated implementation of European legislation forbidding member states from imposing an outright ban on GMO products.

Greeks can now submit their opinions and proposals on draft legislation online at www.parliament.gr/gnomi from the moment the draft bills are submitted in Parliament until their discussion and assessment by the relevant parliamentary committee or plenary session, Parliament said yesterday. All entries will be immediately forwarded to the deputies sitting on the relevant parliamentary committees.

Social Security Foundation (IKA) doctors are to embark on a five-day strike on Monday, seeking greater job security for more than 5,000 colleagues on short-term contracts.

A 41-year-old convict, who has been on the run since escaping from jail in May 2000, is in Korydallos Prison following his arrest earlier this week, police said yesterday. Christos Anagnostakis had been serving a 10-year jail sentence for robberies.