The Greek Embassy in Canberra is to make an official complaint to the Australian government after Prime Minister John Howard compared violence in Iraq with terrorist attacks in Greece, reports said yesterday. Defending his policy in Iraq, Howard said last week: “There are a lot of democratic countries where violence occurs… Greece went through a 20-year period of there being terrorist attacks.” Greek Ambassador Giorgos Zois is due to raise objections to this comment with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Australian daily The Age reported.

A self-confessed drug addict who fired shots at the home of Costas Simitis when he was prime minister in 2002 was released from jail yesterday after an appeals court in Athens reduced his term and allowed him to buy off the sentence. Dimitris Aivatzidis had been jailed for three years and two months after being found guilty of causing serious damage and illegally carrying and using a firearm. But judges reduced this term by 10 months, citing his recent good behavior.

Four minor earthquakes were recorded early yesterday in Halkidiki, northern Greece. The largest tremor measured 4.6 Richter and its epicenter was south of Sithonia. Seismologists at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki said the quakes were no cause for concern and had probably been caused by movement in a smaller, local fault line.

Port Authority officials on Samos yesterday detained 24 illegal immigrants who claimed to have paid a Turkish smuggler to bring them into Greece. Authorities were still searching for the suspected smuggler late yesterday.

Police in Lamia yesterday arrested two local men, aged 43 and 33, they believe to have been involved in the trade of illegally acquired antiquities and drugs. The pair were caught after allegedly selling a selection of ancient artifacts – a warrior’s helmet, ancient coins and a wooden cross – to a third party. A police search of the 43-year-old’s home unearthed several pistols, ammunition, nearly a kilo of heroin and four passports.

A 26-year-old Bulgarian man caught in central Trikala on Monday night using a counterfeit ATM card to withdraw cash from a bank branch is believed to have been part of an international ATM fraud ring, police said yesterday. Police found 58 forged ATM cards on the 26-year-old and another 65 fake cards at his apartment in Larissa. Officers, who believe the cards are being counterfeited abroad, are seeking another three suspected ring members.