One of Crete’s main tourist attractions, the Samaria Gorge, is due to open in about six weeks, officials said yesterday. The forestry service, which is responsible for looking after the national park in southwest Crete where the 18-kilometer-long gorge lies, has been conducting safety tests at the site after some tourists were injured by falling rocks last year. Local officials said they would ask for extra funding so doctors could be posted at the site to treat any injuries sustained by visitors.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has not set a date for a possible visit to Australia, said government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros. Reacting to a comment by Australian Premier John Howard in which he compared violence in Iraq to terrorism in Greece in the past, Antonaros described the comparison as “unfortunate.” He added that 15 million visitors each year could verify that Greece is a “completely safe” country.

The London-born Lebanese-Cypriot singer Sarbel will represent Greece in the Eurovision song contest in Helsinki, Finland, this year. Sarbel, singing “Yassou Maria,” beat off two competitors in a vote that that took place late on Wednesday. The Eurovision contest will be held on May 12 and 14.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece yesterday accused filmmaker James Cameron of “historical ignorance” and an attempt to “strike” at Christianity with his documentary “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” The Synod accused the Oscar-winning director of “profiteering and irreverence” ahead of Easter by promoting a documentary which claims that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a son.

A Turkish national believed to have smuggled 24 illegal immigrants to Samos from neighboring Turkey earlier this week was arrested yesterday while trying to flee the island. The unnamed Turk had abandoned the boat he had allegedly used to smuggle the would-be migrants to the island and hidden in a mountainous part of the island, authorities said.

Police on Rhodes yesterday arrested a 49-year-old man who allegedly extracted large sums of money from businessmen on Aegean islands by convincing them he could secure them European Union subsidies for projects. Officers tracked him down following a tip-off from a 42-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman who said they had paid him 5,000 euros to mediate for the approval of an EU subsidy for a foundation they wanted to create. The 49-year-old has been convicted of fraud eight times, police said.