The foreign minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Antonio Milososki, yesterday charged that Greece is using the «Macedonia» name dispute to distract Greeks' from its domestic problems, an apparent reference to the spiraling DVD scandal. «The Greek government has a small majority and is using the name issue as a distraction from political developments,» Milososki said. He was responding to a reporter's question regarding the eventuality of Greece exercising its veto against FYROM's bid to join NATO.

Police in Patras yesterday launched an operation aimed at rounding up some 4,000 illegal immigrants who have been camping around the central port for several months. By yesterday afternoon, police had detained around 200, who were put on buses to Athens. The remainder are to be gathered over the next few days and sent to temporary detention centers in Lavrion and Evros. It is unclear what will become of the would-be migrants, mostly Afghans, who had been trying to board ships to Western Europe from Patras.

Relations between PASOK leader George Papandreou and Evangelos Venizelos, the main challenger for the party leadership last year, appear to have reached a new low. Venizelos wants to create a group within the party to promote certain ideas but his attempt to meet with Papandreou to discuss the move was apparently rebuffed yesterday. Venizelos issued a statement implying that the PASOK president is using this development as an excuse to oust him from the party.

Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday underwent an operation for the removal of liquid that has gathered in his stomach and chest over the course of his anti-cancer therapy and has been hindering his breathing. The 69-year-old archbishop was breathing more easily after the operation but is still very weak, doctors said.

Conservationists in the region of Prespes, northern Greece, yesterday called for an outright ban on hunting in the area after finding the pelts of four deer in discarded plastic bags. This was the latest in a string of such discoveries, according to the activists, who said the site was favored by hunters seeking deer and other protected species. The hunters often skin captured deer on the spot, taking the meat and leaving the skins behind, they said.

Engineers have called on the government to increase efforts to put together a list of old bridges across the country that may be at risk from earthquakes. According to experts, there are some 500 bridges that should be subjected to safety checks. «Old bridges are obviously less earthquake-safe than more recently built bridges, like the pre-1985 homes which offer less earthquake security than more recently built homes,» said Andreas Kappos, professor at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.

Hundreds of residents at the port town of Aliveri, on Evia, stopped a ship from unloading an ash-type material used to make concrete, arguing that it is a health threat. Cement producer AGET Heracles imported the material from Italy for its local plant. «For the last few months, AGET Heracles had stopped bringing it and we had hoped that we had seen the end of the nightmare,» said a representative from a local environmental group.

Two 20-year-old fans of PAOK soccer club were jailed yesterday after they were found guilty of being involved in violence before Sunday's game against Iraklis. One of the men was sentenced to 18 months in jail, the other will spend five months behind bars.

The City of Athens intends to launch a new 100-space underground parking garage on Deliyianni Street, central Athens, in about 12 months' time, said Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis yesterday. The mayor also said that work on a garage in Kypseli will start by March.