Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Condolences to Turkey over terror attack

[02] Patriarchs meet in Kiev

[03] Government team on Rhodes

[01] Condolences to Turkey over terror attack

Karamanlis expressed his anguish at being informed of the attacks and the tragic loss of human lives they caused.

A message of condolences was also sent by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis to Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, in which she stressed her horror at the new terrorist attack and her condolences for the families of the victims, on behalf of the Greek people.

Commenting on the attack on Monday, meanwhile, alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros stressed that ?acts of violence that cost human lives, much more so when the victims are civilians, are absolutely condemnable".

Two bombs exploded minutes apart in a packed Istanbul square on Sunday night, killing 17 people and injuring more than 150 in the deadliest attack against civilians in Turkey in almost five years.

Caption: Police forensic experts examine the scene after two consecutive bomb explosions on Sunday night in Istanbul, Turkey. ANA/EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU

[02] Patriarchs meet in Kiev

This was stated by Smolensk Metropolitan Kyrill while addressing reporters at the end of the meeting, which took place after the two Patriarchs officiated at a joint service in Kiev, celebrating the 1,020th anniversary of the conversion of the Ukraine Russians to Christianity and an official luncheon hosted by Kiev Metropolitan Vladimiros.

Metropolitan Kyrill also announced that the Moscow Patriarch would participate in a synod of Orthodox Patriarchs organised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Fanar, Istanbul, next October.

"The meeting was sincere and with God's help all problems will be handled," Metropolitan Kyrill said.

Earlier, Patriarch Alexiy had referred to "non-ecclesiastical agents, laity and politicians" who cause the problems, underlining at the same time, that dialogue is the basis for handling all issues.

Caption: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and Patriarch Alexiy II of Moscow and All Russia greeting each other in Kiev on Sunday, before holding a joint mass to celebrate the 1,020th anniversary since the conversion of Ukraine's Russians to Christianity. ANA-MPA/GANP/DIMITRIS PANAGOS

[03] Government team on Rhodes

Accompanying Pavlopoulos were deputy interior ministers Athanassios Nakos and Panagiotis Hinofotis, Deputy Agriculture Minister Costas Kiltidis and environment ministry general secretary G. Politopoulos. There were also a number of Dodecanese island MPs, among them Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis, and the Southern Aegean region general secretary Haralambos Kokkinos.

After a tour of places on Rhodes where the fire had passed, Pavlopoulos chaired a meeting of officials at the southern Rhodes town hall that is expected to end with the announcement of measures for restoring the environmental damage suffered by the island.

Early on Monday morning, meanwhile, the Rhodes First-instance Court Public Prosecutor ordered a preliminary inquiry to determine whether there was negligence or mismanagement in coordinating the fire-fighting effort after complaints made by local government officials.

Authorities on Rhodes also arrested a restaurant owner on Monday on a charge of arson due to negligence. The accused apparently started a fire accidentally next to his restaurant at Stegna in Archangelos that spread over a small distance before he succeeded in putting it out with the help of his neighbours in the village. He was arrested shortly afterwards by officers of the fire brigade.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph of Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos

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