Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-03-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] Sports roundup

[02] US-Athinagoras Award-Desmond Tutu

[03] Weather

[04] Greece-Turkey-Bulgaria-Foreign Ministers

[01] Sports roundup

Soccer

Panathinaikos beat Ethnikos Asteras 4-0 on Sunday and continues to chase Olympiakos who beat struggling Trikala 2-0 away on Saturday and remains atop the Greek first division soccer championship.

In other matches, AEK Athens beat Paniliakos 1-0 in the last minutes of the game, Kalamata beat Panachaiki 2-1 away, Xanthi defeated Proodeftiki 2-1, Panionios pulled off the surprise of the day by beating ambitious OFI Crete 2-0 away, Aris Thessaloniki beat Apollon Athens 2-1 and PAOK Thessaloniki thrashed crosstown rival Iraklis 4-0. Ionikos and Kavala will play on Monday.

Standings after 22 matches played: Olympiakos Piraeus 60 points, Panathinaikos 57, OFI Crete 45, Aris Thessaloniki 38, AEK Athens 37, Iraklis Thessaloniki 36, PAOK Thessaloniki 32, Xanthi 32 and Panionios 31.

Basketball

Olympiakos Piraeus edged AEK Athens 72-71 away in a cliffhanging match played on Sunday for the Greek first division basketball championship and remains in first place with Panathinaikos who beat lowly Esperos 95-53 away. In another match played on the same day, PAOK Thessaloniki beat Irakleio Crete 83-66, while in the most important match played on Saturday Panionios beat Peristeri 76-67.

The Olympiakos Piraeus-AEK Athens match was marred by incidents. AEK fans, disgruntled because their team was not granted a foul in its last attack, broke seats and hurled them onto the floor, which they attempted to storm. Riot police moved in and restored order and the stadium was evacuated at the order of the referees. The match was resumed 45 minutes later to enable the teams to play the last second of the game and after the floor was cleared of broken chairs and other objects.

Standings after 22 matches played: Olympiakos Piraeus 40 points, Panathinaikos 40, AEK Athens 39, PAOK Thessaloniki 36, Iraklis Thessaloniki 34, Panionios 34 and Peristeri 33.

Gymnastics

Greek gymnastics champion Dimosthenes Tambakos won the gold medal in the rings during the international meeting held in Moscow on Sunday. Tambakos received 9,750 points, while George Elyssiadis came 8th in the same event with 9,100 points. In the same games, Vassilis Tsolakidis came 6th on the double bar and 7th in the leap.

[02] US-Athinagoras Award-Desmond Tutu

NEW YORK (ANA - M. Georgiadou) - Archbishop of Johannesburg and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu was given the Athinagoras Award of the Order of Saint Andrew in New York on Saturday as part of the annual event of proclaiming the Order's new members.

The Order comes under the juridiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Accepting the award, Tutu spoke of the struggles of the church against oppression. He said he prays night and day for Cyprus to enable the people on the island to enjoy the right of freedom and full protection of human rights one day.

[03] Weather

Cloudy weather is forecast throughout Greece on Monday, with the rain and snow later in the day in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

Winds will be south westerly, moderate, turning strong at sea. In the north, temperatures will range from -2C to 6C; in the rest of mainland Greece and the Ionian from 1C to 12C.

Cloudy in Athens with a possibility for rain later in the day and temperatures ranging from 5C to 10C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures between 2C and 6C.

[04] Greece-Turkey-Bulgaria-Foreign Ministers

PLOVDIV (ANA - D. Constantakopoulos) - The Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian foreign ministers on Sunday expressed their support for the European Union Helsinki summit decisions, regarding its contribution to stability, security, peace, democracy and economic development in southeastern Europe (SE).

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezda Michailova, met in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and were expected to also visit Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, Greece, three cities close to the borders the three countries share.

In their joint statement, the three ministers reiterated the importance of and their support of the good neighbourliness Charter for stability, security and cooperation in SE, which was signed the all three recently.

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