Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-03-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] Big fire in Ambelokipi central Athens

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch calls attention to Church's struggle for peace,

[03] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud, showers on Sunday

[01] Big fire in Ambelokipi central Athens

A big fire that broke out late Saturday afternoon in a construction site of an office building on Tsocha street in central Athens' Ambelokipi neighborhood.

The five-alarm fire was still raging, but favorable winds were keeping the fire of neighboring buildings.

The construction timber was alight, creating a billowing cloud of smoke over central Athens.

[02] Ecumenical Patriarch calls attention to Church's struggle for peace, tolerance

NEW YORK (ANA - M. Georgiadou) - The contribution of the Church in the struggle for the defense of international peace and tolerance was the focus of a speech delivered by Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Vartholomeos on Friday evening here.

''Violence and terrorism in whichever form, have never resolved, and will never resolve the problems of individuals or peoples,'' Vartholomeos stressed to an audience of diplomats and Greek expatriate community leaders, during the inauguration ceremony of a photographic exhibition showcasing the first ten years of the Patriarch's tutelage (1991-2001), taking place now at the Onassion Cultural Institute in New York.

Vartholomeos stressed that the meaning of service does not only apply to the local church level, but has a wider application toward caring for ''stability, order and unity of all other Orthodox churches, as well as in the promotion of inter-religious dialogue and the establishment of inter-Orthodox cooperation, taking in mind the ''radical restructuring in Europe.''

The Patriarch underlined that now more than ever the inter-religious dialogue is important, as it has always been in times of great crisis, saying that the ''Sept. 11 attack did not only hit the city of New York, but hit the hope of humanity''.

Vartholomeos also spoke of the Patriarchate's efforts to save the environment.

On Saturday, Vartholomeos is scheduled to visit the ''Ground Zero'' of the terrorist attack, where the ruins of the St. Nicolas Orthodox Church lay, and hold a memorial service for the six months since the disaster.

[03] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud, showers on Sunday

Scattered cloud is forecast for Sunday in all parts of the country, turning to showers later in the day. Winds variable, strong to very strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 7C to 15C; on the rest of the mainland from 9C to 18C; and in the islands from 12C to 20C. Overcast with showers later in the day in Athens and temperatures between 10C and 18C. Showers in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 8C to 15C.

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