Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-08-15

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] SMILES AND MISFORTUNE

[02] MONDAY WILL BE THE JUDGMENT DAY

[03] TOUGH RESPONSE TO NEW SCENARIOS

[04] THE ORTHODOX GREEKS CELEBRATE THE ASSUMPTION OF VIRGIN MARY

[01] SMILES AND MISFORTUNE

The 28th Olympic Games in Athens opened on the fortunate side for Greece.

Swimming was the champion in the Greek participation yesterday as three of the Greek swimmers will be at the finals and therefore, the first day of the games was a good start for the Greek team.

Gymnast Dimosthenis Tampakos is on his way for an Olympic medal in the Rings, while the Greek crew of Sophia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa aim for the gold in the 470 class in women's sailing.

Emilios Papathanasiou also aims for a medal in the Finn class in men's sailing.

Maria Karagiannopoulou came 5th in women's Judo, while gymnast Vlassis Maras was not lucky in the Horizontal Bar, as he did not qualify for the final in spite of his very good performance.

Greek pair in Table Tennis Panagiotis Gionis and Kalinikos Kreanga was victorious today and qualified for the next round, while Nikos Kaklamanakis, one of the hotter contenders for a gold medal, was off at a good start in the men's Mistral class.

[02] MONDAY WILL BE THE JUDGMENT DAY

Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were withdrawn from the Greek Olympic Team until tomorrow when the IOC Disciplinary Commission will meet to decide on the anti-doping violation case in which the two athletes are involved as they missed a drug test last Thursday.

The decision to withdraw the two sprinters for the Greek Olympic Team was made on Saturday by the Greek Olympic Committee.

Deputy Minister of Sports Giorgos Orphanos reiterated that the issue of the participation of Kenteris and Thanou in the Olympic Games had to be closed by the Greeks, while head prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos asked to be fully briefed on the facts of the case by everybody responsible.

[03] TOUGH RESPONSE TO NEW SCENARIOS

He shouldn't read so many detective stories, suggested Minister of Public Order Giorgos Voulgarakis to Britain's Sunday Mirror journalist who maintains that he managed to have access to the Olympic sports facilities in Athens under the name Robert bin Laden, while he was able to place three fake bombs.

News reporting of such kind constitutes a gross insult to journalism and the principles of objective responsible information, stated Mr. Voulgarakis.

The Ministry of Public Order mentions, among others, in a statement it has issued that the Olympic security planning is complete and the Olympic facilities are absolutely safe.

It is also stressed that the security measures and controls are in full progress based on the toughest international criteria, while they use the latest international experience and technology available.

[04] THE ORTHODOX GREEKS CELEBRATE THE ASSUMPTION OF VIRGIN MARY

Thousands of Christian Orthodox Greeks celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Virgin Mary across the country today in churches dedicated to the Mother of Christ.

At the center of celebrations, like every year, were the church of Evangelistria in the Aegean island of Tinos, the church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani in the Aegean island of Paros and Panagia Soumela in the region of Kastania, Veria, in northern Greece.

Prime Minister Kosta Karamanlis attended the holy liturgy at the Penteli Monastery near Athens.

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