Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-01-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM: Humanity is facing a common challenge

[01] PM: Humanity is facing a common challenge

"Today the difficult, for the entire world, conjuncture that is putting us all to the test. The international financial crisis is testing our endurance. At a time when, very close to us, lives are being lost and fellow human beings are sufferent, the challenge is a common one for all of us," Karamanlis said.

The common challenge, he stressed, consisted of "consolidating principles that guarantee a safer future, a better future, rebaptizing ourselves in the humanitarian values and solidarity, and safeguarding democracy and the just state from acts of violence from wherever they originate".

"With maturity, mutual understanding, responsibility, belief in our abilities, and a sense of social and national responsibility, we can and will succeed in this," the prime minister said.

Earlier, Karamanlis and his wife attended the liturgy ad the Birth of the Virgin church in Rafina, where the prime minister resides, followed by the traditional Blessing of the Waters ceremony in the town's port.

The prime minister was originally scheduled to attend the Blessing of the Waters on the island of Kythira, but the visit was cancelled after the issue of a ban on sailings due to high winds.

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