ANKARA - The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians praised Pope John Paul II’s efforts to reach a reconciliation between the two churches, saying his death was a loss to all Christianity. In a statement sent to The Associated Press yesterday, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios expressed grief over the pope’s death, and praised the pontiff’s personal role in promoting dialogue between the two churches, which have been split since 1054. “Pope John Paul II envisioned the restoration of the unity of the Christians and he worked for its realization,” Vartholomaios said in the statement after the pope’s death on Saturday.

TUNCELI (Reuters) - At least two Kurdish guerrillas and one village guard were killed in clashes in southeastern Turkey on Saturday, a military official said. Another village guard and three security officers were also wounded after rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked a group of soldiers in a remote area of Bingol province in the largely Kurdish southeast, the official said. Village guards are local militia armed by the state to fight the PKK. Some 50,000 still patrol rural areas of the southeast. “Clashes are continuing in the region. According to our information, at least two PKK were killed,” the official said on condition of anonymity. There was no comment from the PKK.

Kosovo’s newly elected Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi made his first trip abroad on Friday, launching a two-day visit to neighboring Albania with a call for help on hammering out the province’s future status. Kosumi, 45, replaced Ramush Haradinaj last month after the former prime minister resigned to defend himself against war crimes charges brought by the UN tribunal in The Hague. Kosumi met Friday with Albanian counterpart Fatos Nano. “My first visit as a premier is to Tirana... in order to create a joint strategy and possibilities that the process of Kosovo’s status goes as fast as possible,” Kosumi told a news conference Friday. Nano expressed his government’s “real support to Kosumi.” (AP)

Three Indian sailors were crushed to death when their container ship collided with a cargo ship in the Dardanelles strait in western Turkey early yesterday, maritime officials said. The victims were among the crew of the Panamanian-registered container ship MSC Roberta, which collided with the Greek-registered cargo ship Aegean Wind off the town of Gelibolu near the northern entrance to the strait, the officials said. The MSC Roberta was on its way to Greece from Turkey and the Greek vessel was traveling from Ghana to Ukraine. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. (AFP)