Patriarch of Moscow to leave St Petersburg on Sunday.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Patriarch of Moscow and All
Russia Kirill ends his three-day visit to St. Petersburg on Sunday.
Before leaving St. Petersburg the Patriarch will hold a divine service
in the Kazan Cathedral, the city's main cathedral dedicated to the
victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. It is here that a wonder-working
icon of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God is kept. The legend has it: no
foe can seize the city while prayers are said before it.
The service will be attended by clergymen of the St. Petersburg
eparchy and members of the Holy Synod, a meeting of which was held during
the Patriarch's visit.
During Patriarch Kirill's visit, the Synod took a number of
organizational and personnel decisions. Thus, a Patriarchal Council on
Culture was set up to communicate with state, creative and public
organizations. The Synod established a department for service in prisons,
a committee for relations with Cossacks, a council of Orthodox public
associations, and a commission for patronage of children were established.
It also appointed new eparches of a number of Orthodox eparchies in Russia
and abroad.

.Second Russian plane brings humanitarian aid to quake-shaken Chile.

SANTIAGO, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- A second Russian Emergencies Ministry'
s plane with humanitarian aid onboard landed in Santiago on Saturday.
The humanitarian aid includes tents, mobile electric power plants,
blankets, tableware, 28 tons in all. The plane was seen in by Russian
ambassador Yuri Filatov and Chilean defence minister Francisco Vidal.
The first Russian Il-76 aircraft with 28 tons of humanitarian aid
onboard arrived in Santiago on Thursday.
According to the Russian ambassador, no Russians are reported among
the 452 identified victims of the recent devastating earthquake on
preliminary lists on the Chilean interior ministry.
The Russian ambassador said Chile was going through a difficult period
not only because of the devastating earthquake but also because of the
transition of power - President-elect Sebasitan Pinera comes to office on
March 11. The ambassador expressed the hope the Russian-Chilean relations
would get a fresh impetus under the new president.
Another aircraft with humanitarian arrived in Santiago from the United
States on Saturday.
The magnitude 8.8 earthquake shook Chile in the small hours on
February 27. The focus of the quake was located 115 kilometers to the
north of the city of Concepcion. The quake death toll is 452 (over 800
according to previous reports), some 500 people were injured, and a number
of people are reported missing. About two million Chileans were left
without a roof over their heads, 1.5 million houses were damaged, of which
some 500,000 are unrestorable.

.26 people killed, 9 injured in truck crash in Tibet.

BEIJING, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- A total of 26 people were killed and
another 9 injured in a truck crash on a mountain road in Tibet on
Saturday, the Xinhua News Agency said.
According to Xinhua, the truck was heading for and ancient lamasery
when its brakes failed.

.Icelanders vote down bank failure repay deal.

COPENHAGEN, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Preliminary results of the Saturday
referendum in Iceland showed that 98 percent of voters turned down the
deal to compensate Britain and the Netherlands for deposits lost in the
Icelandic Internet bank Icesave, which collapsed in 2008, Icelandic
television said.

.Three quakes registered near Kuril Islands.

VLADIVOSTOK, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Three earthquakes, the strongest
one of magnitude 5.5, hit the Russian Far Eastern Kuril Island late on
Saturday, the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical service said.
According to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk seismic station, the focus of the
strongest quake was located at the depth of 50 kilometers under Pacific
floor 115 kilometers to the south of the city of Kurilsk, Iturup Island,
where tremors were of magnitude 3 were felt. Magnitude 2 tremors were felt
in the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Kunashir.
Another quake of magnitude 4.4 was registered at the depth of 360
kilometers under the Oktotsk seabed north-west of the Kuril Islands, and
the third magnitude 4.0 quake occurred near the island of Paramushir. No
casualties or damages were reported. The quakes generated no tsunami waves.
-0-ras