Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-05-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] British cameraman dies of divers' disease

[02] Battle of Crete 68th anniversary events

[03] Áthens Newspaper Headlines

[01] British cameraman dies of divers' disease

Despite great efforts made by military doctors, the National Geographic's 37-yea-old cameraman, who was struck by the disease while filming the wreck of the "Britannic" in the straits of the Cycladic island of Kea, was not brought back to life.

[02] Battle of Crete 68th anniversary events

A memorial service for the fallen during the historic battle, which occurred in the early years of WWII, was held at Hania's Cathedral on Sunday morning, attended by Deputy National Defence Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis, Alternate Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis and honorary New Democracy president Constantine Mitsotakis, as well as a number of MPs, foreign diplomats and local officials.

"The Battle of Crete was one of the most glorious pages of modern Greek history," Plakiotakis said in statements after the end of the memorial service, stressing that the sacrifices of Cretan fighters for the ideals of freedom, democracy, and to protect the rights of their homeland still elicit the admiration and respect of all democratic countries in the world.

The air show by the RAF Red Arrows was held over the Old Port of Hania on Saturday, while on Friday there was the formal hoisting of the Allies' flags at the Firka Fort.

A German embassy event at the German cemetery in Maleme is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 24.

The Battle of Crete began on the morning of May 20, 1941 when German forces launched an unprecedented airborne invasion of Crete, code-named "Merkur". The operation was successful in that it wrested control of the island from Allied forces, although the victory was so costly in terms of paratrooper casualties that the Wehrmacht never again attempted a major airborne operation. The stiff resistance by the allied troops and local Cretans is also credited, by many historians, with delaying the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

Caption: The air show by the RAF Red Arrows was held over the Old Port of Hania on Saturday 23 May 2009. ANA-MPA/SPYROS ZAHARAKIS

[03] Áthens Newspaper Headlines

Parties' leaders' speeches ahead of European Parliament elections , the SIEMENS case and the IMF report to be delivered on Monday to FinMin Yannis Papathanassiou, dominated the headlines on Monday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou on Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis: "He is unknowledgeable on European issues".

APOGEVMATINI: "The people belying the opinion polls - ND's massive rally in Larissa - PASOK's rally in Lamia was disappointing".

AVRIANI: "Polls and small and pulseless rallies indicate that the two mainstream parties are sinking".

CHORA: "8 percent of Siemens' revenues from sales went to bribes".

ELEFTHEROS: "Provocation by extremist Muslim groups- Muslim leaders in Greece: 'Those who want to make trouble must leave Greece'."

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Absolution of sins for 100,000 unlicenced buildings".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "20,000 political favours divide 3 ministers".

ESTIA: "The day after the Euroelections - The polarisation climate is disastrous for the country".

ETHNOS: "Secret poll results are nightmarish for the two major parties - Rallying of ND voters at the nadir".

TA NEA: "Fewer candidates scored below the base passing grade, as indicated by the results of the first 9,000 university entry examination papers indicate".

VRADYNI: "IMF: Freeze salaries , hirings and taxes".

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