Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-08-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Karamanlis meets with new Armed Forces leaders

[02] Perseid meteor shower: Fireworks show with shooting stars

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] PM Karamanlis meets with new Armed Forces leaders

Karamanlis met with the new joint chiefs of staff (GEETHA National Defence General Staff) chief Gen. (air) Ioannis Yiagos, the new Airforce General Staff (GEA) chief Lt. Gen. Vassilios Klokozas, and the new Army General Staff (GES) chief Lt. Gen. Fragoulis Fragos.

No statements were made after the meeting, which was also attended by national defence minister Evangelos Meimarakis.

[02] Perseid meteor shower: Fireworks show with shooting stars

The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year as Earth passes through a trail of dusty debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet, and is named after the northern constellation of Perseus from which it appears to radiate.

Earth entered the stream of debris on July 31 this year, but the meteor shower peaks on August 11-12, when Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream.

The meteor shower can be seen with the naked eye, while best viewing time is between midnight and 5:00 a.m. The early morning hours are the most optimum for viewing this year, due to a 55 percent waning gibbous moon, given that lunar glare reduces night vision and makes it harder to see the "stars" of the show, the Earthgrazers, which are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like stones skipping across the surface of a lake, dotting the display with colorful bursts.

According to astronomers, the Perseids, the most famous of all meteor showers, are due to comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which makes a full orbit around the sun every 130 years.

The phenomenon is visible chiefly in the Northern Hemisphere, where the Perseid meteors can start being seen as early as July 23, when one meteor every hour or so may be visible. During the next three weeks, there is a slow build-up to five Perseids visible per hour at the beginning of August and 15 per hour by August 10, reaching a peak of 60-80 meteors per hour by the night of August 12/13 and then rapidly decline to about 10 per hour by August 15. The last night meteors are likely to be seen from this meteor shower is August 22, when an observer might see a Perseid every hour or so. In the Southern Hemisphere, only the fortunate few who are marginally south of the equator can see it, as the Perseid radiant does not climb above the horizon.

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

Elections speculation and the Siemens bribery and kickbacks case were the main front-page items in Athens' newspapers on Wednesday.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "The Greeks top in a night out on the town - Merriment to dawn..."

APOGEVMATINI: "Sparta court of Assizes ruling: 2000 death of businessman in Kiato was murder, not suicide - Ruling confirms that there is no perfect crime".

AVGHI: "The migrants in the islands' holding facilities are 'caged animals'."

AVRIANI: "The codes (of slush fund accounts) containing the new package of Siemens graft that ended up in PASOK (government at the time under premiership of Costas Simitis) in Zagorianos' (special examining magistrate investigating the Siemens affair in Greece) hands".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Midsummer nights' nightmares in New Democracy over Siemens affair".

ESTIA: "Uniform taxation without distinctions - In full compatibility with the Constitution".

ETHNOS: "ND once again beleaguered by Siemens affair".

KATHIMERINI: "Christoforakos (Siemens Hellas fugitive former CEO, whose extradition Greece has requested following his recent arrest in Germany on a European warrant issued by Athens) gave the names of two PASOK and ND officials (as bribe recipients) in his testimony (to the German prosecutor)".

LOGOS: "The Siemens case and early general elections - The ND-PASOK clash intensifies".

NIKI: "Midsummer orgy of profiteering - Petrol prices jumped to 1.30 euros per liter".

RIZOSPASTIS: "US suppression mechanism to 'teach' civil protection in Greece".

TA NEA: "ND falls into the bribes pit - Panic in government headquarters over Siemens case developments".

TO VIMA: "New package of benefits - 'Gift' of up to 300,000 euros for SMEs - Tourism, commerce, manufacturing sectors the beneficiaries".

VRADYNI: "State compensation for victims of crime - Landmark draft law by justice ministry".

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