Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-05-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Australian commemoration at Commonwealth cemetery on occasion of Battle of Crete anniversary

[02] Gov't rules out prospect of layoffs in public sector

[03] Stocks end significantly lower 

[01] Australian commemoration at Commonwealth cemetery on occasion of Battle of Crete anniversary

Present at the ceremony were six Australian veterans of the specific WWII conflict, officials from the departments of veterans� affairs and defence, and Australian Parliament member Steve Georganas, who is of Greek heritage.

The Commanding Officer of the AFG contingent Lt. Luke Haitas later commented on the solemn ceremony.

"The commemoration went well and it was quite emotional for both the soldiers and the veterans," he said, adding: "I�m very proud of the Guard in conducting what was a dignified and solemn ceremony to remember those Australians that died defending Greece during the German invasion. Being of Greek heritage, with my family fighting in WWII, as well as being an Australian Army Officer, the ceremony was very moving for me - it emphasised the strong bond between the two nations."

There are currently 2,029 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery.

Australia's Federation Guard is an ADF unit, comprised of members from the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force, which provides ceremonial support for the Australian Commonwealth. (ANA-MPA)

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[02] Gov't rules out prospect of layoffs in public sector

Speaking in Parliament during the e-government draft law discussion, he underlined that "on the contrary, the government has avoided a pressing dilemma to proceed with the layoffs of 200,000 public sector employees when soon after the 2009 elections it adopted drastic reductions in their number. This was achieved through the abolition of the STAGE contracts, the considerable reduction of contract workers and the local government administration mergers introduced by the "Kallikratis" local government reform programme."

Ragoussis also stressed that 150,000 employees have retired during the recent period, while the clause "one hiring for five retirements" has brought a drastic payroll cost reduction, pointing out that there is no question of additional layoffs.

"The new system is based on the principle that the strict evaluation of employees is necessary to counteract a long absence of meritocracy that stemmed from client relations practices that dominated in the past," he said.

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[03] Stocks end significantly lower

The Big Cap index fell 1.73 pct, the Mid Cap index ended 0.12 pct higher and the Small Cap index edged 0.09 pct up. Ellaktor (2.77 pct), Mytilineos (1.17 pct) and Piraeus Bank (0.97 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Viohalco (4.20 pct), Marfin Popular Bank (4.11 pct), Alpha Bank (3.56 pct) and ATEbank (3.64 pct) were major losers.

The Chemicals (1.30 pct) and Raw Materials (1.04 pct) sectors scored gains, while Food (3.26 pct) and Financial Services (1.73 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 78 to 59 with another 49 issues unchanged. Altec (20 pct), Tegopoulos (18.75 pct) and Electronic Athens (14.81 pct) were top gainers, while Ridenco (14.29 pct), Kordellos Bros (8.82 pct) and Olympic Catering (8.11 pct) were top losers.

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