The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-09-07

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek Athletes Win Medals in Paralympics

Sources: ÁNA-ÌPA

In opening day of Beijing Para-Olympics, Greek athletes won 2 medals. Specifically Haralambos Taiganidis achieved a good performance 59.24 to conquer silver medal in class S13 butterfly 100m and George Kapellakis won bronze medal in S2 class freestyle 200m in 5:05.91.

Taiganidis said he was very happy coming second place and dedicated his medal to his family. Kapelalkis said he did not expect to win a medal in this discipline but he realized he was in very good shape at the preliminaries in the morning and now hopes for better results in the next events.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[02] Federal Takeover of Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae

By Betty Savourdou

Sources: ÁNA-ÌPA

US financial officials have outlined plans for the government to take over the failing mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The two companies account for over 40% of the outstanding mortgages in the US, and have lost billions of dollars during the US housing crash. As part of the changes, the management of the two companies will be replaced while the firms will be given access to extra funding to support their business going forward. The move is intended to keep the two companies afloat, amid fears that either could go bankrupt as borrowers default on their home loans. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the two firms debt levels posed a "systemic risk" to financial stability. He added the government was intervening in the wider interests of the financial system and of taxpayers since the financial position of the two firms was fast deteriorating but Mr Paulson warned that the move was only a short-term "stabilisation" exercise. Reports speak of "liquidity" injections to both firms mounting up to 100 billion dollars.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

[03] Aronofsky's Won Golden Lion

By Betty Savourdou

Sources: ÁNA-ÌPA

Darren Aronofskys "The Wrestler," starring gritty survivor Mickey Rourke, won the coveted Golden Lion at the 65th Venice film festival on Saturday. The Silver Lion for best director went to Russias Aleksei German jr. for "Paper Soldier," a recreation of the Soviet effort to put the first man in space in 1961.The award for best actor went to Italian veteran Silvio Orlando for his role in "Il Papa di Giovanna," a Mussolini-era tragedy by Pupi Avati.French actress Dominique Blanc walked away with best actress for her role in "LAutre" by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic.

Translated by Chrisanthi Sarantis

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