Morning Watch Press

1 Dead, 9 injured after strong earthquake hits Greek island. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 5.8 struck the Greek island of Crete on Monday, killing one person and injuring several others, while damaging homes and churches and causing rock slides near the country’s fourth-largest city. The quake sent people fleeing into the streets in the city of Heraklion, and schools were evacuated. Repeated aftershocks rattled the area, adding to damage in villages near the epicentre. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake struck at 9:17 a.m. (0617 GMT), with an epicentre 246 kilometres (153 miles) south southeast of the Greek capital, Athens. This is not an event that occurred without warning. We have seen activity in this region for several months. This was a strong earthquake, it was not under sea but under land and affecting populated areas,” seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos said on Greece’s state broadcaster ERT. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center ...

Germans vote in close election to decide Merkel successor:-  Germans will vote in a national election on Sunday that looks too close to call at the moment, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) mounting a strong challenge to retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.  Merkel has been in power since 2005 but plans to step down after the election, making the vote an era-changing event to set the future course of Europe’s largest economy.In this year’s elections, more than 60 million Germans over the age of 18 are eligible to vote. Voting will come to an end at 16:00 GMT on Sunday, thereby giving some indication of results.