Thirty Greek Diaspora teachers coming from Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Mozambique and Uruguay participated in the seminar for Training Greek Diaspora Teachers, organized by the University of Crete.
The program is funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Education, implemented by the Center for Intercultural and Immigration Studies (E.DIA.M.ME.), Department of Primary Education, University of Crete.
Thirty educators – representatives from schools and Greek language departments, which will be launched in the coming school year as pilot e-Learning Schools, took part in these activities.
Particular attention was paid to “e-Learning in the Greek Diaspora” and the establishment of a School Network for e-Learning.
The teachers’ stories gave some nice insight into the guests’ motivations to teach, like Greek Ioanna (Jona), a Greek migrant who teaches Greek in a small town outside Melbourne. Her love for Greece and qualifications made her become a Greek-language teacher.
People like Ioanna contribute to the harmonic coexistence of different social and national groups as well as to the preservation of ties between Greece and Australia.
Thirty Greek Diaspora Teachers Attend University of Crete Training Seminar
Failed Proton Bank Sues Former CEO
Proton Bank, currently under liquidation, filed a suit on Monday against former major shareholder and board chairman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis and 12 other people, accusing them of a series of criminal-level offences that include breach of faith, fraud, morally instigating and acting as accomplices in these offences, and forming a criminal organisation.
The charges are also made against six members of the bank’s board in 2010-2011, and six other shareholders or representatives of companies involved in questionable loans that forced the bank into liquidation.
The charges, filed with a first-instance court prosecutor, relate to unsafe loans approved by Proton Bank while it was under Lavrentiadis’ direction to companies owned by the 38-year-old businessman, without ensuring protection of the bank’s interests. The total amount of the loans was about 700 million euros, of which 451 million euros remain outstanding even after liquidation.
The suit claims that upon acquiring 31.3 percent of the bank in December 2009, Lavrentiadis orchestrated a massive increase of credit expansion in the business portfolio, with the sums directed mainly at newly-formed domestic and offshore firms – some of them lacking any business activity – that were financed to buy sections of the firms Alapis and ELFE, owned by Lavrentiadis.
The case will be handled by first-instance court prosecutor Ioannis Dragatsis, who is also conducting the investigation into the sum of the loans given to Lavrentiadis.
(source: ana-mpa)
84th Academy Awards® Nominations; Payne Up for Another OSCAR
Beverly Hills, CA – Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence.
Sherak and Lawrence, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for her lead performance in “Winter’s Bone,” announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.
Second Generation Greek-American director, Alexander Payne, is nominated in three categories in the upcoming Oscars with “The Descendants” for best picture, director and adapted screenplay. Payne won an Oscar for screenwriting for his film “Sideways” in 2005.
Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.
Nominations ballots were mailed to the 5,783 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the international accounting firm, for tabulation.
Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members this weekend at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.
All active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
Nominations list for the 84th Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” (Summit Entertainment)
* George Clooney in “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight)
* Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
* Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)
* Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
* Nick Nolte in “Warrior” (Lionsgate)
* Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” (Focus Features)
* Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)
* Viola Davis in “The Help” (Touchstone)
* Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
* Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company)
* Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
* Jessica Chastain in “The Help” (Touchstone)
* Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” (Universal)
* Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)
* Octavia Spencer in “The Help” (Touchstone)
Best animated feature film of the year
* “A Cat in Paris” (GKIDS) Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
* “Chico & Rita” (GKIDS) Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
* “Kung Fu Panda 2” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Jennifer Yuh Nelson
* “Puss in Boots” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Chris Miller
* “Rango” (Paramount) Gore Verbinski
Achievement in art direction
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould
* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
* “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Production Design: Anne Seibel, Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Achievement in cinematography
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Guillaume Schiffman
* “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Robert Richardson
* “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) Emmanuel Lubezki
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) Janusz Kaminski
Achievement in costume design
* “Anonymous” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Lisy Christl
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Mark Bridges
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Sandy Powell
* “Jane Eyre” (Focus Features) Michael O’Connor
* “W.E.” (The Weinstein Company) Arianne Phillips
Achievement in directing
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Michel Hazanavicius
* “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Alexander Payne
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Martin Scorsese
* “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Woody Allen
* “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) Terrence Malick
Best documentary feature
* “Hell and Back Again” (Docurama Films) A Roast Beef Limited Production, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
* “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) A Marshall Curry Production, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
* “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” An @radical.media Production, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
* “Pina” (Sundance Selects) A Neue Road Movies Production, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
* “Undefeated” (The Weinstein Company) A Spitfire Pictures Production, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Best documentary short subject
* “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” A Purposeful Production, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
* “God Is the Bigger Elvis” A Documentress Films Production, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
* “Incident in New Baghdad” A Morninglight Films Production, James Spione
* “Saving Face” A Milkhaus/Jungefilm Production, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
* “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” A Supply & Demand Integrated Production, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Achievement in film editing
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
* “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Kevin Tent
* “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Thelma Schoonmaker
* “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Christopher Tellefsen
Best foreign language film of the year
* “Bullhead” A Savage Film Production, Belgium
* “Footnote” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Footnote Limited Partnership Production, Israel
* “In Darkness” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Studio Filmowe Zebra Production, Poland
* “Monsieur Lazhar” (Music Box Films) A micro_scope Production, Canada
* “A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Dreamlab Films Production, Iran
Achievement in makeup
* “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions) Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
* “The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company) Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
* “The Adventures of Tintin” (Paramount) John Williams
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Ludovic Bource
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Howard Shore
* “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) John Williams
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
* “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
* “Real in Rio” from “Rio” (20th Century Fox) Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Best motion picture of the year
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/JD Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer
* “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
* “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer
* “The Help” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
* “Hugo” (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and GK Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
* “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
* “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
* “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Best animated short film
* “Dimanche/Sunday” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production, Patrick Doyon
* “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” A Moonbot Studios LA Production, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
* “La Luna” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Enrico Casarosa
* “A Morning Stroll” (Studio AKA) A Studio AKA Production, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
* “Wild Life” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Best live action short film
* “Pentecost” (Network Ireland Television) An EMU Production, Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
* “Raju” A Hamburg Media School/Filmwerkstatt Production, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
* “The Shore” An All Ashore Production, Terry George and Oorlagh George
* “Time Freak” A Team Toad Production, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
* “Tuba Atlantic” (Norsk Filminstitutt) A Norwegian Film School/Den Norske Filmskolen Production, Hallvar Witzø
Achievement in sound editing
* “Drive” (FilmDistrict) Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
* “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
* “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Achievement in sound mixing
* “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
* “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
* “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
* “War Horse” (Touchstone) Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in visual effects
* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
* “Real Steel” (Touchstone) Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
* “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
* “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Adapted screenplay
* “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
* “Hugo” (Paramount) Screenplay by John Logan
* “The Ides of March” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
* “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
* “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features) Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Original screenplay
* “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Written by Michel Hazanavicius
* “Bridesmaids” (Universal) Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
* “Margin Call” (Roadside Attractions) Written by J.C. Chandor
* “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Woody Allen
* “A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Asghar Farhadi
Solve the Greek Debt Crisis with New iPhone Game!
Certain that you could solve Greece’s debt crisis? How hard could it be?
Here’s your chance. A new iPhone game called Save Greece lets players collect cash, pigs or gold. You can also cut the budget or hope for the Gods to help.
“Beware, it is not as easy as it sounds,” the game warns.
You pay interest on borrowed money, pigs enforce austerity measures and that makes people angry. Gold is hard to come by, and “gods have a way of their own,” it says.
Also, “there are rumors in the financial markets, which is never good.” The game, which costs 99 cents, has four levels and funky Greek music, according to creator Peter Engelbrecht.
The game “takes place in a comic environment, but the underlying ideas are serious and show the consequences of government debt: new debt, austerity measures, market rumors, and the grief of ordinary people,” Engelbrecht said.
By the way, if you find it an easy go, take another look at this warning: “the amount of debt in the game is fictional and has been adjusted to facilitate gameplay.”
(source: thestar)
Greeks 'Fell Trees for Warmth' Amid Economic Chill
Rising oil prices and chilly economic times are prompting increasing numbers of Greeks to chop down trees for winter warmth, a group of forest engineers warned Tuesday.
Nikos Bokaris, a spokesman for the Panhellenic Union of Forest Engineers, said the debt-wracked nation’s forest ecosystems were not yet under threat, but urged the government to act quickly to prevent broader damage.
“You have to remember what happened in Albania,” Bokaris said, describing how that country’s population felled trees en masse after the collapse of communism. “Even the trees lining the roads were chopped down.”
Greek foresters filed 1,500 criminal complaints last year, twice as many as in 2010. About 70 percent of Greece’s forests are public, with most of the rest belonging to various religious institutions.
Bokaris attributed the rise to a sharp drop in national funding for forest management, coupled with a near-doubling of oil prices in 2011.
He said forest funds had been slashed from 20 million euros ($26 million) in recent years to 10 million euros from now on.
The cuts are part of Greece’s austerity measures agreed with international creditors in a bid to win vital debt bailouts.
The Greek arm of environmental group WWF has also expressed concerns. Its forests expert Konstantinos Liarikos said both individual and organised group activity were impacting the forests.
“Wood poaching,” as some in Greece call it, is not a new phenomenon in a country where even modern homes in Athens still have fireplaces. Domestically provided firewood is often not enough, with the shortfall made up by Balkan lumber.
(source: AFP)
Strong Downward Correction at Athens Stock Exchange
The Athens Stock Exchange closed the day with increased trading volumes leading to a low, breaking the streak of nine upward sessions.
The bank’s index recorded declines up to 9%, while moving – like the General Index – to negative territory throughout the session. Among the FTSE20 index the only shares that closed in positive territory were Viohalco and Hellenic Petroleum, with the second one still monitoring the developments in Iran after EU’s oil embargo.
In any case, today’s session was seen by the analysts as a necessary correction ΄relief΄ after the accumulated profits of previous days, up 19% for the General Index, and up 49.33% for the banking index.
The correction was caused by the concerns in Europe over Portugal needing a second bailout, but also by the PSI talks, which continue with no end in sight. The written commitments from the three parties of the Greek government towards the country΄s obligations stand out, reminding the market of the thriller days when the president of New Democracy, Antonis Samaras, was opposed to such a possibility.
The stock “picture” on Tuesday was also formed by S&P’s warning to downgrade Greece to “selective default” after the PSI talks finished, and the statements of Charles Dallara, who called all parties to honor the terms of October’s agreement.
On the board, the General Index closed down 5.48% at 703.44, while the trading volume stood at 51.13 million units and a turnover of 60.99 million.
For the banking index the losses amounted to 9.45% at 287.86, while 104 closed down, 63 up and 108 remained unchanged.
(source: capital)
Charles Dallara: Time Running Out For Greek Debt Deal
Time is running out to finalize a prescribed agreement that sees private creditors taking a 50% loss on their Greek sovereign debt holdings to help ease the ailing country’s fiscal burden, the bondholders’ chief representative said Tuesday.
Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, told reporters at a press conference in Zurich that beyond the initial agreement, the implementation of a complex deal involving multiple parties and public-private sector cooperation would eat into the time left before Greece must make a EUR14 billion bond payment on March 20.
At stake, he said, is not only the “social future” of Greece but also “European stability.”
Talks between the creditors and the Greek government stalled last week, leaving on hold a pledge of fresh bailout funds from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. That money is crucial if Greece is to avoid a default.
The chief of the IIF, a Washington-based global association of large international banks, also declined to forecast a timeframe for reaching an agreement. However, he said he remained optimistic that a voluntary agreement would be reached that still manages to achieve “large-scale participation” among private creditors.
“We will hopefully find common ground in the days ahead,” he said.
Asked whether the IIF was concerned about suggestions that Greece might invoke so-called collective action clauses to force a higher participation rate, Dallara mostly ducked the question. He said simply, “our emphasis is on a voluntary deal, and that’s where we are going to concentrate our efforts.”
(source: Dow Jones)
Patras-Sydney Boat Trip To Highlight Hellenism of Macedonia
Apostolos Kardaras from Patras, Greece, had told Greek Symban World Radio in Sydney of his plans to make a boat trip from Patras to Sydney within 6 months.
The boat trip will include stops at ports in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and lastly in Sydney.
When asked by “Radio Interviews” reporter Thomas Tsamouras what the reasons behind such a big and dangerous trip are, Mr. Kardaras stressed that he was motivated to undertake the trip in order to highlight the Hellenism of Macedonia and prove what Greeks are capable of doing when they work together. “My partners and I decided to build a closed-end boat in order to travel from Patras to Sydney” added Mr. Kardaras.
The boat, specially designed for this purpose, was undertaken by the University of Patras and the Ship Conversion Department of the TEI of Athens. The boat will be fully equipped with special solar panels producing electricity for the engines, with storerooms for food and equipment and a water tank of 420 liters.
The trip is set to commence in June from Patras, and end after five to six months given the weather conditions the group will face. According to Mr. Kardaras, his own 38-year-old experience as a sailor and the detailed organization of the trip are the key features that make him truly believe the whole effort will be a success story.
Harry Kallas Elected Parish Council President of St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria
Harry Kallas has been recently elected (as of Jan. 15) Parish Council President of St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria.
Kallas told National Herald that he is very satisfied to have attained his new post, and he is committed to do a lot for the parish and improve it, as he did while being president of the community by renovating a school.
Finally, Harry Kallas told TNH prior to his election that “if need be, we are going to bring a priest from Greece.”
Schaeuble: All Greek Parties Must Agree to Reforms
All Greek political parties must consent to reforms agreed to with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, in order to receive more funds under a second bailout programme, Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday.
“Greece must implement the agreed measures and reforms. And of course all Greek parties must agree to the measures and a new programme, independently of the upcoming elections,” Schaeuble told reporters in Brussels.
The German finance minister also said he was confident a treaty on tighter fiscal rules could be finalised before March, and that there should be a close link between the fiscal treaty and the euro zone’s ESM permanent bailout fund.
(source: Reuters)