AEK Athens won their 14th Greek Cup Saturday edging Atromitos 3-0 in the final at the Athens Olympic Stadium in a match overshadowed by violent clashes between the two sets of fans.
Veteran striker Nikos Liberopoulos (28th minute), Moroccan forward Baha Nabil (77) and midfielder Pandelis Kafes (84) settled the tie in front of 60,000 people.
The signs were not good from the start, when AEK and Atromitos fans threw flares at each other as the national anthem was being played before the game.
Referee Tassos Kakos was forced to blow the whistle just a minute into a nine-minute injury time after hundreds of AEK fans invaded the pitch. Many rushed to celebrate with their players, but others headed toward the VIP stands where family members and friends of the Atromitos players were seated, throwing projectiles at them.
Atromitos coach Giorgos Donis asserted that some aimed pistols at the VIP spectators.
“I’ve never seen this in a game, ever, players having to fight to save their families … they were pointing pistols at them,” Donis said.
Atromitos players rushed to defend their kin and friends and exchanged blows with the AEK fans before riot police intervened, swinging clubs and throwing tear gas.
AEK (Manolo Jimenez) – Saja, Karabelas, Dellas, Manolas, Georgeas, Diop, Makos, Lagos, Scocco (Baha 32′), Lyberopoulos (C), Blanco (Kafes 70′)
Atromitos (Giorgos Donis) – Itandje, Nastos, Baszczynski, Nebegleras (C), Camara (Sambou 89′), Anastasakos, Sfakianakis, Saganowski (Brito 66′), Tatos, Oliveira (Sarmiento 82′), Skondras
Goals – Lyberopoulos (29′), Baha (78′), Kafes (85′)
Bookings – Makos (24′), Skondras (24′), Lyberopoulos (30′), Nebegleras (43′), Diop (63′), Kafes (88′)
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Chaotic Greek Cup Final Ends in Pitch Invasion (video)
Three Million US Citizens have Visited Cyprus Exhibition in Washington
Around three million US citizens have visited the exhibition entitled “Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations” in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in the US capital.
The exhibition, which opened in September 29, 2010 and closed on May 1, 2011, took place in the framework of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Cyprus and to highlight Cyprus’ own distinctive history and culture.
The exhibition featured about 260 items, many of which were being displayed for the first time in the USA, covering nearly 11,000 years of history, from the Cypriot-Archaic through the Venetian period, which ranged from items from the earliest villages to masterpieces of medieval religious art.
Visitors had the chance to be informed about Cyprus, its history and civilisation, its natural beauties as well as the political situation, through lectures and other events organised on the sidelines of the exhibition.
(source: cna)
Is Jennifer Aniston Moving to New York?
Jennifer Aniston is reported to be moving from Southern California to New York. The Greek-American movie & tv star had listed her mansion in Beverly Hills for sale two months ago. Recently she was spotted in New York looking at property in Manhattan.
New York Daily News reports Jennifer closed a $5.9 million deal on two separate one-bedroom apartments on the 17th and 18th floors of a swanky building on West 12th Street in the West Village.
The 42-year-old single star reportedly plans to combine the small penthouse and the lower flat into one big apartment.
A source told the newspaper: “She would definitely need more space than one apartment. Her closet alone wouldn’t fit in a one-bedroom.”
Jennifer said on a recent trip to New York she wanted to move back to the city.
She said: “I’ve been looking and looking and looking. I grew up here. I miss it. There is nothing like being in the city that is just the city of Everyman. It’s all walks of life. I love that.”
Pylos Experiments May Explain The Big Bang
One of the biggest experiments ever is being realized at the deepest point of the Mediterranean sea, which is known as “The Well of Inousses” or “Calypso Deep” and is located near Pylos. Astronomy and telescope construction in the depths of the sea are being conducted. It sounds strange but it is totally true. One of the most important experiments in Physics’ history has been in progress for two decades, 30 nautical miles far from Pylos, inside the sea, 5,000 meters deep. It is an experiment of neutrino detection, called NESTOR (its name comes from the ancient king of the area), which predicts the presence of a huge telescope of 12 stages with a diameter of 32 meters and a total height of 330 meters, taller than the Eiffel Tower. Through the experiment, a new kind of astronomy emerges, beyond the sky and beyond the existing scientific knowledge. Professor of the University of Athens and chief of the program Leonidas Resvanis and his team, expect the unexpected, trying to map the most primitive and strange material particles, known as neutrinos. Very few know that the program NESTOR (Neutrino Extended Submarine Telescope with Oceanographic Research), which is co-sponsored by the General Secretariat for Research and Techology and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) aims at creating a new map of the sky, studying high-energy neutrinos. This is a form of radiation which has not been studied at all and the properties of which may utterly change the conception concerning the creation of the universe.
International Literary Festival Held in Athens
The fourth Daseinfest, organized by writer Christos Chrissopoulos, the European network Literature Across Frontiers, EKEMEL Translation school in Athens, is hosted at its permanent venue “Dasein Philosophy Cafe” in downtown Athens. The 2011 four-day program (4/5/2011 – 8/5/2011) is the only in Greece including 18 writers, artists and academics from all over Greece and abroad and involves bilingual readings, round tables, performances, screenings, book launches, a working residency, a specialy commissioned sound installation and an experimental “urban lab”.
Bloody Robbery in Patras Supermarket
On Saturday afternoon, a bloody robbery took place in a central supermarket of Patras. Two young men who had covered their faces, entered a store of a well-known supermarket chain, after 1:00 in the afternoon. The two men asked the five cashiers to give them money, under the threat of weapons. They finally grabbed more than 3,000 Euros. As they were moving towards the fifth one, a customer entered the shop, saw the incident, took a metal object and tried to immobilize them. He hit one of the robbers, but the second one shot him twice. The customer, who got seriously injured, succumbed while he was being taken to hospital. People in the store were in panic and despite the chase that followed, the two men haven’t been arrested yet.
Resistance Figure Apostolos Santas Passes
One of the two men who secretly climbed atop the emblematic Acropolis Hill in central Athens and took down the Swastika in the early morning hours of May 31, 1941 – a defiant and extraordinarily symbolic act of resistance at the beginning of the Axis occupation of Greece (1941-44) – died on Saturday at the age of 89.
Apostolos Santas passed away in Athens.
Together with Manolis Glezos, the then teenaged Santas was highly praised during the last decades of his life for the unprecedented act of resistance.
Santas was born on the Ionian island of Lefkada in February 1922 and later settled with his family in Athens, before finishing high school in 1940 and successfully entering Athens Law School.
“It was the first gasp of resistance … Two 18-year-olds toyed with history; they saw a symbol and decided to become symbols, themselves,” a Greek Parliament resolution proclaimed in 2008, during a plenum session honoring the two men.
Santas joined the wartime resistance in 1942, taking part in several battles against German and Italian forces in Greece’s mountainous provinces before being injured in 1944. Unfortunately, the bloody Greek Civil War (1946-49) lead to his exile on remote isles in the Aegean. Santas eventually fled to Italy and received political asylum in Canada, where he lived until 1962.
He returned to Greece in 1963.
“I never sought out publicity … We (himself and Glezos) did not comprise the resistance by ourselves; thousands of brave people, men and women, were killed; they were all anonymous,” he stated recently.
(source: ana-mpa)
Agreement Made by Greek Sports Agent Regarding Football
With clever manipulation and proper negotiations the Greek expatriate of the Australian football (AFL), Andreas Demetriou, was able to get 1.25 billion dollars for the granting of the TV rights of the most popular sport in Australia.
This amount will be paid for the broadcasting rights for the period 2012-2016 and is a new record.
All the matches of the so-called “footy” will be broadcasted live. The four matches of each race will be broadcasted from the television network “7”, which is in open frequency and the rest from the pay network Foxtel.
Alongside, the games will be broadcasted live from the new technology mobile of Telstra.
Greeks Among Victims of Disastrous Southern Storms
The continuous rain in the southeastern U.S. states killed more than 200 people, injured many others, destroyed homes and entire regions, putting the states in a state of emergency. The tragic list includes many Greek-Americans.
Two Greek sisters were killed and the husband of the first was injured in Chattanooga. The three of them were inside a teaser trailer which was destroyed in Wednseday’s storm. Another expat fell from the roof of his house in Nashville and was transferred to the hospital with fractures.
Lauretta Belou, a 60-year-old Greek-American, who lived in Nashville, Tennessee, went to spend a few days with her sister and her husband in the mountains out of Chattanooga. The strong winds that accompanied the storm killed the two sisters which were also inside a teaser trailer. The husband of Mrs. Belou’s sister was transferred to a hospital of the region with wounds.
Vangelis Darsinos, a 74-year-old Nashville resident climbed on the roof of his house to repair it. While coming down, he fell down and suffered serious fractures.
Make-A-Wish Foundation Grants Girl a Trip to Greece
This year on World Wish Day, Make-A-Wish Foundation will grant a teen’s wish from Virginia for a trip to Greece, and more specifically to the lovely island of Santorini. 16-year-old Maureen Marsh was surprised with a visit to the Embassy of Greece, arriving by a luxurious limousine and carrying a big bouquet of flowers. This visit however, marked another future and longer visit to Greece. Maureen was a volleyball player at Langley High School, but after some time she suffered from knee pains. She was diagnosed was bone cancer. Maureen had her knee joint and part of her femur replaced. She battled through weeks of chemotherapy. Greek Ambassador Vassilis Kaskarelis stated that he was really thrilled and impressed because such a brave girl chose Greece to make her wish real. On this World Wish Day, the Make-A-Wish Foundation treated Maureen to a taste of what she’ll see, when she and her family will visit the famous Greek island. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Santorini declared her via Skype an honorary citizen and with excitement she danced to Greek music on her new knee. Maureen feels so grateful and happy for the granting of her wish. She and her family will visit Greece on July 7th with the help of some “angels”.