German Airplane Makes Emergency Landing in Rhodes Island, Greece

At 10:30 today morning, the pilot of a charter flight from Berlin made a forced landing in Rhodes island due to mechanical problem. Reportedly, no one was hurt and the plane has no damages. The local airport remains closed until the aircraft is moved away. The 195 passengers will be transported to their destination today.

Teacher accused of opening fire on teenage children

A 50-year-old teacher, who allegedly opened fire on a group of teenage children in the early morning hours on Wednesday, is faced with multiple counts of attempted voluntary homicide.
The incident took place at the courtyard of a church in the town of Lianokladi, 12 km west of the city of Lamia in central Greece. According to the case file, a group of 10 teenage children, 14 to 16 years old, were shot at just before 03.00 am on Wednesday and two of them suffered superficial injuries.
The teacher, who lives nearby, was arrested after the victims told police that the shots came from the direction of his house without, however, naming him as a suspect. He denied all charges against him and a police search in his house has revealed no guns.
The 50-year-old is scheduled to appear before a prosecutor on Friday.
(source: ana-mpa)

"Hephaistia"ancient theatre on Limnos island opened after 2,500 years!

The ancient theatre of Hephaistia on the Aegean Limnos island opened yesterday for the first time after 2,500 years, with the play “Oedipus the King” directed by Spyros Evangelatos. Due to the fact that the theater’s main capacity is about 200 people, another 1,000 were able to watch the play through a giant screen. The theatre of Hephaistia, dates back to the 5th and early 4th centuries BC and is considered as one of the most important and well-known greek ancient theatres. “Hephaistia”,the city of the ancient Greek God Hephaistos, underwent a construction in 2000-2004 and opened its gates to the public yesterday. Each and every one in the audience was really moved and the actors gave their best performance.
(source: ana-mpa)

The Panhellenic Federation of Greeks, FL Own a Home!

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The Panhellenic Federation of Greeks in Florida own their own house now. Its building is 6000 square feet in the holiday region between Tarpon Springs and Newport Richey. According to The National Herald the buildings were bought by the Greek American Community of Florida, which was recently established.

The Panhellenic Federation of Florida and the Parade Committee will be housed in the same facilities. There will be places for the service of Greek clubs and associations as well as additional social programs. The main place of the facilities will be hold an event hall with a capacity of 400 people and additional rooms.

According to the Community’s and Federation President Michael Servos, the facilities will host different programs for the elder people and the youth. “All the Greeks here are very enthusiastic about this house” stated Servos.

Michael Zavros Wins Moran National Portrait Prize

A portrait contest titled: “Doug Moran National Portrait Prize” was just held in Australia.  Greek painter Michael Zavros won first prize!

According to ABC, “the work of Michael Zavros, entitled ‘Phoebe is dead/Mc Queen’, represents his 5-year-old daughter as dead wrapped in a black cloth with crossbones made by the designer Alexander McQueen”.

The painter himself said that the work expresses his fear for his children. The work was chosen among 35 portraits and the prize was accompanied by $150,000 dollars.

Michael Zavros is among the most famous painters in Australia and he often takes inspiration from Greek mythology and the world of modern fashion.

Lack of Teachers Due to the Retirement

Greek schools face a severe shortage of teachers because the number of teachers applying for retirement has increased this year, while hirings have been halved, it was revealed. Because of the changes in the social security system of the country, almost 11,500 teachers have officially announced that they will be leaving their jobs. Of these, almost 4,000 are from primary education and some 7,500 are from the secondary sector.
The Greek Primary Teachers’ Federation (DOE) and Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OLME) expressed their concern about the severe lack of educators. The government said that the lack of teachers in the education system is a mounting problem. “Even last year, when there were twice as many teachers entering the profession as there are this year, we still had 7,000 places that had to be filled,” said Deputy Education Minister Evi Christofilopoulou.

Chinese Νaval Flotilla In Greece After Anti-piracy Mission

Two Chinese naval escort warships arrived in Greece’s Piraeus Port, for a five-day visit. The vessels are part of the fifth Chinese naval escort flotilla, which just completed the escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters to protect commercial ships from pirate attacks.
Chinese Ambassador to Greece Luo Linquan and some 200 Chinese nationals came to the port to welcome the arrival of the two Chinese warships. Waving Chinese and Greek national flags, the enthusiastic Chinese living in Greece greeted the Chinese sailors with cheers.
They were excited when allowed to tour one of the ships. At a welcoming ceremony held at the port, the Chinese ambassador said the Chinese navy has made its effort in fighting piracy. “The Chinese naval escort flotilla has successfully escorted some 20 Greek commercial vessels in the waters near Somalia in the past few years,” he said. Greece is one of the countries with biggest commercial fleets.
The Chinese envoy added that the Greek government and Greek Navy attach great importance to the visit by the Chinese naval fleet. “The Greek shipowners will come to visit the Chinese naval fleet and express their gratitude to the help from the Chinese navy,” he said.
During the five-day visit, the Chinese naval officers and soldiers will visit a Greek navy base as well as the Acropolis and other archeological sites in Athens. China’s fifth naval escort flotilla with more than 800 officers and soldiers has successfully escorted 588 Chinese and foreign vessels in 41 batches since it arrived in the pirate-infested waters in early March this year.
(source: xinhua)

Zach Galifianakis to Star in New Comedy “Reply All”

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Another comedy has been added to the Greek-American actor’s “to-do” list. The project is titled Reply All.

DreamWorks is behind the whole thing and Galifianakis plans to produce and star as well. Phil Johnston will pen the script, and serve as executive producer.

The story centers on “a guy who hits the ‘reply all’ button to an indiscreet e-mail, and then has to deal with the repercussions.” Take that, You’ve Got Mail!

Cypriot Heroes Isaak & Solomou Comemmorated on Sunday

Thousands of people descended on Paralimni to show their honor towards the heroes Tassos Isaak and Solomos Solomou who where brutally murdered by Turks and Turkish Cypriots in 1996. Just inserting their name in Google you will find hundreds of videos which show their brutal murder.
The murderers are still at large, even though international arrest warrants have been issued. This is mostly due to the fact that the various Cyprus governments exerted no pressure for their arrest. The most outrageous part is that Raouf Denktash (former head of the political wing of the Turkish occupation force in Cyprus) who was coordinating the killings, was a witness to them and was even filming them for his own pleasure. He has not been asked for questioning, not been issued with a warrant nor any other legal action.
The people surpass their governments and this was the case in this years commemoration of the heroes. Motorcyclist groups, student groups, activist organizations all joined together showed a tremendous force for change.

Illegal cigarettes confiscated in Piraeus

Narcotics squad officers yesterday seized 3-million euros’ worth of contraband cigarettes at the port of Piraeus. The confiscated cugarettes were approximately 22.359.000 pieces.
Investigators discovered nearly 1,200 packets of cigarettes in two shipment boxes labeled as containing office supplies, which came into the country on July 19 on ship from Egypt. It is believed that the shipment was destined for Bulgaria.