Two significant movies will open the 17th Greek Film Festival. The Festival runs from October 13-31st in the Palace Cinema Como in Melbourne, as well as in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. The movies to be screened are “The Dust of Time” by Theodoros Aggelopoulos and “Deep Soul” by Pantelis Voulgaris.
Voulgaris’ movie about the Greek civil war is a popular topic in Australia. Australia holds many survivors from this war originating from movie locations.
The leading actress of this film is Victoria Haralampidou. Victoria has lived in Australia for many years and will be present at the screening. Vaggelis Mourikis who also stars in this movie has also lived for many years in Melbourne.
At the Greek Film Festival of Australia, “The Island” director Xristos Dimas will be also present.
Seventeen movies will be screened as well as many documentaries and movies made by Greek students of Melbourne.
A Turkish woman celebrated today her 40th birthday by swimming from the Turkish coastal resort of Marmaris to the Dodecanese island of Rhodes.
Nazli Hamitoglu is a veteran long distance swimmer. She was escorted by a British boat and covered the distance of 7 nautical miles before she arrived in the port of Rhodes. Numerous people had gathered at the port to welcome her. Among them was the consul general of Turkey, who congratulated her and wished her a happy birthday. The woman is in excellent health and as she declared has always wanted to swim this route. Hamitoglu decided to celebrate her 40th birthday in a unique way!
(source: ana-mpa)
23 people have died and 211 are infected with the West Nile Virus in Greece. 11 of the infected are in critical condition in ICUs. The KEELPNO had previously warned that infections with the deadly virus are going to continue until the end of September. According to the announcements, this is the peak period of the West Nile Virus in Greece. Four new cases were diagnosed last weekend. 154 people infected are now out of the hospital and are successfully recovering.
A new archaeological museum, the ancient citadel of Paleokastro and the famed Panaghia Faneromeni cathedral were inaugurated on the small volcanic isle of Nisyros. Nisyros is situated between the Dodecanese islands of Kos and Tilos. The citaedel and cathedral have been recently restored.
The island’s historical presence from the prehistoric to the Byzantine era, is being presented in the new museum through archaeological findings on display. Most of the findings were recovered during excavations that took place before 1947 when the Dodecanese islands were under Italian rule.
Tourists will also have the opportunity to visit the recently restored fortified citadel of the island located over the community of Mandraki. The project was financed by the 3rd Community Support Framework. Black volcanic stones were used to build the citadel walls which are thought to be the best preserved in the Aegean Sea region. The citadel of Paleokastro was first visited and documented in 1841.
Regarded as one of the most elegant churches on the Dodecanese Islands, the restored Panagia Faneromeni Church dates back to the early 12th century AD. The restoration works were completed in 2009. (source: ana-mpa)
The Transport, Infrastructure and Networks Ministry hailed on Monday a decision by the EU General Court to reduce the amount of illegal state aid that privatised Olympic Airlines. In addition to its failed predecessor, the state-run carrier Olympic Airways, must return to Greek state coffers.
An announcement by the Greek Ministry stressed that: “today’s decision by the EU’s General Court, that partially annuls a previous decision by the European Commission concerning state subsidies to Olympic Airways and Olympic Airlines, fully vindicates our policy of waging a battle at every opportunity.”
The announcement also claimed: “today’s decision constitutes a moral vindication alone, proving, at the same time, that the previous government did not wage the battles, that it should have, with the necessary determination.”
A European second instance court on Monday slashed the amount of illegal state aid that Olympic Airlines and its failed predecessor must return it to Greek state coffers.
The European Commission ruled the airlines had received approximately 530 million euros in illegal subsidies before and after the restructuring of debt ridden Olympic Airways.
The EU General Court ruled that not all of the assistance received by the airlines was illegal. Some 400 million euros must now be returned. (source: ana-mpa)
Today Greece successfully completed the auction of a six month treasury bills issue. The nation raised 1.17 billion euros from the market. The return of the issue was set at 4.82%; slightly higher from 4.65% of the previous auction.
The auction was 4.54 times oversubscribed, up from a 3.64 of the previous auction. Bids submitted totaled 4.084 billion euros. The Finance Ministry will auction a three month treasury bills issue. (source: ana-mpa)
Upon last week’s announcement by Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley that he will not seek re-election, many potential candidates are stating their interest. Among them is three-term Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, who is “considering a run for mayor.”
The Chicago Tribune reported today, that she indicated, “I’m really, really looking at it. I’m one of the highest vote-getters in the county, so I am looking at this.”
Pappas is currently running for re-election as treasurer this November. She is a former county commissioner. Pappas once unsuccessfully ran for the US Senate in 2004; an election ultimately won by then-State Senator Barack Obama. Pappas will not make any official announcements until after the November election.
This morning Pappas told Cisco Cotto on his WLS radio show that her: “tremendous record and executive experience” make her a good candidate. Pappas is very passionate about Chicago and how things are run. “I can do this,” she said. She pointed to her record as treasurer as her qualifications for the position. “I came into an office with $30 million in checks sitting on the floor, checks that weren’t cashed for four months. There was no accounting system, no general ledger. I’ve organized the office. I’ve reduced the staff by 50%. My website gets 400,000 hits a month. I have a great record. People like me – and that’s important. And I love this city,” Pappas claimed. “Enough people around here have had enough. I can’t fix everything – God is in charge of the universe – but I can do a good job.”
Yesterday Pappas told Fox Chicago News that race and gender shouldn’t be issues. “I think it’s about people feeling that they can rely on someone to get the job done. Is she or he the person that can step up and take charge and run it? Is he or she afraid of anything? I think if you talk to people, they’ll tell you I am not afraid. I can handle this– and I think people have confidence in me that I could.”
Pappas, 61, a lawyer and psychologist, is of Cretan descent and is married to former Cook County judge Peter Kamberos. She’s very proud of her Greek heritage. She’s very proud of her Greek heritage, as evidenced in events such as the annual Vasilopita celebration at the Treasurer’s office.
Pappas told the Chicago Sun-Times: “I’ve really managed this office (Treasurer’s office) well, and I know how to build coalitions. I’ve got a track record.”
Two men were killed in Patra early yesterday morning. The cause of their deaths was due to walking into the path of an incoming train outside the eastern Peloponnesian city. The two men whose identities were not revealed, stepped onto the tracks at Ayia without noticing that the train was fastly approaching. According to investigators, by the time the conductor spotted the pair on the tracks, he was unable to stop the train which careened into them and killed them instantly. The stretch of track where the accident occurred will be closed while further investigations are carried out.
Lawyers are bracing for their profession to be opened up to competition. Greek attorneys are claiming they already face problems due to the present glut of the proffession.
The government has undertaken to open up closed professions,including truck and taxi drivers, notaries public and pharmacists.
One of these measures involves scrapping geographical restrictions on legal practices. Provincial lawyers are especially concerned by this. This follows the imposition of value-added tax on legal services. The country’s bar associations list 40,000 registered members.
Nikolaos Pagidas heads the bar association on the island of Syros which covers several other Cycladic islands. He notes that lawyers are struggling to survive. “Do we want lawyers who are independent and battle-ready or lawyers in the employ of multinationals? With the memorandum, with regulations that do not exist anywhere else in Europe, the government is harming lawyers,” Pagidas told Kathimerini. “Why does the financial crimes squad not go after the big-shot lawyers who don’t pay taxes and make an example of them? The squad is raiding the offices of bar associations preparing protest action, in a bid to cow them, but it leaves alone those who never pay taxes…It’s obvious that they have chosen to blacken the image of the whole profession to serve their communication needs.”
Fifteen provincial bar associations issued a statement saying the government: “is opening up the legal profession, not to the benefit of the citizen but to the benefit of insurance and financial services companies, the multinationals, the big law offices of Athens and foreign companies.”
The people of Hamburg, Germany are stepping forward in cooperation with the city to open a bilingual school for Greek students. The school will offer the possibility to receive a recognized German degree similar to an “Abitur”.
This proposal is not new but the positive response from the Greek Ministry gives hopes to the representatives of this idea. Currently both parties are in constant communication with the Ministry’s personnel. Despite the fact that this process will be lengthy, people in Hamburg hope for the public contribution of the Greek Ministry to execute their vision.
Two significant movies will open the 17th Greek Film Festival. The Festival runs from October 13-31st in the Palace Cinema Como in Melbourne, as well as in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. The movies to be screened are “The Dust of Time” by Theodoros Aggelopoulos and “Deep Soul” by Pantelis Voulgaris.
