Two-time Olympic shooting gold medallist Michael Diamond has failed in his bid to get a 10-year gun licence ban overturned, ABC News has reported.
The Greek Australian had his Category A firearms licence revoked in 2018 after he was found guilty of firearms and drink-driving charges in Port Stephens, NSW in 2017.
According to ABC News, Diamond has since been challenging the gun licence ban with a review by the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Michael Diamond. Photo: ABC News/ Colin Kerr.
Diamond told the tribunal he wished to be authorised to use and possess long arms as a member of a target shooting club.
Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in Parliament on Monday that achieving an agreement for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece by the British Museum “is difficult but not impossible.”
Ms Mendoni made her comment in response to a question by KINAL-PASOK Deputy Dimitris Konstantopoulos, who said the government should be transparent about the issue.
The Greek Culture Minister reiterated that Greece does not recognise any claims or ownership of the British Museum over the Parthenon Marbles, as they comprise a product of theft.
Mendoni said that the Greek government’s stance “remains national, unanimous, consistent and clear.”
🗣️Απάντηση της #ΥΠΠΟΑ Λίνας Μενδώνη, σε επίκαιρη ερώτηση στη #Βουλή
👉για την πορεία των διαπραγματεύσεων για την επιστροφή των Γλυπτών του Παρθενώνα
— Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού (@cultureGR) January 23, 2023
“The government has been working from the start systematically, responsibly, and effectively to achieve the national goal – the return and reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens and the Acropolis Museum,” the minister added.
This latest statement by Mendoni comes as reports emerged earlier this month that “constructive discussions” were underway between The British Museum and Greece about returning the Parthenon Marbles to Athens.
The Parthenon Marbles. Photo by Graham Barclay, BWP Media/Getty Images.
The 2,500 year old marble was removed from the Acropolis in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin and placed on display in Britain. At the time, Lord Elgin was an ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece.
Tributes are flowing for beloved cafe owner Johnny Adilinis, who passed away after a brief and unexpected illness on Tuesday, January 17, aged 92.
For over 70 years, Mr Adilinis, the owner of the Golden Gate Café, was an icon of the Central Coast suburb of The Entrance in New South Wales.
He’s such an icon, in fact, that according to The Daily Telegraph there is talk of establishing a permanent tribute for him at The Entrance.
(L-R) John Adilinis, his sister Lola Raft and her husband Dennis ran The Golden Gate Cafe at The Entrance. Photo: Effy Alexakis from the “In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians” National Project Archives, Macquarie University
His great niece, Theresa Raft, said news of his sudden passing was “overwhelming” and she had been contacted by many people wanting to express their condolences.
“We’ve had three generations of families contact us, he knew everyone, he had nicknames for everyone. It is the end of an era,” his great niece said.
Mr Adilinis, who came to Australia in the 1940s, worked in Golden Gate Café after his sister Lola and her husband Dennis Raft purchased it in 1952. Before that, the place was owned by Nick and Thea Lourandos.
Photo: Therese Raft/Facebook
It was in the 50s, the “golden era” of The Entrance, when Johnny bought a share in the café.
Families would visit the Golden Gate Café, opposite the Prince Edward Theater, for milkshakes, popular pineapple crushes and lollies. Mr Adilinis was famous for his generosity with them.
The café was closed recently due to COVID-19 restrictions, before being permanently shut when Mr Adilinis officially retired.
More than 30 years after his crimes, Greek taxi driver Theodoros Tsalkos has been found guilty of the rape of two teenage girls on May 7, 1987 while posing as an undercover police officer in St Kilda, Victoria,The Herald Sun has reported.
The now 61-year-old man was found guilty by a jury after DNA testing linked him to the rapes of two girls aged 15 and 16, who had made a “brief foray” into sex work.
One of his victims, then 16, told the court that 35 years on from the crime, she still hasn’t healed from his “sick, sadistic game.”
“Most people get to move on from the mistakes they made in their teenage years – because of you, I’ve never been able to,” she said. “I forgive myself, I will never forgive you.”
Photo: AAP/Mal Fairclough
The daughter of the other teenager, who has since died of a rare illness, expressed her frustration for the fact that her mother “couldn’t see justice with her own eyes.”
Tsalkos was initially charged two years ago after DNA swabs taken from the girls and frozen were matched with him.
On January 18, a jury found him guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and four counts of gross indecency with a person under the age of 16.
Defence barrister Sai Ranjit told the court Tsalkos was “a different man” to three decades ago when he committed the crimes and asked for the “benefit of the doubt” to be given to his client.
Judge Rosemary Carlin will sentence Tsalkos at a later date.
Celina impressed her coach, Konstantinos Argiros, during the Knockouts with her performance of Halo by Beyonce to retain her spot in his team for the next round.
The Greek Herald first reported in October last year that Celina was set to be a contestant on The Voice Greece after she turned all four judges chairs with her rendition of Natasha Bedingfield’s 2007 song Soulmate.
Despite enticing pitches from fellow judges Helena Paparizou, Sakis Rouvas and Panos Mouzourakis at the time, Celina chose Argiros as her coach.
The ‘Ximeromata’ singer spoke of a possible Australian tour in April and May next year, and hinted towards inviting the 21-year-old songstress to join him.
Celina, who released her debut single ‘Hooked on You’ at the beginning of the year, recently moved to Athens with her mother and former contestant of The Voice Greece, Maria Stavropoulou.
While a large portion of Australians were celebrating the Lunar New Year marking the start of the Year of the Rabbit, dancers of the Manasis School of Greek Dance and Culture were draped in animal skins and ringing bells at Eaton Mall in Oakleigh, Victoria on Sunday.
Onlookers cheered and joined in the dance reviving dodekaimero (12-day Dodecameron between Christmas and Epiphany) and Apokries (carnival) customs from all around Greece. Sunday’s performance was just the start of more to come ahead of Apokries (Sunday, February 5) and the lead-up to Lent (beginning on February 27).
The Thracian Christmas custom of Pourpouris, performed for the first time in Australia, offered outdoor diners a spectacle with a goat-skin covered groom and his rival vying for the attention of a masculine bride.
“What’s this?” bemused onlookers wondered, some googling Pourpouris and others, seeing the veils, whispered. “Is this a Greek tradition? It seems Turkish?”
Dimosthenis Manasis, who heads Manasis School of Greek Dance and Culture told The Greek Herald that there are many shared Balkan traditions and it is great for people to see that dressing in animal skins is also prevalent in Northern Greece.
Chris Kasimis played the burly Pourpouris wearing a costume of real goats’ hair, fake beard and bells sourced from Greece.
“It’s hot and sweaty,” he told The Greek Herald. “It’s good learning my heritage and it is awesome dressing up and having a good time with the locals.”
Asked if he would do it again, he said, “Maybe. It’s really hot though.”
Yiannis Pappas, the bride stealer, joined the Manasis troupe at the end of 2015 and has performed dodecameron/Apokries traditions before.
“It’s our first performance of the year. I had nothing else to do on a Sunday. It’s a beautiful day to be out here and we love our culture,” he said. “It’s important to keep our traditions alive.”
Later he ditched his Pourpouris costume for Kamila (camel) and Divitzi, a New Year’s Eve tradition where a camel and Divitzi would go door-to-door collecting money from villagers followed by revelry at the main square.
Mr Manasis said these festive traditions have been revived by the school since 1979 when his father established the troupe.
“It’s important for the dancers to experience all types of performances from formal presentations to communal dances like this which are hard to do due to the crowds surrounding us,” he said, adding that community engagement with bystanders jumping in and dancing with the troupe is not just satisfying but important if we are to keep our traditions alive.
“Just before lockdown we had 150 participants, but now we decided to have less dancers but more events. We’ve downsized but have upskilled.”
Mr Manasis said each week in Oakleigh will bring different traditions from other parts of Greece from karagouna to rougatsaria, koudounoforoi and maskarades and more carnival capers as Apokries officially begin on Sunday, February 5.
Re-enactments are accompanied by live music, another important component in the performances.
“We rehearse to pre-recorded music, however a lot of our dancers are also self-taught musicians,” he said.
Then there is the Greek language element.
“I teach in Greek and English, trying to get in as much exposure to Greek language as possible,” Mr Manasis said, adding that he knows that many Greek schools have lost students during COVID resulting in loss of language.
“I worked for many years with Greek schools where I taught dance and I know how difficult it is to keep Greek language alive.”
Dance, however, is another matter.
Upcoming events:
Future re-enactments of Dodecameron and Apokries traditions take place at Eaton Mall in Oakleigh on Sunday 29 January, Saturday 4 February, Sunday 12 February, Sunday 19 February, Saturday 25 February and Sunday 29 February.
On Sunday 5 February, the official start of the 2023 Apokries (carnival) season, there will be 150 performers at Rye foreshore for the annual Australia Day picnic held by the Federation of Greek Elderly Citizens Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria.
On Sunday 12 February, dancers will be performing for the Hellenic Community of the City of Moorabbin from noon to 5pm with a procession at 4pm.
The Manasis troupe will also be at the Antipodes Festival on Lonsdale Street on Saturday and Sunday, 25-26 February (a day before Clean Monday on 27 February).
The National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) Kids Summer Festival, hosted from Saturday, January 14 to Sunday, January 22 was packed with a schedule of free events.
It also gave kids the opportunity to learn about Greece with Athenian-born artist Alkisti Pitsaki’s Myths and Legends Storytime and the Manasis School of Greek Dance and Culture’s Greek dance performances and workshops.
Mr Manasis said he felt privileged to be part of the Kids Summer Festival.
“The opportunity to stand in the Great Hall of the NGV is humbling and although it was a very straight-forward (and highly successful) performance and workshop, which our students are well experienced and accustomed to, the magnitude and privilege is still setting in,” he said.
Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese was in attendance on Thursday, January 19 at the name day celebrations held for Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
The celebrations were held Le Montage function centre in Sydney’s suburb of Lilyfield with many distinguished guests in attendance. This included Mr Albanese, the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, and other representatives of Australia’s political leadership, ministers and Members of Parliament and ambassadors.
Mr Albanese gave a speech at the event saying how ‘honoured’ he was to be in attendance to celebrate ‘his dear friend.’
“Love is what binds this community together, and love is what binds you together with your gracious leader, Archbishop Makarios,” Mr Albanese said in his speech. “Happy name day!”
The celebratory event also included traditional Greek dances by young dance groups, and Archbishop Makarios awarded medals of “The Order of the Christ-loving” to distinguished individuals who had contributed their time to the local church.
The announcement was met with anger by some College parents with a change.org being set up to express their “disappointment, distress and grave concerns” regarding Mrs Synesios’ “sudden and unexpected departure,” and to call for an explanation “from the Parish President and the Parish Board.”
In a statement to The Greek Herald at the time, Parish Board President, Elia Economou, said: “The St Spyridon School community wish Mrs Synesios all the best in the next chapter of her life, and we express our deepest gratitude for her decades of service, to generations of families.”
Cypriot tennis player, Marcos Baghdatis, has returned to Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open 2023 Legends competition for the first time.
Baghdatis won the Australian Open boys’ singles title in 2003 and almost replicated that result in the men’s singles competition three years later, memorably advancing to the Australian Open 2006 final against Roger Federer.
The 37-year-old, who made his last Australian Open appearance in 2019, is partnering two-time Grand Slam finalist, Mark Phillippoussis, at this year’s Legends competition.
The dynamic duo played their first exhibition doubles match on Sunday against six-time Australian Open doubles champions Mike and Bob Ryan, who returned to Melbourne Park for the first time since their 2020 retirement.
Baghdatis and Philippoussis lost the first set 6-1 and made a better fist of it in the second set, but ultimately lost 6-1 6-4 to the American brothers.
The match wasn’t without drama as Philippoussis accidently hit a nearby ballkid during the first set. Trailing 5-1 in the first set, Philippoussis raced off the court during a rally to try and hit a backhand back in play.
He was aiming to flick the ball around the net but the ballkid, kneeling in position, was in the firing line and copped the ball to the body under their armpit.
Philippoussis, known as The Scud, gave the ball girl a fake angry look and a hug and she gave a big smile and shook it off.
Philippoussis is taking this legends match VERY seriously – just ask this ball kid who got in the way! 😳😆
This year’s Legends competition gives fans the chance to see some of the sport’s most popular players from the past in action at Melbourne Park from Sunday 22 January – Thursday 26 January.
The competition consists of a random number of rounds where the team with the most wins is crowned champion.
Baghdatis and Philippoussis will next play Tommy Haas and Radek Stepanek this week.
