A delegation of US House of Representatives members led by Congressman Jason Crow paid an official visit to the chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA), General Constantinos Floros, at the ministry in Athens on Thursday.
During the short meeting, Floros welcomed the delegation, stressing the importance of the “continuous and dynamic development of the strategic relationship between Greece and the USA,” an official statement said.
The GEETHA Chief then referred to the recently ratified Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) between the US and Greece which has seen the implementation of cross-branch joint operational training activities.
He also provided an update on the joint Greece-US Air Force exercise at Souda as well as the upgrade of naval support facilities at Souda in Crete and Alexandroupolis in Evros, maintaining they “provide significant facilities to the US and coalition forces”.
With reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Floros spoke of the repercussions in terms of security and Greece’s active participation “in NATO’s actions to strengthen the Eastern wing of the Alliance.”
Following the meeting with the US delegation, Floros and Greece’s Minister for National Defence, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, met with the Estonian Minister of Defence, Hanno Pevkur, at the Greek Ministry of National Defence.
Some 104 nursing home patients and personnel have been evacuated from the Balıklı Greek Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the hospital on Thursday afternoon to contain the fire, whose origin is currently under investigation. While the fire was controlled by noon, the building suffered serious damage, with the roof being completely destroyed.
A fire broke out on Thursday in the historical Balikli Greek hospital in İstanbul. pic.twitter.com/BXWdjeCsd7
The historic structure was founded in 1753 and continues to be used by the city’s Greek community as a nursing home.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has reacted to news of the fire, saying in a statement “our diaspora has suffered a serious blow”.
“One of the most important charities, where our older brothers and sisters found compassion and warmth, was damaged in a catastrophic fire,” he said.
“We thank the Almighty Lord that there were no casualties, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the state and municipal authorities, as well as firefighters, nursing home and hospital workers, and all those who volunteered to put out the fire and save the nursing home residents.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America has this morning also expressed his grief, writing in a tweet: “Our Church is shaken by the catastrophe caused by the devastating fire to the Balıklı Greek Hospital in Istanbul.”
Adding that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Greek American community will “contribute in any way” to “mitigate the material damages.”
Our Church is shaken by the catastrophe caused by the devastating fire to the Balıklı Greek Hospital in Istanbul. @GOARCH and our Omogeneia will contribute in any way we can to mitigate the material damages. I will visit Balıklı next week: https://t.co/bB4JDWirsbpic.twitter.com/ZvrVcFQxkf
The results of the exams for the Certificate of Attainment in Greek language 2022 were released on Friday, 29 July after the completion of the evaluation and grading of all the candidates’ written and oral exams.
c. the candidate’s surname (as in the candidate’s card).
Rescoring of exam papers: Candidates who have not passed the exams may have their exam rescored by submitting a written request to the Centre for the Greek Language. Rescoring requests must be submitted by email at ellinomatheia@komvos.edu.gr by 31st August 2022. After submission of the request, the candidate will have to deposit 60€ to the bank account that will be given by CGL.
All the above notifications can be found on this website.
All successful candidates will be informed about the Award Ceremony of the Certificates of Attainment in Greek Language, which will take place in early 2023.
The statistical data of the Exams for the Certificate of Attainment 2022 that took place at the Macquarie University in Sydney are the following:
LEVEL OF ATTAINMENT
NUMBER OF CANDIDATES
SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES
UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES
ABSENT CANDIDATES
Α1
28
24
1
3
Α1+
22
15
3
4
Α2
21
16
3
2
Β1
14
11
1
2
Β2
3
3
0
0
C1
0
0
0
0
C2
2
0
1
1
TOTAL:
90
69
9
12
Dr Patricia Koromvokis stated: “In the Exams for the Certificate of Attainment 2022 that were held at Macquarie University, Sydney’s examination centre, we had 88% success rate of the overall number of the participants, a very good percentage in comparison to the global data.”
“My warmest congratulations to all the candidates who took part in the exams, to the parents who supported them and, of course, to all the teachers who effectively prepared the candidates for the exams!” Dr Koromvokis added.
“The Certificate of Attainment in Greek Language is a globally recognised title that proves the level of proficiency of its holder in the market and is considered a prerequisite for the practice of various professions in Greece. It enables to foreigners who hold a B2 level certificate to enrol in a Higher Education Institution in Greece.”
The Exams for the Certificate of Attainment 2023 will be held on 23-25 May at Macquarie University.
Presented by AusMumpreneur and The Women’s Business School, the annual awards recognise the best and brightest mums in business and acknowledge their success in product development, innovation and customer service.
Here’s our list of the Greek Australian mums who are finalists:
Elle Likopoulos, Absolute Business Brokers:
Elle Likopoulos.
Elle Likopoulos has been recognised in the category ‘AusMumpreneur of The Year VIC / Tas’ for her business, Absolute Business Brokers.
Elle specialises in international investor liaisons and has an acute understanding of the market and buying patterns of current international investors and business visa requirements for the purchase of a business.
As a mother of four children, Elle is motivated to be a strong role model for her daughter. She is also on mission to assist women to have the confidence to run their own business, as well as conquer any glass ceilings in male-dominated industries.
Litsa Adamou, House Inspect Australia:
Litsa Adamou. Photo: Russell Millard.
Litsa Adamou has been named a finalist in a number of award categories including: ‘Disabled Business Excellence’ and ‘Multicultural Business Excellence.’
Litsa is the first female building inspector in South Australia. She has a background in senior leadership and property and is licensed with qualifications in building, project management, business and commerce.
Born on the Greek island of Samos, Litsa lived most of her childhood in Adelaide and most of her teens on the island. She returned to Adelaide in 2001 and is a proud mum to Ana and Yianni, and works alongside her partner-in-life and business, Barney.
Crystal Maros has been recognised for her business Strap the Label in the ‘Fashion Business’ award category.
Crystal’s brand is the antidote to fast fashion. Her handbag designs are classic, timeless and versatile. Every item is designed in Melbourne, Australia and assembled by hand from premium, vegan materials.
In a post on Instagram, the young mum of three said she was “so overwhelmed and honoured” to be selected as a finalist and thanked all her amazing followers and shoppers for their support “in this crazy e-commerce world.”
Amanda Ellis, Sense Bookkeeping:
Amanda Ellis.
Amanda Ellis is a finalist in the ‘Financial Services’ category of the awards for Sense Bookkeeping.
Amanda started Sense Bookkeeping because she enjoys helping women have the time and money to focus more on the part of business they love – their zone of genius.
With 14 years of experience in the financial services industry, she’s a self-confessed numbers geek and loves to see things add up in someone’s business.
Rachel Anagnostopoulos, Dream Gig:
Rachel Anagnostopoulos.
Rachel Anagnostopoulos has been recognised for Dream Gig in two award categories: ‘One to Watch’ and ‘Digital Services – IT.’
Dream Gig is an Australia-exclusive Remote Work (RW) platform dedicated to promoting genuine RW, Work From Home (WFH), Work Anywhere (WA) and virtual employment opportunities to job seekers eligible to work in Australia.
Rachel started working on Dream Gig in 2020 but it was only when the COVID-19 pandemic hit that she decided to take the project further in an attempt to empower people to live their best life possible and support people to achieve work-life harmony.
Carla Filipakis, Decorati:
Carla Filipakis.
Carla Filipakis’ Decorati business has been named a finalist in the ‘Children’s Activity Provider’ award category.
Carla’s vision for the business is to provide quality hands-on activities for children in a safe environment. Her philosophy is that children learn best by using their senses as it helps to build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways.
The activities at Decorati are designed to provide children with hands-on learning, to develop new skills, and to explore new activities thus supporting their cognitive growth, motor skills, problem-solving, and language expression and development.
Cathy Dimarchos, Solutions2you:
Cathy Dimarchos.
Cathy Dimarchos has been named a finalist in the ‘Women Changing the World’ category for Solutions2you.
Cathy is a guide, a coach, a consultant and a motivational voice, delivering a blueprint of business toolkits and solutions to leaders from every imaginable background.
With 35 years experience in the finance industry (and around 50% of that time working in small business), Cathy has alot of knowledge about how people think, act and react.
Zara Demeris, The Play Card Co:
Zara Demeris with her two children.
Zara Demeris is being recognised in the ‘Emerging AusMumpreneur of the Year VIC / Tas’ and ‘Parent and Children’s Resources’ award categories for her business, The Play Card Co.
Zara is a mum-of-two and primary school teacher on a mission to share the joy and simplicity of play with the world.
A self-proclaimed “grown-up sized child,” Zara tries to achieve her mission by teaching families and educators how to use play to make their lives easier.
Robina Savidis,Panemorfi:
Panemorfi offers jelly masks.
Robina Savidis has been named a finalist in the ‘Hair, Beauty & Skincare’ category for Panemorfi.
Being a salon owner, Robina was always looking for the next best thing to bring into her salon until she decided to stop searching and Panemorfi was born.
At Panemorfi, Robina’s aim is to make clients feel their best and look their best with Jelly Masks that are oozing with powerful antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and moisture-rich ingredients.
Mary Nicolas, Stella Nicole:
Mary Nicolas has been recognised in two categories in the AusMumpreneur awards, ‘Handmade’ and ‘Multicultural Business Excellence,’ for Stella Nicole.
Mary established Stella Nicole in 2020 and every jewellery piece from the range is uniquely designed and carefully crafted by hand in her Sydney studio, using quality and hypoallergenic materials.
The company is named after Mary’s daughter, Stella Nicole.
Rita Chanis, Minnie Me:
Rita Chanis has been named a finalist in the ‘Overcoming the Odds’ category of the AusMumpreneur awards with her business, Minnie Me.
Rita’s business is an online Store for kids products, clothing, accessories, shoes, bedroom decoration, and more.
In a post on Facebook, Rita said she was “honoured, excited and proud to be nominated” as a finalist in the awards.
Nikalene Riddle, Skinnymixers:
Nikalene Riddle has been named a finalist in a number of categories in the AusMumpreneur awards including ‘AusMumpreneur Of The Year SA/WA,’ ‘Author,’ ‘People’s Choice – Favourite Ecommerce Business Award,’ and ‘People’s Choice – Influencer Award.’
Nikalene has been recognised for Skinnymixers which is an active blog, Facebook group and Facebook page, dedicated to sharing healthy thermal cooking recipes and discussing diet and lifestyle choices.
The mum-of-two launched her business after she was struggling to lose weight following childbirth, and noticed a distinct lack of healthy Thermomix recipes in the cooking community.
The winners of the AusMumpreneur Awards 2022 will be announced at a conference on August 30 – September 1.
*Please note: The above list includes the names of those who are recognised as Greek. If you think you belong on this list, please email us at greek@foreignlanguage.com.au.
To find out more about the upcoming event, we spoke with Dennis Tritaris from Orama Communications who knows all about it.
1.Tell us a little bit about the Brain Cancer Group.
The registered charity The Brain Cancer Group – Care2Cure, (formerly named Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group Ltd), was established on the Royal North Shore Hospital campus in Sydney, Australia in the year 2000 by neuro-surgeons Dr Raymond Cook and Dr Michael Biggs, who were soon after joined by medical oncologist Associate Professor Helen Wheeler.
While passionate about improving the care and outcomes for their patients with brain cancer, it was clear to the doctors that this was not enough. These patients stood largely alone in a community that focused much of its fundraising and awareness on other more common cancer types.
They recognised the need for a highly focused community group, consisting of like-minded individuals of different medical and business backgrounds, who would dedicate their time and expertise pro bono, specifically to brain tumour research, education and patient and carer support. This group became the SNOG Board.
2. Tell us about the upcoming awareness raising event.
This event is the 5th of our series of Awareness Raising events at the Parliament House and was established under our Education Pillar. It is held annually (COVID-19 permitting) and our goal is to bring together patients, carers and brain cancer specialists to raise awareness of and highlight the challenges faced by brain cancer patients and their families.
This year’s topic is “Using improved molecular analysis of brain cancer to guide future therapy and research.”
The event is open to the public, the research and academic community and the corporate sector and we would like to encourage everybody to attend. Our friends and supporters will have the opportunity to find out about progress of our programmes and we will also be able to reach out to our local politicians, many of them in attendance, as we advocate for change and more funds for research. Research is key in our effort to find a cure and support patients and their families.
With this opportunity we would like to thank Sophie Cotsis, our Parliamentary Host for her unwavering support.
3. Why do you encourage people to attend the event?
We have found that events like this provide a unique opportunity for our community to meet and hear from a number of specialists in the field of Brain Cancer. We are grateful to our experts for the time they provide to educate our audience and help not only raise awareness of our programmes but also support patients, carers and their families.
4.How are you involved with the group?
I first came across the activities and work of the Brain Cancer Group in 2015 while working for the inaugural White Pearl Ball, an activity of the White Pearl Foundation.
Dennis Tritaris.
It wasn’t difficult to be recruited to work on this field as I had a personal experience with this devastating disease.
Today I’m working on several projects for the Group and provide admin, Public Relations and communications, as well as technological assistance.
5.Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Brain cancer is one of the most under-studied of all cancers, yet receives less than 5 percent of government funds allocated to cancer research.
We would like to encourage the public to help our researchers improve outcomes for patients by supporting our events in any number of ways. Your contribution is much-needed and will be greatly appreciated.
Labor’s Federal Member for Calwell, Maria Vamvakinou, missed the opening of the 47th parliament as a result of contracting COVID-19.
But Ms Vamvakinou returned to Federal Parliament this week and was sworn in, using her Greek Orthodox Bible, alongside former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce.
In the 47th Parliament, Ms Vamvakinou will assume the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, where she looks forward to working with the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Andrew Giles, and the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Clare O’Neil.
“I have been a member of the Migration Committee for a number of terms and I look forward to Chairing it as a member of the Albanese Labor Government,” Ms Vamvakinou said in a statement.
Maria Vamvakinou MP becomes Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.
Ms Vamvakinou will also continue to be a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade where she will Chair the Human Rights Sub-Committee. Maria has also been re-appointed to the Speaker’s Panel.
“It was unfortunate that I contracted COVID-19 on the eve of returning to Parliament, but such is the situation for all of us at the moment as COVID is now endemic in our community,” Ms Vamvakinou said.
“I contracted COVID-19 one week before I was due to have my fourth booster and I am certain that the mildness of the symptoms I experienced are attributed to my being vaccinated.”
Greek Australian wrestler, Irene Symeonidis, is set to make her Commonwealth Games debut in the women’s 57kg competition in Birmingham on Friday, August 5.
The six-time national champion has her sights set on a medal and has been well-trained at the Mat Masters Academy in Melbourne by her coach, Amin Yaqhob.
“When I met Amin, he gave me the confidence to keep trying and to go into competition,” Irene said in an interview with SBS Pashto in 2019.
“I lost a lot of my matches before I got a win, but he kept pushing me to keep trying. A lot of people may compete; they might lose and not try again. He gave me that kind of confidence.”
Greek Australian wrestler, Irene Symeonidis.
Irene is well-known in the wrestling arena, having competed in a number of championships.
After achieving a second placing at the Jagsport Invitational in Singapore in 2018, Irene finished runner-up in the 55kg at the Oceania championships in 2019 and went on to compete at her first world championships in Kazakhstan later in the year.
The 30-year-old also went to the Africa-Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Tunisa in 2021.
When she’s not wrestling, Irene works as an IT specialist at an engineering consultancy in Melbourne and wants to remain involved in growing the sport and live a self-sustainable life on a farm after she retires.
The 27-year-old tennis star said it took him “a while to get over that loss” because from a young age he’d always been told to aim for the “highest accolade” that the sport has to offer, which was to win a Wimbledon final.
“And I was so close I almost tasted it. So it was really hard for me to stomach that loss but I feel like I’ve done everything I can to bounce back,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios was devastated by his Wimbledon loss. Photo: John Walton / PA via AP.
“I’ve been training hard, my body’s feeling good and I’m serving great, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Kyrgios bounced back to win his second men’s double final alongside Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, with the pair taking out the final of the Atlanta Open on Sunday.
He also continued his winning ways on Wednesday at the Citi Open as he beat American Marcos Giron.
In some disappointing news for fans though, Kyrgios revealed on Instagram late on Wednesday that he would skip the Laver Cup this year to spend more time with family.
“No Laver Cup for me this year!!!” Kyrgios posted on Instagram. “Just letting you all know. Gotta have that home with my family and beautiful girlfriend.”
The 2022 edition of the Laver Cup will be held in London from September 23-25. Kyrgios has played in all four previous editions of the competition.
The long-anticipated restoration works of the lower part of Syntagma Square in central Athens are almost complete, newly-released photographs show.
Most of the revamped public space, which will eventually total approximately 1,300 square meters, is now accessible to pedestrians.
According to AMNA, the renovations preserve the square’s historic characteristics but are also interconnected with the Athenians’ need for a friendly, accessible and sustainable city.
Restoration works at Syntagma Square in Athens almost complete.
The makeover has brought wider sidewalks near the start of the pedestrian Ermou Street and a new public space.
The plan also foresees the planting of 28 tall trees, visible pedestrian crossings, pergolas for shade, as well as modern lighting systems. Interventions facilitating people who are disabled will also be included.
The 1.3 million euro project is funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework for 2021-27. The makeover is based on a plan adopted in light of the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, has met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the 55th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ gathering in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
According to CGTN, the two ministers pledged to further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and jointly work toward better bilateral relations for the next 50 years.
After the meeting, Wang told local media he hoped Greece and China will continue to promote strategic mutual trust and support each other’s legitimate demands.
On the margins of tdy's ASEAN FMs Mtg, FM @NikosDendias held a bilateral mtg w/#China counterpart Wang Yi to discuss 🇬🇷🇨🇳 relations in light of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, with focus on trade, investments, tourism & culture (1/2) pic.twitter.com/urgxFtYkxQ
For his part, Dendias said that with mutual respect and understanding, Greece and China have successfully established a comprehensive strategic partnership and witnessed sustained development of pragmatic cooperation in various fields.
“During my meeting with the Chinese FM, I received his assurance of support for Greece’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and sovereign rights in the face of the challenges it faces,” Dendias later tweeted.
During my meeting with 🇨🇳 FM, I received his assurance of support for Greece's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and sovereign rights in the face of the challenges it faces.
The Greek Foreign Minister added that he “also had the opportunity to reiterate the Greek position in favour of the ‘One China policy’.”
Dendias has been busy during his time at the ASEAK gathering, having signed the Treaty of Friendship & Cooperation with ASEAN, as well as holding meetings with a number of his counterparts from Qatar, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
