The European Commission approved an €800 million Greek program for businesses in the tourism industry that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU said on Tuesday.
The scheme was approved under the EU state aid rules and based on the temporary framework for the EU member states’ support, a press release said.
“This €800 million Greek scheme will facilitate access to liquidity for companies active in the tourism sector. They have been hit hard by the pandemic and this scheme will help ensure the continuity of their economic activity in these difficult times,” said EU Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for the competition policy.
Tourism is Greece’s most important sector counting more than 20% of its gross domestic product and after months of lockdown restrictions, the government is eager to rejuvenate it following a plunge of 8% in the last year due to the pandemic.
Last month, Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis announced a multimillion-euro promotional campaign aiming to attract more visitors with the slogan “All you want is Greece”.
Travel requirements
According to the latest travel update, all visitors arriving from the EU and Schengen area countries, the US, the UK, Israel, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Singapore, Russia, North Macedonia, Canada, Belarus, Bahrain, Qatar, China, Kuwait, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Saudi Arabia are allowed entry into Greece without the need to quarantine.
Travelers, however, would need to provide a proof of either a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test taken up to 72 hours before their arrival or a certificate of recovery from COVID-19 issued by a public authority or a certified laboratory or a proof that the traveler tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two to nine months.
In addition, visitors may also be subject to random, rapid tests at the country’s entry points and anyone with a positive result will be required to quarantine at designated isolation hotels covered by the Greek state.
Meanwhile, Greek cases continue to show a decline as 1,007 new cases were recorded on Monday, with the total number of infections counting to 402,306 since the start of the pandemic. Also 41 fatalities were recorded, pushing the total tally to 12,095.
The finalists of the 2021 Archibald Prize have been announced by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and among them is renowned Greek Australian artist, Nick Stathopoulos.
This is the seventh time Nick has been a finalist in the Prize, having won People’s choice in 2016 with his painting of Sudanese refugee lawyer, Deng Adult, and being nominated last year with his painting of singer, Ngaiire Joseph.
“It’s always an angst-ridden wait for the email from the AGNSW, so when it comes and you definitely know you’re a finalist, it’s a massive relief. It’s exciting to be part of the exhibition, particularly since this is the centennial year of the prize,” Nick tells The Greek Herald exclusively.
Nick Stathopoulos, The white shirt – portrait of Tané Andrews’, acrylic and oil on poly-cotton, 153 x 80.1 cm, Copyright- the artist.
This year, Nick’s potentially prize-winning painting, ‘The White Shirt – portrait of Tané Andrews,’ is a little bit out of the box. His subject is artist, Tané Andrews, who uses his art to explore the transience and transformations in the natural world. The composition itself is acrylic and oil on poly-cotton, measuring 153 x 80.1 cm.
Nick says he wanted to try something different, even though he knew it would be a challenge.
“I always try and do something different with each Archibald entry. It’s insanely difficult to come up with a totally original portrait… it’s a challenge,” Nick explains.
Nick Stathopoulos. Photo by Adrian Robinson.
“This time I wanted to paint a subject that wasn’t a celebrity, but someone who had their own highly distinctive look.”
What about the deeper message behind the painting? Nick says his painting is all about “mood and disquiet” this time around.
“There’s no intended message, other than perhaps there are many fascinating faces that would make wonderful portraits out there,” he concludes.
The winning paintings will be announced on June 4, with the $100,000 Archibald Prize finalists and winner chosen by the AGNSW trustees, including artists Tony Albert and Quilty.
The Kytherian Youth Association (KYA) held its first-ever ‘Brushstrokes, Burgers and Beer’ night on May 24 and it was a huge hit with all the young people who attended.
Over 20 members of the association were spotted getting creative by painting their own versions of flowers in a vase, followed up by burgers and beer at the WellCo cafe in Leichhardt.
President of the KYA, Georgia Galanos, tells The Greek Herald that everyone had fun on the night as the mingled with friends and fellow Kytherians.
“I received many compliments about the event such as how it was very social and people mingled while achieving a creative outcome. Many had not attended a painting night and seemed to enjoy the atmosphere as well,” Georgia says.
The Youth President goes on to say that the association has a ‘Big Fat Greek Event’ coming up on July 4 as well and she encourages everyone to attend.
“I think it’s important to hold events like these as these smaller events encourage people to challenge themselves at a new type of activity, as well as enjoy each other’s company. These smaller events can be great to have a chat to new people,” Georgia concludes.
Scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand will facilitate the largest vaccine monitoring study ever undertaken of how COVID-19 vaccines effects about 300 million people in 17 countries.
The university was awarded almost $8 million by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the study, which will be undertaken by the Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN).
Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris from the university will be the project leader, as her team of researchers monitor the effectiveness and potential risks of COVID-19 vaccines over the next three years.
Helen Petousis-Harris. Photo: Chris McKeen / Stuff.
Petousis-Harris, who is also a vaccinologist and one of New Zealand’s leading voices in the COVID-19 response, told Stuff.co.nz there has never been a vaccine roll-out like this one.
Clinical trials provided the information needed to authorise vaccines for use, but it’s vital to continue monitoring how they work, she said.
“There are many new COVID-19 vaccines, and it is therefore imperative that there be a global, centralised surveillance process to detect any very rare vaccine safety issues and to allow ongoing risk-benefit assessments,” Petousis-Harris told the website.
Study will focus on how COVID-19 vaccines effect people.
With such a huge data set, scientists will be able to assess even extremely rare outcomes, such as hospitalisations.
The study will draw from populations across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific, with more countries expected to join as the study progresses.
Researchers will be also able to detect new potential concerns and compare outcomes between vaccines, as well as between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Academics have warned the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is ruining the study of languages in NSW schools and want universities to change the way languages are scaled so students don’t feel punished for studying them.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Sunday that 16 education and language experts have written to the NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, which runs the University Admissions Centre (UAC), with their complaints.
In their letter, the academics stressed that the number of students taking community languages has shrunk dramatically since the scaling system changed 20 years ago. In 2001, 230 students studied Greek continuers, but only 72 took the subject last year.
“The ATAR is forcing kids to drop languages,” Professor Ken Cruickshank, the chair in languages at the University of Sydney, told the SMH.
Currently, UAC works out the overall ability of students doing one HSC subject by looking at their performances in all their other subjects, then scales their raw mark up if they are among a strong cohort, and down if they are not.
Professor Cruickshank tells the SMHthis process disadvantages community languages as subjects studied in advantaged schools tend to be scaled up, and those studied by disadvantaged students down.
“French, Latin and [ancient] Greek get high ATARs, but if you do a subject like Japanese or Arabic it’s going to get a low ATAR,” he said.
The letter suggested returning to the pre-2000 system in which all languages were ranked according to the two most popular ones, which would now be French and Japanese, or look at different ways to rank languages cohorts.
But Barry McGaw, whose report on HSC reform in 1999 led to each language being scaled differently, told the media outlet that pegging all languages to French for example, gave community languages students an unfair advantage.
“In some languages you’ve got the difference between native and non-native speakers, and kids are up against native speakers or people who’ve managed to persuade the assessors that they are background speakers,” Professor McGaw told the SMH.
“You can’t make the assumption that all the others are comparable groups of students.”
As the debate clearly continues to rage, the vice-chancellor’s committee will discuss the letter at their next meeting.
The relationship between a son or daughter with their Greek parents is something that many outside the diaspora group find unique and at times, comical.
To mark World Parents Day today, we take a look at the top six signs you are from a Greek family. Let us know how many of these have happened to you!
1. You converse in Greek with your parents while in public:
There’s definitely many benefits to being bilingual and this is one of them. Almost everyone has spoken to their parents in Greek while in public to make sure that no one else understands the conversation. But then of course, there’s always that one coincidence where a random Greek pops up, understands the conversation and you become instant friends or frenemies!
2. Measurements do not exist in Greek recipes:
Everything is a “pinch.” Only problem is, no one’s “pinch” is exactly the same.
Measurements do not exist in Greek recipes.
If you ask a Greek mother to give you her recipe for baklava, you can be sure you won’t find any set measurements. While this may be slightly confusing and frustrating, your best bet is to simply ask her to show you how to make it. Recipes don’t really exist and if they do, sometimes they’re kept under lock and key.
3. Everyone knows at least 6 Nikos, 3 Dimitris, 9 Marias and 7 Elenis:
In Greece, the tradition is that the eldest children get their names from their grandparents. This often creates duplicates, where cousins of the same gender may share the same name.
4. Name days are better than birthdays:
Since most Greeks have names associated with a saint, this saint’s day is basically a reason to celebrate. And since Greeks are champions when it comes to partying, it is usually celebrated in a big way, either with a huge feast or paniyiri where friends and family are invited.
Greece holds paniyiria to celebrate name days.
5. There is no such thing as privacy in a Greek home:
No matter how old you are, there is one thing you can be sure will never change: there is no such thing as a secret. In fact, any business is everyone’s business in a Greek home.
6. You know to never say ‘I’m hungry’ at Yiayia’s house:
Because if you do, you better prepare yourself to be stuffed with every Greek dish on the planet.
It doesn’t matter if you had a big breakfast or simply if you had a quick lunch a few hours before. A Greek mom and/or yiayia (grandma) will always offer you something. Whether it is a piece of moussaka or pastitsio or simply a portion of baklava to go with your coffee, there is no way to escape it.
A former police officer who was found to have fabricated a lengthy same-sex relationship to claim a $6 million inheritance has been found guilty of misappropriating funds from the deceased’s accounts within hours of his death.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Okan Yesilhat, 38, was found to have invented a 14-year-long same-sex relationship with wealthy pharmacist, George Sclavos, in order to inherit his estate as the de facto partner.
Mr Sclavos, 65, died of a heart attack in his Leppington pharmacy on August 13, 2013, but having never married and with no children, he left his entire estate to his two nieces, Cleopatra Calokerinos and Anna Sclavos-Lahana.
Within hours of the pharmacist’s death, more than $200,000 had been moved from his bank account into Yesilhat’s account, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
During the battle over the will, Justice Michael Slattery said he was satisfied that Yesilhat “dishonestly diverted to himself or for his benefit all the funds transferred from the deceased’s accounts on and from the day of the deceased’s death.”
His inheritance claim was ultimately rejected and in December 2018, Yesilhat was found guilty of 14 charges relating to the misappropriation of money from Mr Sclavos’ accounts, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
On Friday, after a two-day hearing in April, the NSW Court of Appeal rejected Yesilhat’s renewed claim that he was the de facto of Mr Sclavos and therefore entitled to inherit his estate.
The last living Greek Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, Isaac Mizan, has passed away in Athens at the age of 94, according to the World Jewish Congress.
Mizan was born in 1927 in the Jewish community of Arta in northwest Greece. He was the youngest child of Joseph and Anette Mizan.
In March 1944, Mizan, his family and 351 Jews of Arta were arrested and deported to the renowned Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz, and later moved to Bergen-Belsen.
#Holocaust survivor Isaac Mizan has passed away in Athens, aged 94. He was the last living Jewish Greek survivor of Auschwitz. Mizan and family were deported from their hometown of Arta in March 1944. Only he and one sister survived.
Out of the 12 members of his family sent to Auschwitz, only he and one sister survived, the World Jewish Congress states.
Mizan returned to Arta in 1945 and lived there until 1961. At the age of 35, he moved away to Athens as the last Jew of Arta. The Jewish community in Arta no longer exists.
Coronavirus variants with clunky, alphanumeric names have now been assigned the letters of the Greek Alphabet in a bid to simplify discussion and pronunciation while avoiding stigma.
The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed the new names on Monday amid criticism that those given by scientists, such as the so-called South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2, were too complicated.
As such, the four coronavirus variants considered of concern by the UN agency and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta according to the order of their detection.
Other variants of interest continue down the alphabet.
Today WHO has announced a new naming system for key #COVID19 variants. The labels are based on the Greek alphabet (i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021
“While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting,” said the WHO, explaining the decision.
The choice of the Greek Alphabet came after months of deliberations in which other possibilities such as Greek Gods and invented, pseudo-classical names were considered by experts, according to bacteriologist, Mark Pallen, who was involved in the talks.
But many were already brands, companies or alien names.
Another idea to refer to variants of concern as VOC1, VOC2 etc. was scrapped after he pointed out it resembled an English swear word.
The labels will not replace existing scientific names but are designed to make discussions easier and remove stigma. Photo: Getty Images.
Historically, viruses have often been associated with the locations from which they are thought to have emerged such as Ebola which is named after the eponymous Congolese river.
But this can be damaging for the places and often inaccurate such as with the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ pandemic of 1918 whose origins are unknown.
“No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants,” said WHO epidemiologist, Maria Van Kerkhove.
Before the new WHO scheme, some scientists had adopted their own simplified nomenclature for variants such as a February paper using bird names. However, it was criticised on the grounds that this could imperil birds.
The leaders of Greece and Turkey will meet next month on the sidelines of a NATO summit, the two countries’ foreign ministers agreed on Monday, as they seek to mend frayed ties that led to a sharp escalation in tension last year.
In brief statements in Athens, the ministers said their talks were an opportunity to agree on a meeting between Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.
“We are fully aware of the different, and in quite a few particularly serious issues, of the diametrically opposed positions that we espouse, I mean we and Turkey,” Greece’s Nikos Dendias said, noting he and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, had discussed the full range of Greek-Turkish and Turkish-European Union relations.
Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, right, and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, talk to the media during a press conference after their meeting in Athens, Monday, May 31, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris.
“The aim of our meeting today was to attempt a process of initial consultation and if this proves possible, a gradual normalisation of the situation over time,” Dendias said.
They said they had agreed their countries would recognise each other’s vaccination certificates for COVID-19, so that their citizens will be able to visit with either a vaccination certificate or proof of a negative PCR test, boosting their respective tourist industries.
The ministers’ joint appearance had none of the tension of their previous meeting in April, when Dendias visited Ankara and a press conference there featured a trading of barbs as each listed his country’s grievances with the other.
Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, right, and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, leave the podium after a press conference after their meeting in Athens, Monday, May 31, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris.
“We have issues that have been awaiting resolution for a long time. We have differences of opinion,” Cavusoglu said. “We want all of these issues and differences of opinion to be resolved with a foundation of neighbourliness, international law and a respect for mutual rights and interests. And for this reason, our dialogue must continue uninterrupted. On this subject both sides are willing, we’ve reestablished that today.”
Cavusoglu said the two sides were working “on concrete projects focused on action and cooperation,” and that they had agreed on 25 items and were working on a broad area of cooperation ”from transportation to energy, from tourism to environment to commerce.”
Dendias said a “limited list of economic cooperation programs” was agreed upon, but provided no details.
The statements were carried live by state television, and there were no questions as reporters were not allowed to attend, with the Foreign Ministry citing COVID-19 concerns.
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, right, speaks with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, before their meeting at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Monday, May 31, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris.
Greece and Turkey have been divided for decades over a series of disputes, including territorial rights in the Aegean. Last summer, tension rose dramatically, with disagreements over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean leading to a face-off between warships from the two countries.
Cavusoglu preceded his official trip to Athens with a private visit on Sunday to Thrace in northeastern Greece, home to the country’s Muslim minority.
He raised hackles in Athens by tweeting that he was there “to meet members of the Turkish Minority,” and that Turkey would “always stand resolutely with the Turkish Minority in their struggle for their rights.”
Referring to the minority as Turkish is diplomatically sensitive and highly contentious in Greece, which recognises the minority only as a Muslim one and notes it includes Roma and Pomak communities.
Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, center, prays over the grave of Ahmet Sadik, who was an MP at the Greek parliament, at a muslim cemetery at Komotini town, in northeastern Greece, Sunday, May 30, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos.
Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexandros Papaioannou, responded on Sunday that Greece “steadily adheres to international law and the protection of human rights. It fully implements the obligations stemming from the Treaty of Lausanne, which explicitly and clearly refers to a Muslim minority in Thrace.”
He said that “Turkey’s constant attempts to distort this reality, as well as the allegations of supposed non-protection of the rights of these citizens, or of alleged discrimination, are unfounded and are rejected in their entirety.”
The 1923 Lausanne treaty handled the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in the aftermath of war, uprooting around 2 million people: approximately 1.5 million Orthodox Christians living in Turkey and half a million Muslims living in Greece.
The Muslim community in Thrace and the Greek community of Istanbul were exempt. However, the Greek minority in Istanbul has dwindled to a fraction of the estimated 200,000 people, with many fleeing persecution in the 1950s.
