The Celtic boss got sentimental about his time both as a player and a coach on the team around the 1980-90s.
“I grew up there. I was a ball boy, I was a junior, I was a senior player, captain, coach – it very much forms the part of the person I am today,” he said.
“Get down to the ground, it’s going to be a unique atmosphere where you really understand what the lifeblood of football is.”
“Good luck to everyone, particularly my old club, and I look forward to an entertaining game.”
The former NSL heavyweights will battle the A-League champions in Friday night’s FFA Cup match at Lakeside Stadium.
Sakkari is enjoying a breakthrough year having reached the semifinals of the French Open and US Open to reach a career-high world ranking of number six.
She is the first Greek woman to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Sakkari and Swiatek will face off twice more in the round-robin event.
Thessaloniki has become the first Greek city to join the UNESCO Network of Gastronomy.
Thessaloniki mayor Konstantinos Zervas pointed to the city’s cultural and historic significance in his submission to the UN body.
“Gastronomy is a key competitive advantage of Thessaloniki – our city is at a crossroads of flavours and cultures, and now it has UNESCO’s seal of approval,” he said.
Thessaloniki mayor Konstantinos Zervas (left), Deputy Tourism Minister Sophia Zacharaki (right) (Left: Ektoras Nikolakis Photography) (Right: about.me/sophiazacharaki)
Deputy Tourism Minister Sophia Zacharaki said the listing will boost visitors to the city.
“The benefits of such membership are enormous for each city selected by UNESCO,” she said, noting that it vindicates “many months of effort” to secure the listing.
Thessaloniki is an open museum of early Christian and Byzantine art which holds 15 monuments recognised by UNESCO.
A new charity called the Australian Resilience Corps aims to combat the impact of natural disasters.
It joins a coalition of groups including Disaster Relief Australia, Red Cross, and Lifeline.
South Australian farmer Anastasia Bougesis has seen the damage floods and fires cause in outback communities in her time with Disaster Relief Australia (DRA).
“We support individuals and communities who have been affected by disasters and help them on their recovery journey,” she tells Daily Telegraph.
Bougesis is a trained nurse and paramedic who has led relief operations in response to Hurricane Irma in the US and Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean.
Anastasia Bougesis led relief operations in response to Hurricane Maria (Photo: Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/The Washington Post)
“I became a paramedic because I loved the idea of being able to support people on their worst days,” the Flinders University alumni tells the university.
She is the chief development officer at DRA, a charity that coordinates disaster relief teams made up of military veterans and first responders.
“Some days we can be out using chainsaws, fencing, sifting ashes, or removing structures,” she said.
“We really do whatever it takes to get people back on their feet.”
In a joint letter to Greece’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Katsaniotis, the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA), the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOCNSW) and the World Council for Hellenes Abroad (SAE), have called for the formation of a Department for the Greek Diaspora.
The four Greek organisations congratulate Mr Katsaniotis and the Greek government in their letter for their initiatives concerning issues about the Greek diaspora in Australia, but say they are yet to receive a response from the government on their request for a Department for the Greek Diaspora.
“The Greek diaspora play an important role in Greece’s economy and has always supported the homeland,” the letter states.
“Only with the formation of a Department for the Greek Diaspora will the diaspora be able to collaborate with Greece and coordinate initiatives for the strengthening of our homeland.”
The letter concludes by stating that now is the right time for the formation of the Department as Greece celebrates the 200th anniversary of the start of the Greek Revolution.
Turkey has accused Greece of lying about migrant pushbacks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the accusations on Thursday during a visit from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“It is Greece condemning refugees to their deaths in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas,” Erdogan said during a televised news conference, adding he had proof.
“It is ungrateful for [Greece] to say that Turkey is the source of the problem while our country is hosting 5 million refugees.”
“If we open our borders, I do not know what Greece will suffer, what Greece will do.”
He slammed Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for “lying” and “not behaving honestly”.
Mitsotakis claimed on Tuesday that Turkey is “instrumentalising migration”.
“Rather than putting the blame on Greece you should put the blame on those … pushing people in a desperate situation from a safe country, because I need to remind you that people who are in Turkey are not in danger,” Mitsotakis said.
“We have a tough but fair policy in migration.”
Mitsotakis has been under fire recently over the alleged pushbacks.
The recent economic crisis spread over the Greek economy like a shroud. A vice, which shook with fury the hopes of the Greeks, who abandoned the ship in the midst of the perfect storm, which led to an unprecedented in depth and breadth ten-year recessionary cycle.
Losses of 1/4 of gross domestic product and a double-digit unemployment rate were the root cause of the large wave of migration, which began to be recorded since 2010.
This wave intensified in 2012. The great “escape” took place, and it is estimated that more than 467,000 Greeks left their country, which offered little vestige of optimism.
With the pandemic following Greece as a persistent shadow and presenting new obstacles to economic growth and uncertainty, the foreign investment initiative, with the easy-to-understand name “The Greeks are back,” causes, if anything, a spontaneous satisfaction.
About 50 Greeks have coalesced to attract foreign investment to Greece. On October 21, the first conference was held in Athens with the participation of these senior executives working in more than 40 large companies, in 12 countries of the world.
The Greek Herald hastened to speak of this initiative with its mastermind, Andreas Υannopoulos, who gave flesh and bone to this important effort. He explains to us first what prompted him to take this initiative.
“Wherever you look, in any country in the world, you will find Greeks successful in various disciplines and activities. In particular, hundreds of Greeks excel in the business community, in senior positions of large multinational companies,” Mr. Yannopoulos says.
“Precisely this finding that, Greeks work and even in high-ranking positions in all major companies and in various lengths and widths of the globe, was the operative cause of the initiative the GREEKS ARE BACK, in September 2020.
“We will all agree, I think, that you do not find many countries with this priceless and unique intangible capital. When I was not living and working abroad, I personally had the opportunity, speaking with other Greeks in various companies, and found out that they had the deep desire, almost need I would say, to return value to their homeland.
“Therefore, we thought about looking for these Greeks around the world and inviting them to a high-level conference, during which they would discuss and propose how Greece can become ‘the investment place to be’.”
The date of the conference:
The first conference took place on October 21. The Minister of Development, Adonis Georgiadis and the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras participated in its proceedings, as did Mr. Papathanasis, General Secretary of International Economic Relations and Extroversion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President of Enterprise Greece, Mr. Giannis Smyrlis, and the president of SEV, Mr. Dimitris Papalexopoulos.
“It was a most interesting Conference, and, all agree, that it “passed the test” with flying colours. Our goal was to approach the issue of the attractiveness of Greece as an investment destination, in a structured and effective way, since it was not an academic initiative. This was achieved both in plenary and working groups, in which critical areas of public policy were discussed, such as Green Investment, Tax Framework, Talent Attraction, Innovation/Research & Development, Digital Transition and Silver Economy.
“Each working group presented its proposals in the second part of the plenary session and these proposals will be reflected in a conscientious text under the title “Initiative for foreign investment in Greece”, which will be sent in the coming days to the government, the Greek Parliament, political parties, bodies, Media etc.”
The question of what pushes Greeks, who are in high-ranking positions abroad, to engage in an attempt to make Greece an attractive investment destination comes up spontaneously. Is it nostus?
“Why, I wonder, today, “the Greeks are coming back-the GREEKS ARE BACK”? Firstly, this is not a return, but something perhaps much more interesting and meaningful.
“These days, these fifty senior executives of large companies left their jobs and suffocating obligations, to come to Athens, to share their suggestions on how to make Greece an attractive / more attractive investment destination. And they did it in the most meaningful and professional way.
“Perhaps you would also notice the date of this inaugural conference of the GREEKS AREBACK: 21/10/21. We chose it deliberately, since it coincides with the celebration of 200 years of National Independence, wanting us, on our part, to mark this important anniversary accordingly.
“Because, in the end and, of course, keeping historical proportions, Greeks abroad were those who returned to Greece then to support the struggle for independence. Greece today gives another, different struggle, for development and prosperity, under extremely unfavorable conditions, but also with great potential and prospects. In this modern struggle, the Greeks abroad have much to offer and it would be a great waste and ableness not to use their knowledge and experience”.
Of course obstacles are present but, as Mr. Yannopoulos tells us, “the initiative discussed all the issues and several proposals were submitted by the conference participants. I think we all have to recognise that there have been significant reforms in recent years and the situation has improved considerably.
“Our intention is to make the GREEKS ARE BACK Initiative an annual “institution”. In a few days, we will announce details of the 2nd conference the GREEKS ARE BACK, which will take place in November 2022″.
Did an Australian executive participate in this interesting initiative?
“We didn’t have executives from Australia. We are pleased to consider the participation of Greek senior executives from Australia in the context of the relevance to the Working Groups. Those interested could look for us on social media,” concluded Mr. Yannopoulos.
The proposals of the initiative “Greeks are back” were reflected in a text entitled initiative for foreign investments in Greece, which was sent to the government, parties, the Greek Parliament, bodies and media, while it is available on the website www.greeksareback.gr.
In a huge act of filotimo and kindness, Greek Australian mums have rallied together to raise $20,754 (12,786.54 euro) for the DESMOS Foundation in Greece to put towards wildfire relief.
“Being away [from Greece], not being to go this year, being sort of stuck in Australia when you know there is so much happening that is beyond your control, we really just felt that as Greek mums in Australia, we had to do something,” Rea Liapis, founder of The Hellenic Heart Australia, tells The Greek Herald exclusively.
It started as a simple Facebook post in the ‘Greek Mums and Bubs Melbourne‘ group asking what could be done to help and quickly ‘snowballed in a good way’ into an online auction with around 160 products donated by small Greek businesses.
The women held a fundraising dinner previously to raise money for the Mati fires. Photo supplied.
“There were so many dinner vouchers from local Greek restaurants, we had a lot of Greek products, hampers, Greek frappe machines, things like that. So it was a massive range… and obviously we couldn’t have done it without all the businesses that donated,” Rea explains.
From there, the products were shipped off to their happy buyers and all the funds were collected and given to DESMOS in Greece.
Rea says she’s ‘pleased’ they donated the funds to DESMOS as the women ‘wanted the funds to go to the right place.’ Her foundation has also previously donated a container of clothes to ‘Χαμόγελο του Παιδιού’ in aid of the financial crisis in Greece in 2016.
“They do have a lot of people on the ground. They will be sending us information about where our donation goes… and we thought that was the best option,” Rea says.
“They’re very transparent in that they’ve told us 10 percent of the funds get kept for their own administrative expenses but beyond that, 90 percent goes to the people. So that’s where we were quite pleased.”
In a statement to The Greek Herald, DESMOS said they are currently focusing on emergency assistance, including equipment for three firefighting volunteer groups, heating appliances for families in northern Evia and equipment for six peripheral health clinics, among many other things.
“We feel privileged to have received the amazing support of people from all over the world. Thanks to the auction of Are you even Greek, Hellenic Heart AU and GMABS Melbourne, an amazing AUD 20,754 was raised!” DESMOS said.
“We are grateful for the trust and committed to creating the highest positive impact for the fire affected communities of Greece.”
It’s clear this initiative by these inspirational Greek Australian mums will go a long way towards Greece’s fire recovery efforts.
NSW Teachers Federation President, Angelo Gavrielatos, fears teacher shortages will grow in Australia as hundreds of staff are sacked or forced to take leave after refusing to accept mandated COVID-19 vaccines.
“Non-competitive salaries, an ageing teaching service and ever-growing expectations on teachers and principals are all making it a less attractive profession for young, high-achieving students,” Mr Gavrielatos told The Australian.
“There is no doubt [unvaccinated teachers leaving their job] will add to the stress experienced by the system.”
Angelo Gavrielatos says the teacher vaccine rule will ‘add stress’ on the education system.
Teachers in NSW were required to have received both doses of the vaccine by Monday, while those in Victoria and the ACT must be fully vaccinated by November 29.
As of Tuesday, 98 percent of NSW government school teachers had received both doses of the vaccine, leaving the vaccination status of 2700 staff members in doubt.
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has angrily defended his government’s immigration policy in a heated exchange with a Dutch journalist who accused him of lying over the alleged turning away of asylum seekers in the Aegean.
During a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, late on Tuesday, Mitsotakis was accused of “narcissistic abuse” with his denials that Greek authorities are refusing asylum seekers entry at its land and sea borders.
draadje met fragmenten. kijk, luister en zie vooral een groot schandaal dat de twee heren in hun antwoord op @IBeugel niet alleen draaien, maar vooral glashard staan te liegen. dát is pas insulting, @MinPres ! pic.twitter.com/rOnWzvAKqF
“There has been overwhelming evidence [about pushback], and you keep denying and lying. This is narcissistic abuse,” reporter, Ingeborg Beugel, said during question time.
“Why aren’t you being honest? Why don’t you just say, ‘Brussels left us alone, we waited for six years and nobody did anything to relocate refugees and, yes, I am now doing harsh, brutal pushbacks’?”
Some commentators criticised her tone as that of an activist not a journalist, while others noted that for the first time Mitsotakis had to face “real” questions.
Mitsotakis held a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, on Tuesday.
Clearly irate, Mitsotakis responded: “I understand that in the Netherlands you have a culture of asking direct questions to politicians, which I very much respect. What I will not accept is that in this office you will insult me or the Greek people with accusations and expressions that are not supported by material facts.”
Mitsotakis argued that the country deserved praise for saving “hundreds, if not thousands” of people at sea during the recent border crisis.
Incredible footage of the Greek PM shouting at a Dutch journalist, after she said he lied over refugee pushbacks.
He's not used to tough questions from the local media. Greece only beats Hungary on press freedom in the EU.
When Beugel attempted to interrupt him to say their living conditions were “appalling,” Mitsotakis bristled that she clearly hadn’t been to the new and “impeccable” EU-funded facility on Samos – a facility that aid groups have likened to a prison.
“Rather than putting the blame on Greece, you should put the blame on those who have been instrumentalising migration systematically, pushing people in [a] desperate situation from a safe country, because I need to remind you that people in Turkey are not in danger,” he said.
The Dutch PM defended his Greek counterpart’s response, saying Turkey is a safe country and emphasised that Greece is only trying to protect the EU external border.
