Sydney’s hospitality kings, Bill and Mario Gravanis, have struck a $50 million deal to buy the Oakwood apartment hotel in Brisbane from Singapore real estate giant, Mapletree Investments, The Australian Financial Reviewreports.
The acquisition of the 11-storey building – overlooking the Brisbane River and perched at the entrance to the city’s Storey Bridge – follows the Gravanis brothers buying Long Island in the Whitsunday’s in May for about $20 million, with plans to redevelop the resort.
The Gravanis brothers bought Long Island for $20 million.
Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Brisbane at 15 Ivory Lane offers 162 serviced units as well as amenities such as a gymnasium, business centre, restaurant, and swimming pool.
It will add to an already substantial portfolio of accommodation assets owned by the Gravanis brothers including Novotel hotels in Sydney and Wollongong, alongside one of NSW’s biggest pub portfolios.
Stay-at-home orders for adults who have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be lifted from the Monday after NSW passes the 70 per cent double vaccination target, under the roadmap to freedom released today.
The roadmap is subject to further fine-tuning and health advice if circumstances change drastically or if cases within a designated area remain too high.
This comes as NSW recorded 1,405 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 today and five deaths.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said we are well on the way to hitting the 70 per cent double dose milestone which will allow the state to open up for those who have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to get vaccinated – if you have not had both doses of the vaccine by the time we hit the 70 per cent milestone, you will not be able to take advantage of these freedoms,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Gladys Berejiklian announced the roadmap today.
Only fully vaccinated people and those with medical exemptions will have access to the freedoms allowed under the Reopening NSW roadmap.
The freedoms for vaccinated adults will come into effect on the Monday after NSW hits the 70 per cent double dose target and include:
Gatherings in the home and public spaces:
Up to five visitors will be allowed in a home where all adults are vaccinated (not including children 12 and under).
Up to 20 people can gather in outdoor settings.
Venues includinghospitality, retail stores and gyms:
Hospitality venues can reopen subject to one person per 4sqm inside and one person per 2sqm outside, with standing while drinking permitted outside.
Retail stores can reopen under the one person per 4sqm rule (unvaccinated people will continue to only be able to access critical retail).
Personal services such as hairdressers and nail salons can open with one person per 4sqm, capped at five clients per premises.
Gyms and indoor recreation facilities can open under the one person per 4sqm rule and can offer classes for up to 20 people.
Sporting facilities including swimming pools can reopen.
Restaurants will be able to reopen.
Stadiums, theatres and major outdoor recreation facilities:
Major recreation outdoor facilities including stadiums, racecourses, theme parks and zoos can reopen with one person per 4sqm, capped at 5,000 people.
Up to 500 people can attend ticketed and seated outdoor events.
Indoor entertainment and information facilities including cinemas, theatres, music halls, museums and galleries can reopen with one person per 4sqm or 75 per cent fixed seated capacity.
Weddings, funerals and places of worship:
Up to 50 guests can attend weddings, with dancing permitted and eating and drinking only while seated.
Up to 50 guests can attend funerals, with eating and drinking while seated.
Churches and places of worship to open subject to one person per 4sqm rule, with no singing.
Travel:
Domestic travel, including trips to regional NSW, will be permitted.
Caravan parks and camping grounds can open.
Carpooling will be permitted.
Domestic travel will also be permitted.
Non-vaccinated young people aged under 16 will be able to access all outdoor settings but will only be able to visit indoor venues with members of their household.
Employers must continue to allow employees to work from home if the employee is able to do so.
There will be revised guidance on isolation for close and casual contacts who are fully vaccinated, with details to be provided closer to the reopening date.
Masks:
Masks will remain mandatory for all indoor public venues, including public transport, front-of-house hospitality, retail and business premises, on planes and at airports.
Only hospitality staff will be required to wear a mask when outdoors.
Children aged under 12 will not need to wear a mask indoors.
Maria Sakkari has become the first Greek player into the semi finals of the US Open after she defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-4 this morning.
The game ended in less than 1.5 hrs.
The 26-year-old never faced a break point and won all but eight of the 49 points on her serve. That includes a remarkable 24 of 26 first-serve points won, a torrid 92% clip.
“I trusted my serve, but now I’m going to trust it even more,” Sakkari said in a post match interview.
After having never made it past the fourth round in 20 appearances at major tournaments, Sakkari reached the French Open semis in June and has matched that showing in Queens.
Sakkari now advances to a showdown with British qualifier, Emma Raducanu, tomorrow night for a place in Saturday’s US Open women’s singles final.
Greek Australian, Ann Margulis, had an uninterrupted view of the 9/11 terror attacks 20 years ago as she was doing a yoga class.
“It was unbelievable, traumatic to say the least,” Margulis told The Daily Telegraph about witnessing the two planes hit the Twin Towers on that fateful day in 2001, killing roughly 2876 people.
Margulis, along with her husband Les, were later evacuated from their apartment opposite the New York Stock Exchange in the shadow of Ground Zero because of the poisonous clouds that filled the air.
Poisonous clouds covered New York for months.
“The air was dreadful. We could smell the fires, they didn’t go out until February, many months later, and the air quality was terrible, it smelt like burning plastic,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
But the Environmental Protection Agency said the air was safe to breathe despite it stinking as the site continued to burn.
Sixteen months later, Margulis suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) so the couple returned to Sydney and then moved to the Blue Mountains.
She has still not been able to escape the cancers caused by the toxic fumes.
In 2005, she contracted thyroid cancer and then four years later, stage four stomach cancer. After a legal fight, she proved her illnesses were caused by the toxic air and she received a settlement from the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund.
Policemen and firemen run away from the huge dust cloud caused as the World Trade Center’s Tower One collapse.
There are more than 43,000 people who were in the vicinity of Ground Zero after the attacks, including emergency personnel, who reported 9/11-related illnesses and 3000 have died with 68 different types of cancers linked to the gases.
Margulis has been cancer free for a number of years now but still has ongoing health issues as a result. She speaks about that day back in 2001 so that “hidden” victims, including the families and friends of those who died, will not be forgotten.
“I find carrying hatred achieves nothing. I feel really sad, sadness for all the people this has affected and all the families and friends and survivors,” she said.
Vespers will be performed at the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in New York, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for the first time in 20 years.
This news was confirmed by the General Hierarchical Vicar of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Father Alexandros Karloutsos, to the Sputnik news agency.
“On September 10, the Vespers will be officiated by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. This is our contribution to the anniversary of 9/11,” Father Karloutsos added.
The church will be lit the next day.
The next day, the church will be lit, along with other buildings in the area, in blue to honour the memory of the victims of the terrorist attack.
The domed shrine, which is covered in the same type of marble used to build the Parthenon in Athens, is supposed to appear as if it’s glowing from the inside.
The shrine will then go dark again for the next few months.
A year ago, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said the shrine would be finished by this fall. Archbishop Elpidophoros, who heads the church in the US, said “it will be completed and open to all people, on the 20th anniversary” of 9/11.
The exterior of the church is expected to be completed by November 2.
But Michael Psaros, the vice chairman of the Friends of St Nicholas, told euronews the exterior of the church is expected to be completed by November 2, when the doors will be opened in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Mr Psarros added that work on the interior of the church will continue until April 2022, with the hope that it will be finalised by Holy Week and Easter of the same year.
“The church will be inaugurated on July 4, 2022, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,” Mr Psarros concluded.
The body of revered Greek composer, Mikis Theodorakis, was heading to its final resting place on the island of Crete on Wednesday after lying in state at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral for three days.
Theodorakis, whose musical score for the 1964 movie “Zorba the Greek” helped foster a carefree image of Greece abroad for millions, died on September 2 aged 96.
Thousands of mourners of all ages laid flowers and sang his songs over the three days that his casket was on public display in the chapel of Agios Eleftherios beside the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral.
A farewell ceremony on Wednesday drew officials and ordinary Greeks, who gathered in a light autumnal drizzle outside the cathedral.
Greek President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, delivered a brief eulogy during a memorial service held in the main church, describing the late composer as a “teacher and a paradigm.”
“He will always be with us, rooted in our collective memory,” Sakellaropoulou said.
Leader of the Greek Orthodox church, Archbishop Ieronimos, leads the farewell service of Theodorakis at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, Greece, September 8, 2021. Photo: Reuters / Alkis Konstantinidis.
“His music was a call to rise above the personal and commune with others; a code that transcended circumstances, standing for resistance, hope, camaraderie and collective struggles.”
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of citizens gathered at Piraeus port as well to bid farewell to Theodorakis, as his remains departed on a ferry for Crete ahead of his burial on Thursday. The ship containing the hearse and late composer’s coffin departed gate E2 shortly before 7 pm.
As his remains were being taken onto the ship, Piraeus Brass Band played some of the late composer’s music.
Theodorakis’ remains are on the way to Crete. Photo: InTime News.
The ferry is scheduled to arrive in Crete at 7.30 am. His remains will then be carried to Hania Cathedral. At 1 pm, his body will be taken to the Church of Aghios Nikolaos in his paternal village of Galatas, where a funeral service will be conducted.
Theodorakis will be buried in the village cemetery beside his brother and parents, in accordance with his wishes.
Both the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the leader of the opposition, Alexis Tsipras, have announced that they will be in attendance.
Australians across the nation will today gather in person and virtually to mark R U OK?Day, a national day of action and a reminder that every day is a day to start a meaningful conversation with the people in our world.
Thousands of events and activities will be hosted by social and sports clubs, community groups, workplaces, schools and suicide prevention networks, championing the message “Are they really OK? Ask them today” which calls on all Australians to make asking “are you OK?”, a part of their everyday.
“The ups and downs of life can affect each of us differently. Sometimes it won’t be obvious that someone is struggling, but having the support of family, friends and close colleagues can help us better navigate the challenges that come our way,” R U OK? CEO, Katherine Newton, said.
“Don’t wait until someone is visibly distressed or in crisis before you ask. If you ask them in a genuine way, your support can make a difference whatever they are facing.
“In a time when so many of us are feeling fatigued by the pandemic, we want to remind and reassure Australians that there is something we can all do to support those in our world, and as those closest to them we are often in a position to do so.
“R U OK?Day is a reminder to think about how the people in our world are really going, find time to make a moment meaningful and have a conversation.”
This year has seen an increased demand from workplaces, schools and the public for practical tools on how to have an R U OK? conversation. In the last year R U OK? have seen a 32% increase in resource downloads from the website, compared to the same period the previous year.
R U OK? resources are now available in eight other languages and to support at risk demographics such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the LGBTIQ+ community and those living in regional and remote Australia.
Victoria Police are on a recruitment drive with the hope to diversify their team.
Leading senior constable Nektarios ‘Nick’ Parissis says Melburnians were often “stunned” to come across him.
“In the 90s, policing was still seen to be a very Anglo-Saxon-centric profession,” he tellsHerald Sun.
“I was told, ‘Greeks don’t join the police force’ and I said, ‘why not’. It was not considered a job for us at the time.”
He joined the force at 18-years-old and has worked ever since to develop relationships with Melbourne’s diverse migrant communities.
“Many have come from communities where they see police and run the other way,” he says.
“We are supposed to be representative of the community, so the more diverse our work population is, the more it reflects the community.”
Nick is a colleague of his wife, Jo, who together work regularly with children.
Jo is also a senior constable who works as a youth resource officer for Victoria Police in Preston, while Nick takes regular excursions to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
The world’s top Christian leaders have joined forces to issue a stark warning that climate change is threatening the future of the planet.
Orthodox leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew joined Pope Francis and archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to issue their first-ever joint statement.
“We must decide what kind of world we want to leave to future generations,” the three clerics write in the statement.
“The extreme weather and natural disasters of recent months reveal afresh to us with great force and at great human cost that climate change is not only a future challenge, but an immediate and urgent matter of survival.”
They agree that climate change and global warming are at least partially caused by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
“This is the first time that the three of us feel compelled to address together the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on persistent poverty, and the importance of global cooperation,” they wrote.
“We stand before a harsh justice: biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and climate change are the inevitable consequences of our actions, since we have greedily consumed more of the earth’s resources than the planet can endure,” the message said.
The Pope has frequently cited Bartholomew’s teachings on the environment in his encyclical from 2015.
The statement follows Europe’s warmest summer on record this year, including the record-breaking heatwave which fuelled Greece’s wildfires, in the lead up to the UN climate summit COP26 later this year.
The Pope is expected to attend the summit, while Bartholomew’s office hasn’t yet responded to an email about his plans to attend the conference, according to Ekathimerini.
Mikis Theodorakis’ funeral arrangements have been laid to rest by a court in Athens on Thursday.
The Athens First Instance Court heard that Theodorakis’ parting funeral wishes will be upheld by two executors named in a recent notarial deed.
The Greek composer and politician will be buried in Chania, Crete, next to his parents and brother, Greece’s Communist Party KKE said Sunday.
Theodorakis had written a letter to the mayor of Chania in 2013 expressing his wish to be buried in the cemetery of Galatas in his father’s hometown of Chania.
“My family does not approve of my wish; however, the law recognises everyone’s right to decide about the disposal of their body,” Theodorakis had written in the letter.
He addressed similar sentiments in a legal document dating to January 2020 and a letter in October 2020.
Theodorakis’ daughter hoped for her father to be buried in Vrahati, near Corinth, but the court temporarily halted any burial plans after unnamed Theodorakis collaborators had filed an injunction.
The court ruled in the collaborators’ favor and ordered that Theodorakis’ wife, daughter, and son no longer intervene in his funeral arrangements.
He currently rests at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral and will be buried in Chania on Thursday.
