Alleged fraudster, Bill Papas, has made a legal bid in the Federal Court to block potentially sensitive details being revealed by his former lawyer Rocco Panetta, The Australian reports.
Mr Papas said giving Westpac access to the documents provided by Mr Panetta when he previously represented the Forum figure, could risk breaching legal privilege.
Westpac argued it was inappropriate that Mr Papas could appoint a legal representative to tackle the limited question of document access.
Bill Papas.
According to The Australian, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ordered Westpac and Mr Papas’ barrister write written arguments as to the question of representation in relation to the access to Mr Panetta’s subpoenaed documents.
Westpac’s case comes after the bank uncovered an alleged fraud scheme by Mr Papas. He stands accused of forging signatures to fraudulently obtain almost $500 million in loans from Westpac and other banks.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) announced on Wednesday that it will be providing $1 million in emergency relief grants to aid those affected by the current war in Ukraine.
In a statement, the SNF said the grants will go towards helping six organisations “leverage their local knowledge and ties to deliver essential emergency relief.”
The six organisations are: Doctors of the World Spain, Choose Love, Lumos Foundation, Melissa Network, Save the Children USA, Doctors without Borders USA.
“The dire needs in Ukraine are plain to see, and we must collaborate, each according to our abilities, to help meet them,” the SNF Co-President, Andreas Dracopoulos, said.
New grants from SNF totaling $1 million will support emergency relief efforts for those affected by war in Ukraine. Six organizations are leveraging their local knowledge and ties to deliver essential aid.
— Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) (@SNForg) April 13, 2022
“We are grateful for these six organizations and the extensive on-the-ground experience they bring to helping address this tragic situation.”
Full list of the organisations and the work they do:
1. Direct aid on the ground in Ukraine:
Doctors of the World Spain, the vast majority of whose local staff are Ukrainian, is supplying traumatology and surgical materials to 20 hospitals in Ukraine.
Choose Love works with local grassroots organisations to aid vulnerable people on the move and in Ukraine they are helping provide essentials like food, hygiene supplies and bedding.
Lumos Foundation seeks to end the institutionalisation of children and has worked in Ukraine, which before the invasion had one of the highest rates of children living in orphanages and other institutions in Europe.
Doctors of the World in Ukraine. Photo: doctorsoftheworld.org.
2. Supporting Ukrainian refugees arriving in Greece:
Melissa Network is taking a pioneering bottom-up approach to supporting Ukrainian refugees in Greece. They assist existing Ukrainian networks in the country by offering a coordinated response, services to safeguard children’s resilience, psychosocial support for new arrivals and locals alike, as well as help accessing employment and legal services.
3. Addressing the immediate threats the war poses to people around the world:
Save the Children USA is working to address the global food emergency threatening to increase hunger and malnutrition for millions of children, triggered by the fact that together Ukraine and Russia supply over a quarter of the world’s wheat and the war is cutting off essential food supplies for many countries.
Doctors Without Borders USA wants to make sure that, as the world’s attention focuses on Ukraine, the people affected by “neglected” crises elsewhere in countries such as Western Asia and Central Africa, are not forgotten and receive the health care they urgently need.
During an address to Greek Parliament on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told MPs that Greece has achieved the greatest drop in unemployment in the European Union, Ekathimerini reports.
The statement was made during a debate on the government’s new jobs bill.
“Despite great obstacles, data shows that our efforts are paying off: from the summer of 2019 to February 2022, unemployment dropped from 17.2% to 12.8%,” Mitsotakis said.
Το νέο νομοσχέδιο προβλέπει ότι, σε συνεργασία με ειδικούς συμβούλους, κάθε μακροχρόνια άνεργος θα καταρτίσει το δικό του Ψηφιακό Ατομικό Σχέδιο Δράσης. Εκεί θα περιλαμβάνονται οι γνώσεις του και οι ανάγκες κατάρτισης ώστε να μπορεί να ενταχθεί στο ανάλογο επιμορφωτικό πρόγραμμα. pic.twitter.com/eycv5NUQdM
“It’s the greatest drop in Europe, and means that over 200,000 new jobs were created and we surpassed the threshold of 4 million employed.”
The Greek PM noted however that the improvement in the job figures was not a cause for celebration, as Greece continues to have the second highest unemployment rate in Europe after Spain, “and a chronic problem of low wages.”
The government’s pledge to increase the minimum wage for a second time this year will take effect on May 1.
One of the most beloved dances and rhythms in Greece, the Zeibekiko, and its popular musical accomplice, the bouzouki, have been inducted into the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports inscribed both the dance, as well as the three-stringed and four-string bouzouki, the tzouras and the baglamas to its list of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage.’
Mary Linda is a Greek folk singer. Manolis Chiotis was a Greek rebetiko and laiko composer, singer, and bouzouki player.
Culture Minister, Lina Mendoni said: “Throughout Greece and the communities of the diaspora, the movement of the Zeibekiko and the sound of the bouzouki are a pure expression of the Greek repertoire and are based on a long tradition of intangible cultural heritage.”
“The inclusion of Zeibekiko and bouzouki in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage contribute decisively to the study and preservation of these important elements that have determined the Greek sound, both within the country and abroad,” the Minister concluded.
What is Zeibekiko?
Zeibekiko is a style of dance tied to Greek cultural identity, being celebrated and performed throughout Greece and communities of the diaspora.
Historically characterised as a ‘battle dance’ between two armed men, its name comes from the ‘Zeybeks’ – an irregular army from the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from the late 17th through to the early 20th century.
In 1922, with the mass population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the dance, along with its synonymously recognised music became widely popular on the mainland with the urban poor and working classes.
What soon evolved was an improvised style of dance or the ‘drunk man’s dance’ as it has come to be known today, characterised by ‘aeroplane arms’ and circular movements.
Described as a “choreographic embodiment of defiance”, it comes as no surprise that one’s Zeibekiko is typically partnered with a glass of whisky or a cigarette.
The bouzouki, or the long-necked plucked lute of Greece, is a musical instrument with a round wooden body, accompanied by metal strings arranged in threes or fours over a fretted fingerboard. The smaller versions are known as the tzouras and baglamas.
Bouzouki, tzouras and baglamas in order. Pinterest user Antonis Asimakopoulos
The bouzouki, whilst traditionally used for dancing and entertainment at social gatherings, also possesses a patchy past. In the early 20th-century, the instrument became a staple instrument of the Rebetika: the music of the outlaws.
Today, the stringed instrument is synonymous with all things Greek, being the lead instrument of the Rebetika and Laika (folk) songs.
The Cretan city of Rethymno has been crowned the winner of the EU Urban Road Safety Award by the European Commission.
The awards ceremony took place in Brussels on March 28, 2022, with Rethymno out-performing the Italian city of Florence and the Polish city of Warsaw.
Four awards were issued by the Commission including two EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards, one Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning Award and the EU Urban Road Safety Award.
🌟Yesterday, #MobilityWeek announced the winners of the sustainable urban mobility awards!
The award-winning municipality was praised by the jury for its “inclusive approach” to road safety, which targets three main pillars:
upgrading the public transport system,
increasing and encouraging behavioural change through a variety of activities, and
the establishment of integrated cooperation with local stakeholders.
Rethymno. Photo: CIVITAS.
Rethymno’s road to sustainability:
In 2011, the Cretan city became a signatory to the Covenant of Mayors in which it pledged to take action against climate change.
More recently, Rethymno also partnered with CIVITAS in 2020.
CIVITAS was launched in 2002 and is one of the flagship programmes helping the European Commission achieve its ambitious mobility and transport goals that envisage zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
Rethymno’s Mayor, Giorgos Marinakis, told CIVITAS DESTINATIONS in August 2020 that the city “is only at the beginning of what once seemed only a vision. It is our obligation to protect the environment and the quality of life of our citizens.”
WATCH:Giorgos Marinakis discuss Rethymno’s partnership with CIVITAS in 2020.
Since partnering with CIVITAS, the city has accessed over 1.6 million euros in funding, investing in e-transport, as well as improving road safety and disability access through education programs and inclusive infrastructure.
Presently, Rethymno is home to Greece’s first electric bus, 315 e-scooters, 89 e-bikes, 24 sets of countdown traffic lights, 15 ‘smart’ and solar panelled bus stops, three electric vehicle charging stations, as well as city-wide disability structures.
Greece’s first e-bus. Photo: CIVITASE-Scooters. Photo: CIVITASOne of 24 countdown traffic lights in Rethymno. Photo: European Mobility WeekOne of two automated railed chairs for disabled persons in Rethymno. Photo: CIVITAS.
Prior to their partnership, CIVITAS found that 60% of the city’s commuters travelled by car and only 5% by bicycle.
Mayor Marinakis expects that with their renewed educational efforts and availability of free charging stations, citizens will be drawn to e-transport and will be “motivated to use this easy and modern type of energy.”
After experiencing a series of landslides between January and July last year that made it inaccessible, the Corinth Canal will reopen for navigation from July 5.
The historic canal which separates the mainland of Greece from the Peloponnese Peninsula has been closedfor transport since January last year and has been undergoing active restoration works since February this year.
The 32 million euro restoration project was approved in December 2021 and is currently underway, with the existing damage being repaired and the structure being strengthened.
According to a press release issued by the Corinth Canal SA, the canal will open from July 5 but will close again at the end of October 2022, when restoration works will resume.
Σημαντική εξέλιξη για την Διώρυγα της #Κορίνθου! Υπογράφηκε η δέσμευση του ποσού των 32 εκατ.€, για την αποκατάσταση των ζημιών στα πρανή της διώρυγας, παράλληλα με την έγκριση της διαδικασίας ανάθεσης και τις καλούμενες εταιρείες που θα υποβάλλουν προσφορά. @karagiannisgiorpic.twitter.com/K2SSKVN5Ha
The man-made canal has been operational since July 1893 and links the central Mediterranean Sea to the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean. Its historical purpose was to save ships from making the dangerous 700-kilometre voyage around the coastline of the Peloponnese Peninsula.
The 21.3 metre-wide canal, while too narrow for modern and larger cargo ships, is used today by tourists and cruise lines.
In every Greek household, bringing your mother to tears means you’ve either brought great shame to the family name or you’ve achieved something noteworthy.
The latter is a feeling known all too well by Chrysovalantou Giamaswhose Design and Technology major work ‘Green is the New Black’ is currently on display in the SHAPE 2021 Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
‘Green is the New Black’ at the Shape 2021 Exhibition. Photo: Supplied.
In an interview with The Greek Herald, the former St Euphemia College student revealed her eco-friendly dress crafted from dehydrated strawberries was born out of a desire to make an eye-catching statement.
“I wanted to create something that was obviously sustainable and something that was different. I didn’t want it to be like everything else with normal dress fabric, I wanted something untraditional.
“The first thing that came to mind was to make a dress made of fruit,” she said.
Early ideations and sketches of ‘Green is the New Black’ (Left) Final creation (Right). Photos: Supplied.
Having first experimented with bananas, onions, lemons, grapes, cucumbers and kiwifruit, the 18-year-old finally landed on strawberries which gave the “best finish and aesthetic quality”.
Giamas’ ‘Strawberry Fabric’ being sun-dried. Photo: Supplied.
The sustainable dress is under-layered by biodegradable shopping bags as well as a recycled red tablecloth sourced from Vinnies.
Giamas working on her eco-friendly strawberry creation. Photo: Supplied.
When askedhow it felt to be one of 33 students in NSW to have their major works exhibited, Giamas recounted the exact moment she was notified her major work would feature in the SHAPE 2021 Exhibition.
“When they emailed me, I was shocked. I thought my dress was different but I wasn’t expecting it to be featured at the Powerhouse,” she said.
The SHAPE Exhibition is presented annually in association with NSW Education Standards Authority and showcases a selection of outstanding and innovative major projects from HSC Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Designs students.
“I thought ‘wow’, that’s kinda cool,” she added modestly.
That calm collectedness quickly dissipated when Chrysovalantou called her mother to relay the good news, with Giamas telling The Greek Herald her mother started to cry.
LISTEN as Chrysovalantou Giamas recounts her family’s reaction to the news that ‘Green is the New Black’ would be exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum.
Whilst her achievement also won the happy tears of her grandparents who “told all their friends”, Giamas is more concerned with her work creating a wider move towards sustainable fashion.
“It’s really important to know the implications that fast fashion has. It causes a lot of damage to the environment and all living biology,” she said.
According to a 2019 report by the World Resource Institute, fast fashion, or the mass-production of clothing at a low cost has created a culture of “buying, wearing and quickly disregarding clothes”.
Globally, this means that 2,625 kilograms of clothing are either incinerated or landfilled every second. That is 82.8 billion kilograms per year, as reported by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
With less than 1% of the material used to produce clothing being recycled into new clothing, Giamas urges consumers to look to her project as living proof that “you really can create aesthetic and wearable items using sustainable and eco-friendly materials.”
“It can be produced to look and feel the same without sacrificing quality,” she said.
Close up of ‘Green is the New Black’. Photo: NESA.
Environmental concerns aside, Giamas reminded The Greek Herald that fast fashion is a two-fold issue.
“A lot of fast fashion brands also source cheap labour overseas and they treat them unethically,” she said.
The now architecture student was first made aware of such unethical treatment in 2013 with the Rana Plaza Tragedy in Bangladesh. It was here that 1,132 were killed and 2,600 injured after five garment factories forced their workers to continue working despite structural cracks and official warnings to evacuate the building.
For the aspiring architect, she wants fast fashion consumers to take a greater interest in sustainable brands and to “understand just how much one person’s fashion choices can impact the community”.
Chrysovalantou’s ‘Green is the New Black’ will be on display at the Powerhouse Museum until Sunday, 14 August 2022. A virtual tour of the exhibition can also be taken for free here.
Ever since she was a young girl, Tayla Kerpiniotis always knew she wanted to be involved in the sport of rowing.
She, along with her family, lived overseas in the Middle East for a short time but once they returned to Sydney and she started Year 8, she instantly began to look for a new hobby.
“My dad had done rowing when he was younger and he thought I would be good at it,” Tayla explains to The Greek Herald exclusively.
All photos supplied.Tayla with her team at the Australian Rowing Championships.The Australian Rowing Championships.
“So I tried it and I loved it. Being in the water is calming and relaxing, and I love the community and friends you gain from rowing.”
Now, at 19 years of age, this passion and determination for rowing has stayed with Tayla and has seen her proudly represent females in a sport which she says continues to be dominated by males.
“There aren’t many women rowers and it’s difficult to stay in the sport because there’s not a lot of funding,” she says.
Tayla (second from left) in the Open Women’s University Quad Sprint.
Despite this, Tayla has persevered and was even proudly selected into the NSW state rowing team in the Youth 8 / Under 21 category.
This team recently competed in the Australian Rowing Championships in April and Tayla won two gold medals in the prestigious Bicentennial Cup and the Open Women’s University Quad Sprint.
Tayla’s mum, Evelyn Kerpiniotis, says seeing her daughter emerge from the water after the competition was “glorifying” and she’s “so proud of her.”
Tayla’s team with the Bicentennial Cup.
“We were just so thrilled. To see her so passionate and to achieve that result and her goals, was amazing,” Evelyn says.
Tayla adds that it was also a proud moment for her and showed how all her hard work has paid off.
“I’m so happy this season is done because I want to move up to the Under 23’s next season and see what I can achieve,” she concludes.
The Adelaide Advertiser has just released its list of Instagram trendsetters 30 years of age and under, and among the names are four Australians of Greek heritage.
Who are they? The Greek Herald finds out.
Stavros Kapoulitsas:
22-year-old tradie, Stavros Kapoulitsas, has a huge Instagram following of almost 80,000 people. The Advertiser reports that he has also recently ventured into the NFT realm, creating his own crypto currency and selling it through Twitter.
Leah Itsines is the sister of global fitness entrepreneur, Kayla Itsines, and has amassed close to 600,000 followers on Instagram. The 27-year-old shares healthy food recipes on her social media and is also a co-creator of the Bare Food Guide.
27-year-old Christina Vithoulkas was in a motocross accident in 2018 which left her paraplegic, but that never stopped her from achieving her dreams. She now has 71,600 followers on Instagram and uses her platform to break down the stigma of spinal injury with candour and positivity.
Danny Phillipou is half of the comedy YouTube duo ‘Racka Racka,’ which he started with his twin brother. The popularity of their slapstick YouTube show has seen him gain over half a million followers since starting in 2013.
Victoria’s Councilors of Greek heritage were honoured for their contribution to public life by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) in a special event organised at the Greek Centre.
The event, which had been originally arranged for August 2021, had to be postponed and rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions. It was held in March at the Greek Centre’s Delphi Bank Mezzanine.
Presiding over proceedings on the night, former Victorian Government Minister, John Pandazopoulos, welcomed the Councillors on behalf of the Greek community, praised their collective public service and gave context to the reason the GCM had staged the event.
“We are all proud of your efforts. It is very important that there are people of Greek heritage, with Greek names, in public life. This is multiculturalism in action,” Mr Pandazopoulos said.
Following Mr Pandazopoulos, GCM President, Bill Papastergiadis OAM, welcomed the Councillors to the Greek Centre echoing Pandazopoulos’ thoughts and going further by saying: “We are honoured to have with us today the Greek councillors and Mayors from throughout Victoria.”
The event was held at The Greek Centre.
“For our perspective we felt that it was important to bring together the strong elements we have within our community, so that we can share not only in our heritage, but also in terms of a network where we can working cohesively and cooperatively across a range of matters,” Mr Papastergiadis continued.
“You all are incredibly important parts of our community. I don’t think we have done enough as a GCM to support you and also to reward and thank you for the hard work you are doing. You carry a lot of the aspirations of our community through the work do.”
The evening continued with all of the attending councillors being awarded a commemorative plaque struck specially for the occasion prior to remaining to enjoy supper and to network with other councillors and members of the GCM.
The 24 Councillors that were acknowledged by the GCM are:
Cr Tony Athanasopoulos, City of Glen Eira.
Cr Tasa Damante, Maroondah City Council.
Cr Sam David, Brimbank City Council.
Cr Peter Dimarelos, City of Banyule.
Cr Emily Dimitriadis, City of Darebin.
Cr Jim Doukas, Moyne Shire.
Cr Joseph Haweil, City of Hume.
Mayor Cr Jami Klisaris, City of Stonnington.
Cr Paul Klisaris, City of Monash.
Cr Peter Kostos, Baw Baw Shire.
Cr Fiona Mitsinikos, City of Banyule.
Cr Despi O’Connor, Mornington Peninsula.
Cr Angelica Panopoulos, Moreland City Council.
Cr Angie Paspaliaris, Warrnambool City Council.
Cr Helen Pavlidis, Moreland City Council.
Cr Sophie Ramsey, Melton City Council.
Deputy Mayor Cr Melina Sehr, City of Stonnington.
Mayor Cr Steve Staikos, City of Kingston.
Cr Nick Stavrou, City of Booroondara.
Cr Suzanne Stojanovic, Maroondah City Council.
Cr Virginia Tachos, Brimbank City Council.
Deputy Mayor Cr Lambros Tapinos, Moreland City Council.
