Congratulations to eleven-year-old Nicolette Grigorakis from Sydney, NSW who is the winner of The Greek Herald’s Christmas print cover competition.
We received a big number of entries from across Australia and at the end of this year, the overload of festive feelgood spirit is just what we needed!
Nicolette’s image represents the time spent with immediate family to decorate her home and prepare for giving thanks and acknowledging, accepting each other after a difficult year in line with her Christian faith – listening to Christmas carols (Greek and English).
“The bows on the Christmas tree represent the family ties, the heart is the love we nurture for each other and the round ornaments are the family that gathers to celebrate,” said Nicolette, explaining the meaning behind the elements of her artwork.
The young artist whose family hails from Arcadia and Corfu is a student of St Spyridon’s Greek Afternoon School and told The Greek Herald she is really excited to spend Christmas with her family and friends after a tough year.
“We try to follow both Greek and Australian Christmas customs and combine the two cultures,” said Angela, Nicoletta’s mother.
Artworks of finalists
*All finalist entries will be published on Friday’s Christmas edition
Prolific tower builder Jim Raptis has confirmed his purchase of a $16 million property in Mermaid Beach amid an arm wrestle with the Australian Tax Office.
The over 6500-sqm property at 2506 Gold Coast Highway includes a cinema center, KFC outlet, medical center, and a snooker hall.
“We plan on putting in plans for the first quarter of next year,” he said.
“We have concepts in our mind but nothing on paper of what it will be like.”
He signed up for the property in August, weeks before the ATO froze he and his family’s, including wife Helen and son Evan, assets.
Raptis and his family allegedly owe $110 million in taxes and penalties to the ATO, the tax body said in October.
The freeze will last until a case management hearing in February.
A Raptis spokesman last month said the developer was co-operating with the ATO and that there were ‘productive discussions’ with the tax body to clarify and resolve matters.
A Melbourne council voted on Monday to rename itself after a public outcry over its name, which pays homage to a Jamaican slave estate.
The area in the city’s inner north was named Moreland by Farquhar McCrae after he acquired it in 1839, according to the council.
The meeting heard the name was in tribute to his family’s Jamaican plantation, which enslaved 500-700 people over the course of a century.
Wurundjeri Wow Wurrung elder Uncle Andrew Gardiner led the charge, saying the name represents global slavery and dispossession.
Moreland City Council mayors and councillors were at odds over the motion to change the name, voting six-to-three on Monday.
Greens councillor Angelica Panopoulos and mayor Lambros Tapinos voted in support of the motion, which also includes plans for a community education program.
Councillor Helen Pavlidis-Mihalakos was one of three to vote against the proposal, citing concerns about cost, the speed of the decision, “political” motivations, and a preference for letting the community decide.
The council motion has set aside $500,000 over the next two years to update the council’s digital platforms, significant buildings, and facilities.
An unvaccinated Greek commentator and publisher died of respiratory failure and resulting complications from COVID-19 COVID-19 on Tuesday.
It focuses public attention on the large number of older people in Greece who still haven’t received their shots as the country struggles with a spike in infections and deaths.
Giorgos Trangas, 71, who had diabetes, died at a state hospital in Athens after being admitted on Dec. 4 with severe breathing difficulties.
He was unvaccinated and had recently formed a small political party, “Free People,” that was critical of vaccine mandates and lockdown measures.
With a quarter of the adult population unvaccinated, Greece is suffering a third major surge of infections this winter with the COVID-19 death rate just below peak levels recorded a year ago.
The government has imposed a vaccination mandate on residents over age 60 to be enforced in January with a 100-euro ($110) monthly fine, while vaccination certificates will also expire after seven months for seniors who fail to get a booster shot.
Trangas’ doctor, Christos Zoupas, said he had pleaded with him to get vaccinated.
“I think he thought that he would just tough it out, the way he had with so many other things in his life, as if it’s like getting the flu,” Zoupas told state-run ERT television.
“I tried to persuade him to get vaccinated up until the last moment.”
Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday rebuffed a Turkish push for a two-state peace deal in Cyprus.
He said any talks should adhere to an UN-backed road map reunifying the island as a federation.
He said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart that regional challenges need to be countered based on international law instead of “aggressive activities or expansionist tendencies”.
Turkey is accusing Cyprus of supporting a peace deal that would serve its policy goal of exerting control over the east Mediterranean.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said that he conveyed to Shoukry his government’s “deep concern regarding Turkey’s increasingly revisionist and destabilising foreign policy” in the region.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aiming at union with Greece.
Only Turkey recognises a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s north where it keeps more than 35,000 troops.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said a prerequisite to reviving stalled peace talks is the recognition of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state as a legitimate legal entity on par with the internationally recognized Cyprus Republic.
Greek Cypriots fear a two-state deal would entrench Turkish control potentially over the entire island as well as hydrocarbon deposits off its shores.
Turkey doesn’t recognise Cyprus’ statehood and says that much of the sea around the island where the Cypriot government claims exclusive economic rights falls within its own continental shelf.
The Turkish government says a “unilateral” Greek Cypriot bid to carry out drilling off its shores ignores its rights — and those of Turkish Cypriots — to the region’s potential energy reserves.
The Cypriot government says Turkish claims contravene international law and the island’s sovereign rights.
Peace talks have been at a standstill since the last bid to reach a reunification agreement collapsed in the summer of 2017.
Colin Stewart, the new head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on Cyprus, will host Tatar and the island’s Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at an informal reception on Tuesday at an abandoned hotel inside a U.N. controlled buffer zone that cuts through the capital Nicosia.
The meeting is billed primarily as a social event geared toward breaking the ice between the two leaders in the absence of formal talks.
In Australia alone, there are over 235,000 children and teenagers who have taken on caring for a family member with a disability. These adult responsibilities mean they often miss out on many of the joys of childhood that most kids take for granted.
This Christmas, Margaret Skagias has decided to take matters into her own hands and bring some festive cheer to these young carers who often miss out.
Margaret Skagias in the toy workshop. All photos copyright: The Greek Herald / Andriana Simos.
Margaret’s charity, CaringKids, creates and delivers ‘Joy Boxes’ filled with children’s toys to carers aged 5 to 17 years old year-round. But she tells The Greek Herald that the boxes are extra special this Christmas because of the hardships and lockdowns people have had to endure this year.
“We do make Christmas for kids all year round because children who are young carers are caring every day of the week. There are no holidays. If someone in your family is not well, it doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas, it doesn’t matter if it’s school holidays, the caring role that people have in the family is every day,” Margaret says.
Caring Kids tries to spread Christmas to young carers all year round.
“So, at this time of the year, I think it is really important to celebrate children who give their love and their time and care to somebody else and to recognise them for all their efforts throughout the year.”
Take for example 14-year-old Ben and 11-year-old Annabelle. They have a little three-year-old sister, Cosette, who has been in hospital for most of her life. The siblings play an important role in Cosette’s life, caring for her and supporting their mum.
When they received their Joy Boxes from CaringKids, they couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces and Margaret says that’s the biggest reward of all.
14-year-old Ben and 11-year-old Annabelle care for their little three-year-old sister, Cosette (centre).
“The kids always get shocked and surprised but many of them ask, ‘Why? Why did I get this? Why did this person take the time?’,” Margaret says.
“It’s a good experience for parents to sit with them and explain that they are so proud of them that they helped look after the person in their family who is not well, and that they are really amazing and we’ve noticed them and they should enjoy some time for themselves too.”
The Greek Herald connection:
Of course, it must be noted that none of this is possible without the support of individuals, the local community and corporate groups who collect and donate new toys, games, stationery, art and craft materials and sport equipment to CaringKids to be included in the Joy Boxes.
One such individual was Despina Biniares who read about CaringKids in The Greek Herald recently and was spurred into action to donate hundreds of new children’s toys to the charity.
Despina Biniares with some of the products she donated.
Despina and a friend of hers once had a small business called ‘Cheeky Little Monkey,’ which distributed innovative products and toys to retailers such as Toys R Us. When Toys R Us went into receivership and administration, their final order was cancelled and Despina was left with hundreds of toys in storage for almost two years.
“The stock sort of sat there for a while and you know… we talk about connection and social media and networking platforms, so I follow your newspaper. I religiously buy it for my mum every single day,” Despina tells The Greek Herald.
Despina with Margaret in the toy workshop.
“I follow [The Greek Herald] on Instagram and I was just browsing through and I had seen your article feature about CaringKids and about Margaret and I thought to myself, ‘I can see the synergy. I can see that these products need to go to these guys.’
“I think the timing was all perfect as well because we were getting ready for Christmas.”
Since then, all of Despina’s brand new toys have been packed into Joy Boxes by a team of dedicated volunteers at a new warehouse in Banksmeadow, which is reminiscent of Santa’s workshop.
One of these volunteers is Jo Moses who does a lot of the administration work at Caring Kids. She processes toy orders as they come in and makes sure they’re recorded properly so that when it comes time to pack the Joy Boxes, volunteers know to include toys relevant to the child’s age, gender and any special interests.
Jo Moses preparing the Joy Boxes.
The new toy workshop for Caring Kids.
She tells The Greek Herald she loves volunteering at CaringKids and encourages others to donate more toys and help out.
“I was looking for a volunteer opportunity closer to home but I didn’t want anything that was meaningless. I wanted something that I found I could relate to having had children once,” Ms Moses says.
The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA) have called for the Parthenon Marbles to be returned to their rightful place in Greece.
In a GOCSA press release, the Community said it will be giving its “full and unwavering support towards Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that works tirelessly on this issue until absolute and complete justice is served.”
Full Statement in English:
Two hundred years have passed since the sculptures of the Parthenon were taken away from their rightful place to be carried and placed in the British Museum.
Millions of people visit the Greek treasures in the UK paying an entry fee, which means a lot of money has been collected all these years to end up in the treasuries of Britain.
We believe that we have waited quite long enough for the Greek sculptures to be returned to where they belong.
Photo by Jane Hobson/Shutterstock (4278102a) The Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles The Elgin Marbles at the British Museum, London, Britain – 06 Dec 2014.
A story that has been repeated in history so many times, a story about conquerors – trespassers and looters who did not respect the cultural heritage of a people to whom this is an “ancestral heritage”. Heritage that is not an individual property but the rightful property of an entire people, property that must receive respect and international protection, recognition and preservation and must be returned to where it belongs: To the Greek people!
The Annual General Meeting of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia convened on 28 November 2021, knowing what the historical reality is, insists that the time has come – and out of principal – for Britain to show the required understanding and accept the just request of Greece, of the Greek people and their respective governments to return the sculptures of the Parthenon to their rightful place, in Greece, where they were made and presented to the Greek people by the first highly-skilled sculptors almost three thousand years ago.
At the same time, the members of the Community express their full and unwavering support towards Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that works tirelessly on this issue until absolute and complete justice is served. We are and will remain in solidarity with Greece until final vindication.
Owning just one investment property may not be enough to retire in comfort, The Daily Telegraph reports.
But there are ways to work out what will deliver the property wealth you’ll need.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia chairman, Peter Koulizos, tells the newspaper “it all depends on what ‘retiring comfortably’ means to you.”
Mr Koulizos says people shouldn’t expect to live off one property’s rent because a big chunk of the income goes back into repairs, maintenance and property management fees.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia chairman, Peter Koulizos.
“To earn $100,000 of rental income you need the equivalent of about $2.5 million in property freehold,” he says.
Instead, Mr Koulizos says investors should start early, buy in a good location with strong capital growth potential, pay it off and be patient.
He says most people are wage earners and will also have superannuation at retirement.
“For me, super will pay for the necessities and property will pay for the niceties.”
There has been a massive rise in the number of early round offers being made to students nationally, according to data compiled by the ABC.
In fact, the figures show some universities have more than doubled their number of early offers, with many delivered before final exams have even begun.
Take for example Western Sydney University (WSU), which has seen early offers rising from 7,000 in 2019 to 15,000 in 2020.
Western Sydney University.
Angelo Kourtis from WSU told the national broadcaster that the increase in early offers was an acknowledgement the ATAR could be a “blunt instrument” for measuring student ability.
“We recognise that students are more than just the ATAR,” he said. “We think it actually disadvantages many students, especially students from regions.”
Mr Kourtis said that internal analysis done by the university shows they are actually recruiting better students with these early offers as well.
There has been a rising number of students across Australia given early university entry offers.
“We found their performance is as good, and in some instances better, than students who were admitted solely on the basis of the year 12 result,” Mr Kourtis said.
Early admission selection criteria can include individual subject and exam marks, Year 11 results, or the portfolio work of creative arts students.
However, proponents also point out many early round offers were conditional, meaning students must still complete their final exams.
The President of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, paid a visit to Shedia Home on Monday to witness the incredible work they do to support vulnerable people in the community.
Shedia Home was founded in 2019 by Greek Australian journalist and former The Greek Herald reporter, Chris Alefantis, as a way to energise, empower, train and create job opportunities for the poorest people in Greece.
Shedia is Greece’s only street magazine, which is sold by and in aid of homeless and jobless people.
Sakellaropoulou met with people from Shedia. Photo: shedia.streetpaper / Twitter.
During her visit to Shedia Home, Sakellaropoulou talked with five vendors of the street magazine from Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as Mr Alefantis and Eleni Gabriel, a worker in the Shedia Home kitchen.
The discussions were around homelessness and its challenges, as well as the additional obstacles posed by the current coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Alefantis also shared with the Greek President the extensive research that has been conducted on the social impact of Shedia, stressing how nine out of ten readers said the magazine changed their lives and made them more socially active.
Mr Alefantis took Sakellaropoulou on a tour of Shedia Home. Photo: shedia.streetpaper / Twitter.
“Essentially, we hope that ‘Shedia’ does not need to exist one day. That is, there should be no vulnerable social groups,” Mr Alefantis said.
For her part, Sakellaropoulou listened attentively and was visibly excited to hear the stories of how Shedia has supported people.
The President left with the promise of return, after receiving a small gift from the people of Shedia for her office.
