An international drug-trafficking ring has been dismantled by the Greek police in collaboration with the Greek coast guard, police announced on Tuesday.
In a major operation, three Albanian nationals were arrested in the sea around the island of Psara and another suspect was arrested on the island of Agistri.
The perpetrators were attempting to transport drugs to Turkey in two speed boats when they were intercepted by the authorities.
Police seized 1,172 kilos of cannabis but the perpetrators managed to throw a large quantity of heroin overboard that has not yet been recovered.
The three Albanians have been temporarily detained by order of a Mytilene prosecutor while a fourth suspect will be led before the prosecutor on Tuesday.
The era of cafes run by Greek migrants were a phenomenon in Australia, and it’s not just the Greeks who think so.
Toni Risson, an Australian author raised in Ipswich, has dedicated most of her life’s work to Greek cafes.
“The first book I wrote was called ‘Aphrodite and the Mixed Grill’, Aphrodite being the featuring women’s stories. That really helped me to explore what the Greek café phenomenon was, and I used Ipswich, which was where I lived, as a case study, and I just went street by street, I found them all, just to show how many there were,” said Ms Risson.
“I realised what an incredible phenomenon they were, and how big a deal they were, and how much of an impact they had on Australian’s lives, that’s where we bought everything, where we ate everything, where we went out, where we met our friends, they were the social life of the community.”
Ms Risson reflected on the significance of the Greek cafes in Queensland’s social scene, as they would be the only shops open that would gather crowds after late night activities, like going to the picture theatres.
“They would be serving tea and coffee and sandwiches and closing up at midnight, back again at 6 in the morning,” said Toni.
Ms Risson released another book in May this year, called ‘Brisbane’s Greek Cafes’, which was a project requested by the State Library of Queensland, after awarding Toni Risson a fellowship in 2016. She then entered this book into the Queensland Literary Awards, where it became a finalist in the People’s Choice category.
“People being interested in cafes, and government institutions actually seeing the worth of the story, it’s important because it’s not really a story that has been very well known,” said Toni.
“Stories are going to be lost if we don’t get them out now.”
Christie’s Cafe, Brisbane.
Ms Risson was inspired to apply for the fellowship at the State Library from her familiarity with the Christie’s Café, which she had heard about constantly from the older generation.
“They just spoke about it as if it was the most glamorous, upmarket, special place…So I thought, ‘I really want to find out about this place’…It’s very vivid and prominent in old people’s memories in Brisbane,” said Toni.
Toni was invited to curate an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland, about Greek cafes across Queensland, called Meet me at the Paragon.
The exhibition includes, replica booths, menus, architectural installations, photographic portraits, stories and more.
The exhibition starts from Friday 27 September, 2019 to Sunday 15 March, 2020.
Voting for her book, ‘Brisbane Greek Cafes’, in the Queensland Literary Awards for the People’s Choice category, closes on October 14. The competition is determined by public vote. The competition also offers the opportunity for library members to request that their local library add the book to their library.
Book cover of Brisbane’s Greek Cafes.
“I would just love Greek people to know that a book about Greek cafes is in this competition…this little book is just the David in this Goliath story,” said Ms Risson.
“It’s part of our history. It’s new research, no one has ever covered these stories.”
If you would like to vote for ‘Brisbane Greek Cafes’, follow the link here.
“In the 160 years of continuous operation as Waverley Council, some 70 men have held the position of Mayor. In this time, there have been only five female Mayors, and my election makes me the sixth, so I pay tribute to the women who have gone before me,” Mayor Masselos said.
“When I chose to run for Council seven years ago, it was because I have a great love and respect for our beautiful local government area. We do have some of the most iconic areas on the planet – such as Bondi and the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk.”
Paula is the Managing Director of Embrace Society which is a communications agency specialising in hard to reach audiences and in values based behaviour change, community engagement, advertising and communications, and creative strategy and development.
Paula is a highly experienced and award winning strategist and communicator with a career spanning almost 35 years. She has held a number of senior positions including Director SBS Radio. She was also the Director of Education in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
“In the next 12 months we will continue to beautify our public places, protect our local neighbourhood centres and villages and fully engage in continuing to make our suburbs liveable and walkable. I will continue to advocate for high quality and reliable public transport to help address the increasing congestion on our roads and streets.
She was Chair of Sydney’s Carnivale Multicultural Arts Festival and served for six years as a Community Relations Commissioner in NSW. She was on the National Women’s Advisory Council and shaped multicultural TV broadcasting as a member of the Ethnic Television Review Panel. Paula has been a Breast Cancer Network of Australia Media Ambassador and participated in the Field of Dreams.
“I also have a commitment to support our businesses, and in particular our small, local neighbourhood businesses. In the next six months we will piloting some activation projects that will support local businesses and serve as an attractor to residents and visitors alike.”
“In closing, I pledge honesty, transparency and integrity.”
Australia is now fostering fourth and fifth generation Greeks, for the first time in history. Naturally, this generation of Greek Australians are losing the ability to speak and learn the language and culture of their heritage.
“There have been countless initiatives and efforts to preserve Greek Language and Culture education in Australia, but achieving this is becoming increasingly difficult with the influence of pop culture, technology and globalisation,” said Ms Karanicolas
“Modern Greek education must evolve with current trends in teaching pedagogies and by doing so, we will access more of our Greek youth and create an engaging learning experience that aligns with students interests and is contextual to their Australian environment.”
Simone is an Adelaide-based dynamic primary and secondary school Greek teacher and a rock musician who uses YouTube, gaming technology and a movement-based approach to engage youth in second language learning.
In her current workplace at Prospect Primary School, ‘Miss Asimina’ has created an immersive and captivating Greek language program despite only seeing each class once a week. She draws upon her study and experiences as a rock performer, musician and producer in multiple Adelaide-based bands to create educational Greek songs on YouTube using famous pop song melodies.
Within the film clips, she uses popular dancing and acts multiple character roles to express Australian-Greek family dynamics. These approaches not only draw in her students, but diverse audiences globally.
From the creation of her YouTube channel one year ago, the channel has since gained 500 subscribers and over 20,000 video views accumulatively.
Through her passion for teaching, music and the Greek language and culture, Ms Karanicolas strives to bring Greek language learning to the forefront of contemporary education.
The lecture is a joint initiative with the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria.
When: Thursday 3 October 2019 | 7:00pm
Where: The Greek Centre, Mezzanine Level, 168 Lonsdale Street , Melbourne
Language: English.
The late Palasa Salvi (Miriklis) has been honoured with a garden named after her. The garden in Howard Park, Goulburn, was officially opened on Tuesday.
There was a large turnout of family and friends for the opening, which flourished into a reunion of for the Greek and Italian communities of Goulburn.
Palasa Salvi was a migrant from Greece who ran The Empire Cafe, in Goulburn, from 1949. She was nominated for Gouldburn’s Lilac Queen competition in 1953 to represent the Greek community, and won the award.
Not only was she crowned the Lilac Queen, but she helped build the bridge between post-war migrants and cultural integration into local Australian communities.
Palasa’s family came from the war-ravaged Greek island of Kastellorizo.
In a short memoir she wrote before her death, she said winning the competition altered her life.
“The confined life of a Greek migrant was suddenly changed,” she wrote.
“Non-Greeks had helped our efforts and shown a new warmth. Overnight I was well-liked and a town celebrity. I raised my sights.”
Young Palasa Miriklis married Peter Salvi and together they ran the Empire Fish Cafe.
Mrs Salvi, who died in November 2017, remained a big supporter of the country’s longest-running festival.
At the opening of the garden, Goulburn Mulware Mayor Bob Kirk paid tribute to her and her family.
“She was very much a bridge between the local Greek and Italian and wider communities,” Kirk said.
“She was a model of post-war multicultural integration.”
“She helped out with the Crescent School, St Saviour’s Neighbourhood Centre and the Greek Church,” he said.
“It is fitting that the council has chosen to dedicate this garden to her and even more fitting to do so at the start of Lilac Time.”
Her son Bepi Salvi also spoke at the opening.
“Mum had three identities. She was a proud Greek. She was accepted in the Italian community, but she was always Goulburn,” he said.
“Back in those days, the Greek community was 150 strong and they did quite well. She loved her Greek community here and there are a lot of them still here and they contribute a lot to the city.”
Gary Groves also spoke, saying Palasa was symbolic of the post-war contribution migrants made to Australia.
“When she arrived here, she could have held back, hurt by a slurry of anti-migrant jests, but instead she reached out, befriended all and sundry and volunteered on many fronts in a six-decade-long engagement with the Goulburn community,” he said.
Lilac bushes have been planted along the boundary of the garden. Goulburn’s Lilac City Festival returns this weekend.
We all know about how delicious Santorini wine is, but what about the other regions in Greece?
Become an expert. Take a friend and head along to The World of Greek Wine Program when TAFE NSW Sydney Wine Academy will open its doors to people interested in learning about the wonderful world of Greek Wines.
Its a simple three hour course that will explore the ancient and modern history of Greece, its four iconic grape varieties and the different wine regions located throughout Greece.
Delivered in partnership with Greece’s National wine body, the National Inter-Professional Organization of Vine and Wine of Greece, TAFE NSW Sydney Wine Academy is the first and only academy outside Greece able to offer this certificate.
“This program is very unique as it is the only one of it’s kind taught in Australia. It allows students to explore an area of wine which they may not know much about in our wine sensory centre and fully equipped wine tasting classrooms.
With a focus on some of Greece’s most famous indigenous grape varieties and their regions, students come away with a thorough understanding of Greek Wines.” said Sydney Wine Academy Course Director, Clive Hartley
The World of Greek Wine Program, will take place on Saturday 21 September 2019 at the TAFE NSW Sydney Wine Academy at Ryde.
The Cycladic island of Milos has been voted the ‘Best Island of Europe’ for 2019 by readers of the foremost U.S. travel magazine “Travel and Leisure”, with three more Greek islands – Crete, Paros and Santorini, respectively – occupying second, fourth and fifth positions in the same category.
Greece “rules the list” according to the author of the article “The Top 15 Islands in Europe,” with four islands in the top five. About Milos, she notes that the famous ‘Venus de Milo’ statue was found there while present attractions include its traditional Cycladic villages, volcanic craters, ruins, white sand beaches and turquoise waters – plus being affordable and largely free of the crowds seen on other Greek islands.
The four Greek islands also occupy prominent positions on the ‘Best Islands in the World’ list, where Milos ranks fourth, Crete seventh, Paros 11th and Santorini 14th. Among their advantages, according to readers, are their natural beauty, fine food and ancient civilisation.
The prizes will be awarded on July 16 in New York, with the prize for Milos to be accepted by the deputy head of the U.S. National Tourism Organisation office, Maria Kritharioti.
A wildfire in Moria hotspot broke out yesterday, leaving at least 2 refugees dead. It has not been confirmed yet whether there are more casualties.
It was reported the fire broke out due to an electricity short circuit.
A forensic examination is underway of the charred corpse of a woman, which was transferred from Moria to Lesvos General Hospital on Sunday evening by a local individual.
Police are trying to reach the burnt housing containers where a second corpse, of a child, is reportedly located, police sources say.
Meanwhile, additional police forces are being deployed to Lesvos to help contain clashes between camp residents and local police.
In a statement by police headquarters, the upheaval broke out after two fires that occurred separately, first outside and then inside Moria camp.
Furthermore, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Lefteris Economou, along with the Chief of Police and the Secretary General for Migration Policy are heading to Lesvos.
The first fire occurred 400 meters outside the camp, while a second fire occurred twenty minutes later at a housing unit inside the camp, which was destroyed while flames spread to adjacent housing units.
Witnesses also shared reports of police responding with tear gas and abuse, to contain the panic.
Humanitarian aid organisation, Movement On The Ground, wrote on their social media:
“Unfortunately we can’t say that we are shocked. Over a month ago we rang the alarm that the situation in and around Moria was extremely worrying. And today, despite all our efforts we regret it was in vain for the souls we lost today,” they said.
“We continue our mission as we are here to serve the people but we realize more than ever this situation needs to change.”
The repatriation of the 50,000 tourists stranded at 13 different locations in Greece following the bankruptcy of travel agency Thomas Cook will be completed by the beginning of October, Deputy Tourism Minister Manolis Konsolas said on Monday.
Konsolas added that some 6,331 tourists at South Aegean islands have already been returned to their home countries, soon to be followed by the remaining 958.
Thomas Cook said it had been forced to seek insolvency to extricate itself from its UK parent company’s “financial tie-ups and related liabilities”.
Under EU package holiday rules, tourists are covered financially from a company’s insolvency as well as have the right to repatriation.
Private sector workers in Greece have caused havoc as transport links, the finance sector and media agencies walked off the job on Wednesday for the second time in two weeks. This 24-hour nationwide strike is in protest against labour reforms planned by the country’s recently-elected conservative government.
Athens airport services and railways in and beyond the capital were severely affected.
Ferries serving islands also stopped their service and the journalists’ union announced a media shutdown for the duration of the strike.
A rally in Athens city centre caused large traffic jams throughout the city. Protesters marched through the city chanting “Hands off strikes, hands off unions!” The rally was organized by GSEE, Greece’s largest union, which represents around 2.5 million workers.
The unions have accused the government of trying to control or weaken them.
“Once again, the few on strike inconvenienced the many,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The conservative politician claims that the new regulations would encourage greater investment and allow economic growth beyond 2%.
The bill is also aimed to tackle unemployment, which currently sits at 17%, the highest of any Eurozone country.
The proposed law would also require a turnout of more than 50% at any future strike action for it to be valid.
The controversial bill will be discussed in parliament later in the month.
