Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was sent crashing out of the quarter-finals by Polish 26th seed Hubert Hurkacz as the upsets continued at the Miami Open on Thursday.
A day after top seed Daniil Medvedev was bundled out of the tournament, Tsitsipas was sent packing 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on the Hard Rock Stadium’s Grandstand Court in 2hr 20min.
Tsitsipas exited the tournament after a tense encounter that saw the 22-year-old Greek given a time violation after the second set for taking too long to change his shirt and headband.
The world number five was also reportedly involved in a tense exchange with officials before the match after refusing to share a golf cart with Hurkacz used to ferry players to the court.
Stefanos Tsitsipas beaten 6-2 3-6 4-6 by Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals of the Miami open. Photo: Getty Images
There was no sign that incident had unsettled Tsitsipas early on, however, as he dominated a one-sided first set to win 6-2.
Tsitsipas then quickly broke Hurkacz at the start of the second on the way to a 2-0 lead.
But just when it appeared the match was heading for a brisk conclusion, Hurkacz finally found his range.
After staving off two break points at 15-40 in the third game, Hurkacz went on to hold and then broke to level the set at 2-2.
Another break of serve in the eighth game put Hurkacz 5-3 up and he made no mistake on his next service game, clinching the set with an angled drop shot that left Tsitsipas scrambling to the net.
Tsitsipas demanded an appearance from the tournament supervisor at the end of the second set after being given a time warning by the umpire.
The momentum was with Hurkacz in the third and seized control with a break in the fifth game, which would ultimately prove decisive as the Pole closed out the win.
Former Metro Trains manager Peter Bollas is under investigation by Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) for tipping off a cleaning company about a surprise COVID-19 cleaning audit during Melbourne’s deadly second coronavirus wave last year.
IBAC is holding an inquiry into alleged corrupt payments from a cleaning company to two public transport officials, including Peter Bollas and Transclean employee Steven Kyritsis.
Today’s IBAC hearing, ABC News reports, heard an intercepted phone call in which Mr Bollas gave advance warning to Transclean about a surprise COVID-19 cleaning audit.
Metro Trains assured the public in March that enhanced cleaning was being undertaken on all trains “to keep people safe”.(Supplied: Metro Trains)
The tapped phone call played today revealed Mr Bollas giving dates and times of the surprise cleaning audits to Transclean employee, Steven Kyritsis, and also telling him to improve their special COVID-sanitising procedure, inferring it might not be up to standard.
“The spraying needs to get better,” Mr Bollas told Mr Kyritsis on July 13, referring to the microbial spraying mandated by Metro to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
Transclean provided cleaning services to V/Line and Metro Trains, and last year Mr Bollas admitted to IBAC he received up to $150,000 in corrupt cash payments from Transclean.
“If you need to put an extra person on there … put a f***ing extra person and that’ll show your extra hours.
“Do not f*** it up.”
Mr Kyritsis responded by saying he had “redone all the documentation for North (Melbourne station), refilled, checked it”.
But under questioning at the IBAC hearing, Mr Kyritsis denied their cleaning was not adequate and public safety was at risk.
Scientists have been working for more than a century to decipher the Antikythera Mechanism, which is a hand-powered, 2,000-year-old device used by ancient Greek’s to calculate astronomical positions.
Now researchers at University College London (UCL) believe they have solved the mystery of the ‘world’s oldest computer’ by building a digital replica with a working gear system at the front – the piece that has eluded the scientific community since 1901.
Using a combination of X-ray images and ancient Greek mathematical analysis, the team decoded the design of the front gear to match physical evidence and inscriptions etched in the bronze.
Computer model of how the Antikythera mechanism may have worked. Photograph: UCL / The Guardian.
The digital result shows a center dome representing Earth that is surrounded by the moon phase, the sun, Zodiac constellations and rings for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
“Ours is the first model that conforms to all the physical evidence and matches the descriptions in the scientific inscriptions engraved on the Mechanism itself,” lead researcher, Professor Tony Freeth, says in the journal Scientific Reports.
“The Sun, Moon and planets are displayed in an impressive tour de force of ancient Greek brilliance.”
Thinking behind the new research:
In 1901, divers looking for sponges off the coast of Antikythera, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, stumbled upon a Roman-era shipwreck that held the highly sophisticated astronomical calculator.
The Antikythera Mechanism has baffled scientists for years.
The Antikythera Mechanism has since captivated the scientific community and the world with wonder, but has also sparked an investigation into how an ancient civilisation fashioned such an incredible device.
Michael Wright, a former curator of mechanical engineering at the Science Museum in London, pieced together much of how the mechanism operated and built a working replica, but researchers have never had a complete understanding of how the device functioned. Their efforts have not been helped by the remnants surviving in 82 separate fragments.
Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the UCL team describe how they drew on the work of Wright to work out new gear arrangements that would move the planets and other bodies in the correct way. The solution allows nearly all of the mechanism’s gearwheels to fit within a space only 25mm deep.
Pictured is the digital construction of the front gear system. Photo: nature.com / UCL.
The researchers believe the work brings them closer to a true understanding of how the Antikythera device displayed the heavens, but it is not clear whether the design is correct or could have been built with ancient manufacturing techniques.
The concentric rings that make up the display would need to rotate on a set of nested, hollow axles, but without a lathe to shape the metal, it is unclear how the ancient Greeks would have manufactured such components.
“The concentric tubes at the core of the planetarium are where my faith in Greek tech falters, and where the model might also falter,” Adam Wojcik, a materials scientist at UCL, told The Guardian.
Greek kefi was on full display at George’s Mediterranean Bar & Grill in Sydney on March 27, as the local Greek community gathered to celebrate the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution.
Attendees of the Greek Independence Dinner, which was organised by the owner of the restaurant, George Vardis, along with co-organisers Christina Tsatsoulis and Nikos Andriotakis, danced and sang until the early hours of the morning.
Everyone enjoyed the night. Photos: Vasilis Vasilas.
Throughout the night, they were also treated to professional dancing performances from St Dimitrios Dance Group, as well as music from Grigory Golas on the klarino, Michalis Platyrrahos on the laouto, Yiannis Polkas on the guitar and Chrystoforos Skenderidis playing the keyboard. The sound mix itself was organised by Bill Iliadis and Byron from Enmore Theatre.
The event was hailed a great success by all who visited the family restaurant on King Street Wharf, including those hundreds of passerby’s who stopped to record and share in the celebrations on the night!
The Cretan Federation of Australia & New Zealand and the Battle of Crete & Greece Commemorative Council in conjunction with Major League Brands, are proud to announce that six iconic images all relating to the Battle of Crete will feature on the BAKERS FINEST Commemorative Anzac Biscuit Tins. These tins – which contain Anzac biscuits – are produced by Major League Brands with proceeds going to the RSL to support its work assisting veterans and their families.
All six tins have been dedicated to the 80th Anniversary for the Battle of Crete with images including: (a) Three Stuka Force planes screaming down, the seaside town of Chania, showing peaceful serenity which eventually gave way for a devastating attack, (b) The airborne invasion as the menacing spectacle that confronted the ANZAC and Allied Forces, (c) The Australian RAF Spitfire crew including Australia airmen returning from Rethymnon, (d) Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, (e) Canberra’s Australian War Memorial and (f) Sydney’s ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park.
Each edition of the tin is adorned with a historic image from Australia’s ANZAC legend. This is the second time that an image from the Greece and Crete campaigns has featured on the tins. The first was in 2017 with The image of the diggers on the Acropolis, resting beneath the famous Caryatids of the Erechtheion, symbolising the experience of Greece and its culture by the thousands of Australian soldiers and nurses during the campaign in Greece and Crete.
Mr Tsourdalakis, who is President of the Cretan Federation of Australia & New Zealand, said that it was a great honour to have Crete and its connection to Anzac chosen to feature on this year’s commemorative tins. He thanked Mr. Matt Usher from Major League Brands for accepting the proposal to dedicate this years Tins to the 80th Anniversary for the Battle of Crete.
“This recognition will bring the Anzac connection to Greece into tens of thousands of homes across Australia. This is a great initiative for all of us interested in raising awareness of the Anzacs in Crete in 1941 and more generally for the whole of the Hellenic community in Australia,” Mr Tsourdalakis said.
Battle of Crete & Greece Commemorative Council Chairman, Mr. Jim Papadimitriou, pointed out that the photographs are very unique photographs of the Australian involvement in the Battle of Crete held in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Both Mr Tsourdalakis and Mr Papadimitriou, urged members of the community to purchase their own Commemorative Anzac Biscuit Tins to support the RSL’s work and to have a beautiful reminder and memento of the year when Anzacs came to Greece in WW2 – before they sell-out!
Mr Tsourdalakis also stated that the Federations National program of events commemorating the 80th Anniversary for the Battle of Crete would be announced in coming days, including events in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and in New Zealand.
The Tins can currently be purchased at all major Woolworths, Coles and Aldi stores across Australia.
Anyone who knows me well would know that I’m an avid reader of all things romantic fiction, so when I was asked to review Peter Prineas’ new book, Wild Colonial Greeks, I have to admit I was a bit hesitant.
The book’s blurb spoke of all things history and “colonial times” and a quick flick through the pages made me aware of an over 50-page reference list – all things I typically don’t look for in a book.
But boy, was I wrong! From the minute I started reading, I was hooked.
Bringing colonial Greeks to life:
Wild Colonial Greeks not only brought to life Greeks who arrived on Australian shores in colonial times, but it also expertly weaved in how colonial Australia viewed these Greeks at the time through frequent newspaper reports.
Two Greeks who stood out to me in particular were the goldfields doctor, Spiridion Candiottis, and Melbourne port hotelier, Andreas Lagogiannis. Spiridion drew my attention due to his clear surgical skill and fight to be recognised as a legitimate doctor in Clermont, Queensland. The tragic circumstances of the death of his daughter, Eugenie, also highlighted the extreme hardships these Greeks faced in a foreign land.
Peter launched his book ‘Wild Colonial Greek’ in March.
Andreas on the other hand, surprised me for totally different reasons. He was constantly fighting to defend his name and honour in the local court and although some would say he didn’t understand the culture of the place, in my opinion he came across as someone who wasn’t willing to give up no matter what hardship was thrown his way.
Now, it must be mentioned here that as someone who is in the 20-30 age bracket, these specific stories resonated with me the most because the way they were written made me feel as though I wasn’t reading a historical book, but rather a narrative of the everyday lives of everyday people.
However, that’s not the only reason why the book is so relatable. In fact, I can definitely see how others might relate to the book even just for the simple fact that it focuses on migration stories and helps people understand how Greeks contributed to multicultural Australia right from the very beginning.
The first Greek:
And then of course there was one of the main aspects of Prineas’ book – its attempt to push back the date of Greek settlement in Australia by nearly six years.
Back in August 2020, I wrote a historical article for The Greek Herald about “the arrival of the first Greeks in 1829.” They were, according to the article, Georgios Vasilakis, Gikas Voulgaris, Georgios Laritsos, Antonis Manolis, Damianos Ninis, Nikolaos Papandreas and Konstantinos Strompolis. With this information already in my mind, I was unsure whether Prineas would be able to convince me that Greek settlement had actually occurred years before the arrival of these men, but he does.
Prineas points to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald dated June 28, 1878, which mentions the funeral at Castle Hill of a ‘George Manuel or George Emanuel’ who is said to have lived in the colony for 76 years – that would mean he arrived in Australia much earlier than the seven convicts.
Now, while I won’t spoil the rest of the supportive evidence for the readers of this article, I can guarantee you that Prineas makes some valid points for his argument that George was the first Greek to arrive in Australia. Valid enough to give his new book, Wild Colonial Greeks, a solid 9 / 10 rating. Although some chapters could’ve been shorter, with less newspaper references at times, I would still recommend this book to anyone who’s interested!
Jill Taylor (Nikitakis), Fronditha Care President and Board Chair, addressed over 50 members who attended an information session on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at Fronditha Care Mulgrave Hub.
She noted that the past few months, (since the appointment of new Directors in late November 2020), had been a time of a transition for Fronditha Care: “The new Board set about consolidating changes to governance arrangements in December and appointed new CEO, Faye Spiteri in February 2021, to address the serious financial challenges faced.”
She added: “The new Directors have the requisite financial expertise in service delivery, governance and connection to community to swiftly move the organisation in the direction it needed to go. We introduced new measures to ensure strong financial governance and rapidly set about working with the CEO in implementing organisational change to deliver financial sustainability.”
Jill Taylor (Nikitakis) advised the meeting: “We want to work in the long-term interest of the organisation and you -its members, and further we want as a Board and Executive to be transparent. We faced significant financial issues in 2020 which were accumulating at an unsustainable rate. So, to redress this we immediately focused on building financial capability alongside management and operational capability.”
Fronditha Care President addressing the meeting on Tuesday. Photo supplied.
Taylor (Nikitakis) gave an in-depth report to the members about the critical financial issues the organisation had been facing and its grim future, with an inability of the then management to undertake a strategic review of organisational operations and costs to recalibrate.
She advised of the steps taken to address these and the positive results already seen in a relatively short period, expressing optimism about the organisation’s future fortunes. She added: “We moved forward with fundamental and rapid changes, established stronger fiduciary oversight at the Board and Executive level without compromising the quality of care and service delivery, mitigated the liquidity risks, and just today finalised contracts and secured a loan for our major capital works.”
The President noted that the new St Albans facility is expected to open in the next few months, and cater for 90 residents in total while improvements to other facilities are scheduled to start in the upcoming months.
The CEO and Executive enacted its strategy “Framing the Way Forward – A 90 Day Transformation Plan” with the first stage being a restructure at Corporate level focused on a function review and efficiencies and review of Master Rosters in Residential Services.
The President emphasised that quality of care has not been compromised and no care staff lost their jobs, either in Community or Residential Services. At the same time, the assessment of the Master Roster in the five residential facilities has produced millions of dollars of savings.
Fronditha Care’s President, Jill Taylor (Nikitakis).
“We haven’t compromised the quality of care, we just learned to work differently, more efficiently to deliver the same results to the people we care for,” she added.
With an eye to the future, the organisation has established short and long-term strategic goals that will see Fronditha Care flourish and evolve its model of care and service delivery over a 20-year action plan, 10-year strategy and rolling implementation plans.
She concluded: “The result of our actions is already tangible, and we conservatively anticipate that Fronditha Care will be back in a profitable position by December 2022. Fronditha Care is an agile and robust organisation. We are confident that we will keep delivering services to the community for many more decades, and the team and I are optimistic and excited about the organisation’s future.”
Attendees asked questions and made comments and congratulated the Board, CEO and Executive team for their hard work and the significant positive turnaround and results they managed to deliver in such a short period, noting they looked forward to future information sessions on organisational progress.
Former star athlete and current MP, Sofia Sakorafa, became the first woman to head the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS), Greece’s oldest sports federation, following an online vote on Wednesday.
SEGAS was founded in 1897 to represent all sports, before they split off to form federations of their own and currently focuses on track and field sports.
Sakorafa was born in 1957 in Trikala and has held multiple records and awards in national and international javelin events. In 1982, she achieved a world record throwing the javelin 74.20m, a record she maintained to 1983.
Former star athlete and current MP, Sofia Sakorafa, has become the first woman to head the Hellenic Athletics Federation.
She holds 17 national records, improving her previous records by over 30m. In international meets, she gained bronze in the European games of Athens (1982), gold in the Split games (1979) and bronze in the Latakia games (1987).
She graduated from the then-National Academy of Physical Training in Thessaloniki and after leaving the sports arena became a politician.
She was elected in Parliament for the first time with PASOK in Athens (2007) and was expelled by the party in 2010 after refusing to vote for the first bailout. She has served as MP and MEP with Syriza, and as of 2019, serves as MP of MeRA25.
Turkish fighter jets flew over two Greeks islands and violated Greek airspace on Wednesday, while on the ground, Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, was holding a meeting with Turkey’s Ambassador to Athens, Burak Ozugergin.
According to a statement by the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), a pair of Turkish F-16 fighter jets flew over the Makronisi and Anthropofagoi islets in the eastern Aegean. The overflight was at 11.29 am at an altitude of 20,500 feet. A minute later, a separate pair of F-16s flew over the same islets at 13,500 feet.
This came as Dendias met with Ozugergin to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments ahead of the Greek minister’s likely visit to Turkey on April 14, the state-run Athens-Macedonia news agency reported.
Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, met with Turkey’s Ambassador to Athens, Burak Ozugergin, on Wednesday.
Diplomatic sources said Dendias reiterated Athens’ call that Ankara refrain from provocations that risk escalating tensions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Ankara on Tuesday accused Athens of violating the rights of its Muslim minority, which it calls “Turkish,” and of pursuing policies directed against Turkey, saying Greece should instead “abide by international law.”
Dendias said statements of this sort do not help consolidate a constructive climate between the two Aegean neighbors, the same sources said.
April Fools’ Day — on April 1 each year — has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures. Traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ Day prank.
While its exact history and origins are shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools’ Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.
Origins of April Fools Day:
There are two scenarios regarding the origins of April Fools’ Day. One version says the tradition originates with the Celts. The Celtic fishing season begun on April 1st but during that period, there were not that many fish, leading the fishermen to lie about the amount of fish that they caught.
Another, more historically acceptable version regarding the origins of April Fools day, dates back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. This switch meant New Year’s would be celebrated on January 1st instead of April 1st. The people of France were divided in two – with some opposing the change and continuing with the celebration on April 1st, while others accepted the change but continued to send New Year’s presents on April 1st as a tease.
April Fools Day in Greece:
Since Greece belongs to Europe, the April Fools tradition spread throughout the country as well, with a slightly different version.
The basic idea was that Greeks started telling small, innocent lies on April 1st, thinking that whoever manages to trick the “victim,” will have luck along his/her side for the rest of the year.
In other parts, it is believed that the person who plays the trick, will have good crops.
In addition, if it rains on April Fools’ Day, in some parts in Greece, the water is believed to have healing powers.
