A Western Sydney high school is in lockdown after a teenage boy was stabbed several times.
The 14-year-old student was stabbed at Arthur Phillips High School in Parramatta around 8.30am.
Emergency services treated the boy for stab wounds to his back and arm before he was taken to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead for further treatment.
“Officers from Parramatta Police Area Command have established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident,” NSW Police have said in a statement.
Arthur Phillip High was sent into lockdown after a student was stabbed. Picture: TNV
No arrests have been made as yet.
Arthur Phillip is the first public high-rise school in NSW.
Only last week, the school published an update on their website urging students, parents and staff to download the NSW Schools app to “be prepared for any emergency.”
“The NSW School Updates App was created to help our parents and carers check on the status of their school during last summer’s bushfire season. And it’s been invaluable during COVID when schools were required to close for deep cleaning,” the message said.
The 47th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic Uprising was commemorated on Sunday with a special event organised by the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOCNSW) and the Combined Universities Greek Association (CUGA).
Held at the Greek Community Club in Lakemba at 4pm, the event began with a minute silence followed by the national anthems of Greece and Australia sung by students from the Community’s schools.
Wreaths were laid by representatives of the Greek community.
The national anthems of Greece and Australia were sung by students from the schools of the GOCNSW.
In attendance was the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Mr Christos Karras, as well as other representatives of Greek communities across Sydney and many university students. They laid wreaths at a special cenotaph set up at the front of the stage.
During a speech addressing the audience, Mr Karras said the commemoration was important to honour all those who struggled for the values of democracy and freedom during the Polytechnic Uprising.
The Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Mr Christos Karras, gave a speech.
University students Kosta Plegas and Joanna Kolevris from the University of Sydney gave the history of the day.
“Today’s anniversary reminds us that the battle for the defence of democracy and freedom should be ongoing and intangible. The messages of the Polytechnic Uprising remain as relevant as ever,” Mr Karras said.
Speeches were followed by a number of poem recitals from students of the Community’s schools as well as the University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University.
The event was attended by a number of primary and high school students, as well as university students.
A small play titled, Ραδιοφωνικός Σταθμός Φοιτητών, was also proudly performed by students Maria Kakalis, Anna Andromeda, Gregoris Angelis and Stefania Gounara from the Saturday high school of the GOCNSW, under the direction of their teacher, Maria Xyloporta.
The commemoration event was concluded by a beautiful singing performance from students of the Community’s schools, being guided by piano teacher Maria Sikiaridis, as well as music from Sotiris Procopiou.
A small play titled, Ραδιοφωνικός Σταθμός Φοιτητών, was proudly performed by students.
Greece marked Armed Forces Day on Saturday with a video projected onto the Hellenic Parliament facade showcasing the history and struggles of the Greek army for the protection of the homeland since ancient times.
Among the projected historical battles was the Battle of Marathon, the Greek Revolution of 1821 and frigates of the Greek Navy apparently ready to meet the Turkish challenge.
One of the projections also had a religious theme featuring the Virgin Mary, who is the patron of the Greek Armed Forces.
The video triggered reactions and controversy online, with Greek people in lockdown taking to social media to voice their objections.
Αυτό προβάλεται στη Βουλή την ημέρα που η Τουρκική NAVTEX είναι στα 6 μίλια απ τη Ρω. pic.twitter.com/Qv9iAeAWZw
“This is projected on Parliament the day the Turkish NAVTEX is 6 nautical miles off the island of Kastellorizo,” writes Twitter user, Andreas Kallioras.
Older generations described the video as “creepy,” saying it reminded them of the military dictatorship and its main slogan “Homeland – Religion – Family.”
“The symbol of my teenage nightmare in parliament. The symbol of intolerance and fundamentalism. The symbol of SKASE, DO NOT SPEAK, the symbol of mafia and masculinity, the symbol of FEAR, the symbol of the deniers,” wrote Τριριτζάντζουλα.
Others found “inappropriate” the projection of “warmongering, national-christian kitsch” the day COVID-19 killed 108 people.
“The names of the dead should be projected,” wrote Maria Louka on Twitter.
Μια μέρα που 108 άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους, η Βουλή φωτίζεται με πολεμοχαρές εθνικοχριστιανικό κιτς. Τα ονόματα των νεκρών έπρεπε να βάλουν. Να τους θυμίζουν το έγκλημα που διέπραξαν με τις πολιτικές τους εις βάρος της δημόσιας υγείας. pic.twitter.com/ijnQw4Ubpu
President Katerina Sakellaropoulou joined in on the commemorations on Saturday, marking Greek Armed Forces Day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament at downtown Athens’ Syntagma Square.
President Katerina Sakellaropoulou commemorated Greek Armed Forces Day on Saturday,
“At this time when Turkish aggression has intensified, my thoughts go out to the men and women in the armed forces who, with self-denial and exemplary patriotic ethos, have been on alert for months, without the opportunity for rest, to be with their families,” she said, thanking them “on behalf of all Greeks.”
The armed forces were also hailed by Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who thanked the men and women serving in the country’s defense forces for their “self-denial and sense of duty,” in a post on Twitter.
Turkey has issued another navigational telex, or NAVTEX, for the continuation of survey activities of the Oruc Reis vessel in the Eastern Mediterranean through to November 29.
The NAVTEX, which was released on Saturday by the Antalya station, reserves an area extending just beyond six nautical miles south of the island of Kastellorizo.
The Oruc Reis will continue its activity along with two other ships, the Ataman and Cengiz Han, the NAVTEX said.
The Oruc Reis had been expected to finish its work by November 23.
Greece issues counter-Navtex:
In response, Greece has issued a counter-NAVTEX to the advisory published by Turkey.
Turkey has extended its illegal NAVTEX until November 29.
The NAVTEX, issued by the Iraklio station in Crete, said that an “unauthorised station” had broadcast a NAVTEX message in the Greek NAVTEX service area, referring to “illegal activity in an area including Greek territorial sea.”
It added that the area designated by the Turkish advisory overlaps Greece’s continental shelf.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry also responsed on Saturday, saying in a statement that the Turkish NAVTEX had reserved an area overlapping Greece’s continental shelf in violation of the international law of the sea.
Turkey’s moves, the Ministry said, undermine peace, security and stability in the region.
The Ministry warned that Turkey was once again disregarding calls by the international community and the European Council to refrain from illegal actions that fuel tensions in the region.
Erdogan calls on EU for dialogue:
Turkey’s Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, and President Erdogan both made comments days before the NAVTEX was extended. Credit: simsek hb – hakar/Wikipedia.
Hours before Turkey issued their illegal NAVTEX, the country’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called on the European Union for dialogue, warning the bloc not to become a “tool for enmities” during escalating tensions over the Eastern Mediterranean.
“We expect the EU to keep its promises, not to discriminate against us or at least not to become a tool to open enmities targeting our country,” Erdogan said in a video address to his ruling party congress on Saturday.
“We don’t see ourselves elsewhere but in Europe,” he added. “We envisage building our future together with Europe.”
These comments came in the face of statements by Turkey’s Defense Minister, Hulusi Akara, who again raised the issue of “gray zones” in the Aegean, claiming that there are islands the sovereignty of which was never given to Greece.
“We are researching openly, it is obvious. We are not hiding anything. We do scientific and technical work. Our ships continue their work. It is immoral to present these tasks as provocation or as raising tension,” the Turkish Defense Minister said, according to Ekathimerini.
“This is not about ethics. They ignore moves and actions which they carry out around islands, which are by no means under Greek sovereignty.”
EU leaders are to decide in a December summit whether to impose further sanctions over Turkey’s recent activity.
George and Sarah Bragias have walked away with $650,002 after receiving an incredible $4,000,002 bid for their Brighton property on The Block 2020.
All contestants were told prior to the bidding that Cypriot father-daughter duo Harry and Tash’s property had been the ‘most viewed’ on the popular real-estate website, The Domain. Meanwhile, Sarah and George’s house was voted the ‘people’s favourite’ by Channel 9 audiences.
Both teams, Harry and Tash along with Sarah and George, shared a reserve house price of $3.5 million dollars. A noticeably high price tag, every contestant entered the bidding with fearful looks in their eyes.
Photo: Supplied
Once the bidding started, however, there was no stopping, with the reserve price looking like pocket money to the bidders. Daniel and Jade were the first contestants to go through the Brighton bidding showdown, receiving $506,000 profit for an astounding $3.856 million bid.
While that sounds like a lot, however, Jimmy and Tam managed to make an incredible $950,000 profit. An inspirational feat, the team received a top bid of $4.256 million dollars.
An impressive number to beat, Sarah and George seemed up to the task with enthusiasm gleaming from the Greeks’ faces.
Anticipation was high as they waited for the massive $4,000,000 bid, hoping it to be from the man who made a similar bid last auction, yet walked away empty handed.
Photo: Channel Nine
Once the bid arrived, cheers erupted as they found themselves with $650,002 profit.
“I’m laughing and crying at the same time,” says Sarah.
Harry and Tash kept their spirits high as they became the final team to put their house for sale. The Cypriot pair sat on the couch in anticipation with host Scott Cam, with hopes of simply reaching over their reserve of $3.350 million.
To the father and daughter’s surprise, they smashed their reserve with a bid of $4 million, also receiving $650,000 profit.
Photo: Channel Nine
The family embraced each other with tears as their 18-week journey came to a satisfying conclusion.
Sarah and George’s property blends a striking 1940s period charm with a modern day design that puts quality, style, and considered attention to the detail at the forefront, The Domain states. The utterly breathtaking 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom + studio residence delivers outstanding family living in a popular Brighton location.
The couple have crafted an exquisite bayside dwelling that retains much of its original detail while introducing high end fittings and fixtures to create “breathtaking spaces both inside and out”.
According to The Domain, Harry and Tash’s home is a beautiful 1920s, two-storey home, taking cues from the heritage archways, cathedral ceilings, and spectacular Peppercorn tree that occupies the side yard.
This five-bedroom, four-bathroom residence has been brought back to life, featuring all the comforts that lend themselves for people to lead a good one. The kitchen is also an “entertainer’s dream”.
Speaking with The Greek Herald in an earlier interview, George Bragias says he considers himself a proud Greek Australian with a deep joy in his Harley-Davidson. He and his wife, Sarah, have been together for eight years and married for three. It’s this strong connection which they say has helped them navigate every challenge The Block threw at them this year.
57-year-old Harry Pavlou was born in Cyprus and came to Australia when he was four. He says he chose to go on the show with his daughter, Tash, because they ‘get along really well and are very similar.’
“We’ve never really worked together on a project before. I’ve done renovations but Tash has never been involved in that. So it was a challenge at the very beginning, but we got our rhythm and we found our strengths and weaknesses and… did a great job,” Harry says to The Greek Herald.
A total of five winners will be announced, with entries eligible from any state across Australia.
Winners will be announced every week on Friday in the lead-up to Christmas, with the final winner announced on Christmas Day!
Go ahead and comment on our Facebook post and we’ll be contacting you in the next few weeks to let you know if you’ve been successful (be sure to check your Facebook inbox!)
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
UPDATE: Congratulations to our three competition winners so far!
Greek and Italian migrants to Australia have a more than three times greater incidence of type 2 diabetes than Australian-born individuals.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin. Exactly why this happens is unknown, yet genetics and environmental factors, such as being overweight and inactive, appear to be contributing factors.
Endocrinologist Dr Katherine Samaras says there are many plausible reasons why Greek migrants are more susceptible to diabetes, including genetics and increased obesity, yet clarified that excess weight gain is a vital issue regardless.
“We should be frank. Carrying an extra 5kg is not okay. Carrying a extra 20kg is a health tragedy,” Dr Samaras says to The Greek Herald.
The ‘Mediterranean diet’ or ‘Greek diet’ is globally considered one of the healthiest diets for nutrient balance. Yet, as Dr Samaras explains, the idolised Mediterranean diet is not comprised of souvlaki or other meats. Something that appears to have been lost in translation through health education.
“It is the peasant diet, not the feast or special occasions diet,” Dr Samaras says.
“More commonly, the traditional Greek diet consists of seasonal vegetables, legumes, fish and cheese. All in smaller quantities than Greeks serve in Australia today.”
The situation is not isolated in Australia, however, with a lack of physical activity and an unbalanced diet also leading to people in Greece having greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study conducted by the National School of Public Health’s Department of Health Economics and the Federation of Cooperative Pharmacists of Greece in 2018.
For the many Greek migrants faced with diabetes, there are multiple ways they can maintain a good quality of life.
Dr Samaras says that most modern scientific breakthroughs show fasting as a valuable method to extending life and preventing ageing.
“The best management strategy for diabetes is to reduce the amount of food on the plate by one third – not eating more of any food,” Dr Samaras adds.
“Five kilos weight loss can improve diabetes more than some medications.”
While it may be a ‘big step’, Dr Samaras recommended people with diabetes and obesity consider bariatric surgery, saying it’s “better than having a heart attack”.
“And the best thing good Greek grandparents can do (since diabetes runs in families) is to not overfeed their children or grandchildren,” Dr Samaras concludes.
“Otherwise one would be killing them with kindness.”
Many of us worry about when children should start to learn Greek.
What if their English skills are not established yet?
What if they can speak Greek quite well as they have had lots of interaction with grandma and grandad who speak fluent Greek but not much English?
One parent wants the child to start Greek school and the other insists that it will slow them down at school There is really no good reason for this attitude. Children are very capable of learning many languages and being bilingual or multilingual is a great asset to have at any age.
If children are exposed to languages from young age neurones, form in their brain, potentially making them smarter and better problem solvers than many other children.
The younger they start to hear other languages the better. Children and even babies recognise very quickly that different adults speak different languages, and they can discern this difference. This is called coding.
They may have one grandmother who speaks to them in Greek and another in Thai, while one parent may talk to them in English and one in Greek. They may mix the languages up at first, but eventually, they will be able to translate for others in the family.
When they start school, their language skills in English may seem slower than the other children; however, their language acquisition is the same if not more. This following analogy with the glasses is a good one. Monolingual children may have a glass full of words by the end of Kindergarten.
Bilingual children may have two glasses half full of two languages. All together they too have a whole glass full of vocabulary. Eventually, they will catch up and exceed the monolingual group.
So when should you teach them the Greek alphabet? Next week I will tell you why you should not bother with the alphabet.
Greece reported 108 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, a daily record, with hospitals in the north of the country under pressure as available intensive care beds filled up from the surge in COVID-19 infections.
After a two-month lockdown in March, which helped contain the spread of infections, a spike since October forced the government to impose a second nationwide lockdown this month that officially expires at the end of the month.
However, this could be in doubt.
“Lifting the lockdown on Dec. 1 does not seem realistic right now,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas told state TV ERT on Friday.
The government’s committee of experts will evaluate new data next week to assess whether a partial lifting of the lockdown early next month is feasible.
Health authorities reported 2,311 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total since the first case was detected in February to 90,121. The death toll is 1,527.
The case load in Thessaloniki in the north of the country remained nearly double that of Athens.
“The seeming stabilisation of infections in Athens is fragile, the improvement is not sufficient to relieve pressure on the hospital system,” infectious disease expert Gikas Magiorkinis told reporters on Friday.
