Main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on Thursday noted the government’s inability to respond to the crisis and put the brakes on the disaster, in an interview with iEidiseis.gr.
He also criticised Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the way the government handled the lockdown exit: “It is shocking how in three months he managed to turn the citizens’ initial success on the health front into a fiasco”.
He said that the Mitsotakis’ government was “like an empty box in extremely fancy wrapping, which when it finally opens is a shocking disappointment.”
Tsipras expressed his worries over the economy: “One cannot claim that the major crisis that Greek society is already experiencing will suddenly subside and give its place to an economic miracle,” he said, adding that the “employees and the small- and medium-sized enterprises face a return of the harsh period of 2012-2014 and will be the ‘losers’ of the crisis.”
On the EU package from the Recovery Fund, Tsipras said that a series of investments and reforms are necessary “which will further a shift to a new model of sustainable growth in a modern digital environment”.
The opposition leader also sent his condolences and expressed his solidarity with the people of Lebanon “in these tragic moments,” in a post on his Twitter account following the massive explosion in Beirut.
Fronditha Care is thanking its brave workforce that have been working in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as it celebrates Aged Care Employee Day on Friday 7 August, 2020.
The not-for-profit aged care provider, which specialises in the care of linguistically diverse elderly Australians, has chosen to shine a light on its quiet achievers over this pandemic period. The eight employees and teams chosen come from across its residential care homes and its community services and are frontline staff who have shown dedication and leadership during a highly volatile COVID-19 period.
One of the employees, nurse Eleni Tsaousis, was one of the first to volunteer to test Fronditha Care residents who showed apparent COVID-19 symptoms.
“She donned the PPE and was in there without fear,” her colleague Elena Bendrycheva RN said.
L-R Elena Bendrycheva RN, Eleni Tsaousis EN. Photo: Supplied
Another employee is Peter Egan-Lee, a PCW who mans the visitor reception at Fronditha Care’s HIPPOCRATES (Newcastle) facility.
“I want to provide reassurance and laughter during these hard times,” he says.
“I want every visitor leaving the facility with the feeling that staff and management are doing
everything to keep us all safe and happy.
Aside from individual excellence, the whole team at the THALPORI (St Albans) care facility were thanked after going into full lockdown after a staff member and resident tested positive.
St Albans team in PPE. Photo: Supplied
Metaxia Paschalidis, Domestic Assistance – Community Services. Photo: Suplied
“I have an amazing team and I thank them wholeheartedly,” THALPORI Residential Manager Sue Donaldson says.
“Our staff have shown great bravery and leadership following a positive staff and resident COVID-19
case at one of our facilities. They have donned their PPE armour every day and gone in to help our
most vulnerable.”
It has been a challenging period for all at Fronditha Care, its CEO Michael Malakonas says.
“I can’t express how demanding this time has been for all of our staff and the family members of the ones we care for. It is a precarious time and our staff have shown great agility and resilience. Caring for the most vulnerable group, they have been working with heightened vigilance since the pandemic was declared in February this year; yet despite the challenges we are all facing, they continue to love, care and support our elders daily,” he said.
“But I am beyond thankful to our brave staff who have become warriors against this invisible enemy. They truly are heroes.”
Aged Care Employee Day is a national day is designed to celebrate the individuals involved in the journey of caring for older Australians.
Jason Demetriou, currently assistant coach of South Sydney Rabbitohs, will have a taste of the head coaching role for two weeks after Wayne Bennet will be forced to undergo isolation.
Bennett confirmed he had lunch on Wednesday at the popular Leichhardt Italian restaurant Grappa with a woman, believed to be his partner. Breaching the NRL’s strict biosecurity rules, he has been ordered to go into a 14-day “COVID hold”.
The Greek Australian was given Bennett’s blessing on Thursday to take control for the next weeks, saying, “he’ll be head coach here in 12 months time so of course he’ll be up for it.”
Jason Demetriou, right, is expected to be given full control while Wayne Bennett is in isolation. NRL PHOTOS
The two coaches are reportedly expected to speak every day over the next couple of weeks. However, Demetriou will be left alone in the box on game day, with no phone calls being permitted during the match.
Most training sessions are filmed with a drone, giving Bennett the chance to lend his feedback to Demetriou and fellow assistants Ben Hornby, John Sutton and Sam Burgess, who are all in charge of calling the shots and directing players on the field.
It was announced in February by the Sydney Morning Herald that Demetriou will take over as Souths head coach for the start of the 2022 season when Bennett steps aside.
Raised in the St George area, Demetriou spent his junior career playing for St George Illawarra Dragons before sailing across the seas to play in the English Super League. The Sydney coach spent majority of his playing career in England at Wakefield Trinity.
Demetriou has two seasons as assistant coach to prove to Rabbitoh’s fans that he can continue Bennet’s success, with this two week trial a strong opportunity to show his potential leadership.
In December 1966, 14-year-old Katerina Loupa along with her parents Achillea and Malamati, immigrated from the small village of Kleisoura, in Kastoria, West Macedonia to South Australia, following their elder daughter who had already made Adelaide home for five years.
In their suitcases, all their belongings, memories and dreams for a better life. Malamati also brought her long, black velvet coat along.
Decades later, Mrs Katerina Loupa – Aldridge, 68 unfolds the story of her mother’s velvet coat for the Greek Herald.
“I tried to take it back to Greece, but I couldn’t fit it in my suitcase. This coat is of sentimental value to our family and I didn’t want it to end up in a pawn shop.
“The coat belonged to my father’s first wife, Theologia. When women in the village of Kleisoura, Kastoria got married they got given this black velvet coat called ‘Pelousi’. Unfortunately, on April 5 1944, the Germans invaded the village, burnt almost all the houses down and killed Theologia and her three children. My father managed to escape but he lost everything. Luckily, his house was not destroyed and this is how the coat survived”.
Achilleas’ first wife, Theologia and their children were among the 230 residents of Kleisoura that the German occupation forces executed under the command of Karl Schümers, at the ‘Kleisoura Massacre’, in retaliation for the execution of three German soldiers by ELAS close to the village.
Achilleas was young and he decided to get married again but since there were no women left in Kleisoura, he cast off to the next village, Germas where his friends introduced him to Malamati.
“My mother was tall and thin like Theologia and the coat suit her perfectly. She used to wear often the first few years in Australia. It was her Sunday coat,” says Mrs Katerina Loupa-Aldridge, who inherited and recently donated the vintage coat to The Greek Museum of Adelaide.
“My dream came true. I was always hoping that someone would start a museum. I was the first one to call when it opened. My wish is that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can visit the museum and learn about their history and my village that I’m so proud of,” says Mrs Loupa-Aldridge.
The Greek Museum of Adelaide, a not – for – profit asociation was established in May 2019 aiming to promote and preserve the Greek culture in Australia. All the exhibits, that vary from coins and books to traditional costumes and musical instruments from as early as the 1910s, have been donated by families and individuals of Greek background, who live in Australia.
“We owe our exhibits to the generosity of 45 donors, who we want to thank and we seek to expand our collection. At the moment, we are looking for donations of Greek traditional costumes,” says The Greek Museum’s President, Chrysoula Melissinaki.
“We collect and preserve things that otherwise would have been gone to waste. Our goal is to promote our country’s cultural treasures and our own history and pass it on to future generations of Greek Australians and other people regardless of race and origin,” Mrs Melissinaki says.
Although The Greek Museum’s exhibitions were cancelled due to the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the curator and the team are working hard to prepare their future exhibitions and events that may soon go online as well!
A nineteenth-century religious icon showing the Baptism of Christ, along with another eleven icons stolen in 2005 from the Church of the Dormition of the Visokos Virgin in Kalouta, in the central Zagori district of Ioannina, have recently been repatriated to Greece from the United Kingdom.
According to a statement by the Greek Culture Ministry, the 12 icons were returned on July 31, after Greek and UK authorities collaborated for their return, with the assistance of the Greek embassy in London.
“The icon of the Baptism was located in June 2017, by an archaeologist working for the Directorate for the Verification and Protection of Cultural Goods, on sale in a London gallery,” the Ministry’s statement says.
Some of the icons are not in the best condition. Photo: Keep Talking Greek.
“Following the immediate mobilisation and close cooperation of the services responsible, with the assistance of the Embassy of Greece in London, the icon was withdrawn from the list of works for sale.”
London’s Metropolitan Police had then ordered the gallery to retain the icon until the investigation was complete and it was verified that it was the same one stolen from the Epirus monastery.
The key to the icon’s identification was the back view of the icon shown on the gallery website, which showed that it had been part of a church templon or screen — which had also been the location of the two other icons that were reported stolen from the same church.
One of these icons was located in another London gallery and returned in 2011, and another was recovered in Greece.
According to the Culture Ministry, the return of yet another religious relic stolen from Epirus, whose artistic treasures have been targeted by organised gangs over the last 25 years, is another link in a chain of repatriations that have recently taken place, with 21 icons located and returned since 2009.
Two additional icons have also been located after they were put up for sale at a German auction house in 2020, and their return is still pending, the Ministry noted.
Petrobey Mavromichalis was a leading figure of Mani and the Peloponnese during the last twenty years of Ottoman rule and is one of the protagonists in the Greek War of Independence.
On this day in 1773, Mavromichalis was born. To mark the momentous occasion, we take a look back at his life and some of his achievements.
Early Life:
A descendant of the historical family of Mani, Petrobey Mavromichalis was born on August 6, 1773 in Limeni, port of Tsimova (today’s Areopolis). He was the first of the seven children of Elias Mavromichalis and Aikaterini Koutsogrigoraki, daughter of a prominent family of Mani.
At a young age, he married Anna Benaki, daughter of the prefect of Kalamata, Panagiotis Benaki, with whom he had six children.
Portrait of Petrobei Mavromichalis, work of Adam de Friedel.
Following the death of his father in 1800, Mavromichalis became leader of the Maniotes and in 1816 he established himself as a powerful ruler of the subjugated lands of Mani. At that time, he had to face against corruption, civil conflicts within Mani and piracy.
Greek War of Independence:
In 1818, Mavromichalis was initiated into the Philikí Etaireía or Friendly Society. He dedicated most of his fortune to the secret society and avidly recruited many Maniotes in order to prepare the ground for the Greek War of Independence.
Two days prior to the outbreak of the war, Mavromichalis, together with Papaflessas, Theodoros Kolokotronis and Niketaras, liberated Kalamata.
With the outbreak of the war on March 25th, 1821, Mavromichalis assembled the Messenian Assembly of Elders and was elected first president and field marshal of the Greek forces.
Petrobey Mavromichalis with the rebellious Greeks of Messinia, work of Peter von Es.
He addressed Europe for help in the war in favour of Greece. With the help of Adamantios Korais, the declaration was translated into English and was sent to the United States.
Mavromichalis played a decisive role in numerous battles such as in the siege of Tripolitsa, the battle of the Lerna Mills together with his brother Constantine Mavromichalis, Demetrios Hypsilantis, John Makriyannis and the philhellenes, and the fall of Argos.
In addition, he fought in the 1st siege of Messolonghi, where together with Zaimis and 500 men they managed to halt the Turkish and the Egyptian forces.
After the loss of his brother and his two sons, Mavromichalis gathered his remaining strength and organised the defences of Mani against the Turks. He did not participate in the civil war but instead he attempted to reconcile the Greeks.
With the arrival of Ioannis Kapodistrias as first governor of Greece, Mavromichalis was appointed member of the Assembly of Elders and later member of the Senate during the reign of King Otto.
In 1823, he became Prime Minister of Greece.
Death:
Mavromichalis died on January 17, 1848 in Athens and was buried with the honors of a serving lieutenant general.
He was lamented as one of the purest and most virtuous heroes of the Greek War of Independence, especially by King Otto, whom he wholeheartedly admired.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Wednesday sent a message against careless behavior and complacency in regard to the COVID-19 preventative measures, while stressing the importance of wearing masks.
The Prime Minister led a teleconference with key officials on the assessment of the coronavirus pandemic, in light of the alarming increase in cases in the past few days.
“We must reactivate our national vaccine, which is nothing more than our philotimo, and together we must adhere to the measures proposed by the experts,” Mitsotakis stated during the teleconference.
The Prime Minister underlined that Greece is at a crucial point as “we can see a significant increase of positive cases but one which is, however, substantially different from the first wave and this is something that troubles and worries us.”
Greece’s Prime Minister led a teleconference with key officials on the assessment of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mitsotakis attributed this recent rise in infections to the fact that his countrymen have let their guard down, easing up on the preventive measures they so dutifully followed during the first months of the pandemic.
“The increase in cases is mainly due to the relaxation of compliance measures within our country in July. And in that I believe we all are responsible. Only ten percent of cases are imported; most cases at the moment are domestic,” he said.
Mitsotakis added that, at this stage, it was unclear how long people will be obliged to live with the coronavirus but ‘complacency is not justified.’
“We had stated in a very clear way… that the plan for the next day is not a plan to get out of the health and financial crisis, nor is it a simple plan to return to some normalcy,” the Prime Minister said.
“Normality as we knew it until February, and until the scientific community discovers the coveted vaccine and the necessary treatment protocols, does not exist. That is why no complacency is justified.”
The Greek leader concluded by stressing once again the importance of wearing a mask in enclosed spaces and even in outdoor places where social distancing is impossible.
“We all wear masks indoors but (we should) also in open spaces where it is not possible to keep the necessary distances. The mask must now become our permanent companion, like our keys, our sunglasses, our cell phone. We avoid mass gatherings and entertainment in places with large crowds.”
Greek resident of Beirut, Anna Armaou, has described the shocking events after the deadly explosion in Lebanon’s capital city on Tuesday evening, which left 135 people dead and more than 4,000 injured.
At the time of the explosion, Ms Armaou was not near the windows however, the shock wave shattered them, causing small cuts all over her body and “80 to 100 percent” damage to her eye.
“When the explosion happened, I was at home. I live on the fourth floor. There was nothing left, everything was destroyed,” Ms Armaou told SKAI News.
“I was taken to three hospitals because there was no place to put me. I was left sitting in a chair and blood was running from my face and eyes… people were running like crazy on the street.”
Ms Armaou added that her house is very close to the port and was completely destroyed.
“I loved Lebanon but now I want help from my homeland,” she admitted, adding that the horror she experienced makes her feel like she no longer wants to see the city she used to live in.
The Victorian State Coroner is investigating the deaths of five residents of St Basil’s Home for the Aged, the site of a heartbreaking coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne.
So far, 159 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the aged care home at Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north.
Judge John Cain has commenced the investigation by directing Victoria Police to compile a brief of evidence.
“As the matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Coroners Court of Victoria, it would be inappropriate to comment any further,” a police spokeswoman said.
Under the Coroners Act of 2008, Judge Cain must find, if possible, the causes of deaths and the circumstances in which they occurred.
To date, 162 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.
The St Basil’s home in Melbourne is one of about 100 aged care facilities in Victoria affected by coronavirus outbreaks, which between them have been linked to a total of 108 deaths.
All of the staff from the home were placed into quarantine on July 22 after they were determined to be close contacts of confirmed cases.
The ABC has attempted to contact St Basil’s for comment.
A pair of explosions, the second much bigger than the first, struck the city of Beirut early Tuesday evening, killing 135 people, wounding more than 4,000 and causing widespread damage.
One Australian and a Greek national are among those who died, Greek and Australian diplomatic sources have confirmed.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, said the explosion also damaged the Australian embassy but all personnel were “safe and accounted for.”
On Wednesday, despite a huge search operation, dozens were still missing in the city, the capital of Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, declared three days of mourning from today.
Satellite image shows an overview of the port after the explosion in Beirut that has killed over 113 people and wounded thousands. Picture: AFP Photo / Satellite image / Maxar Technologies.
As authorities piece together what happened, here is the latest on the condolences and aid which is pouring in from Australia and Greece.
His Eminence Archbishop Makarios: “The Greeks of Australia sympathise with the people of Lebanon“
In a message released today, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios sent his condolences to the people of Lebanon after the “untold tragedy” that took place in Beirut. He expressed his sympathy to the Patriarchate of Antioch, as well as to the Lebanese community of Australia.
His full message reads:
“I was saddened to learn of the untold tragedy that took place in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The images we saw through the media, as well as the news of the loss of dozens of human lives, have deeply shocked the hearts of all of us, of my minority, of the Bishops, of the Clergy and of the entire crew of our Holy Archdiocese.
In these shocking moments that the people of Lebanon are experiencing, I would like to emphasise that the Greeks of Australia sympathise with them and returns fervent prayers to God for the speedy healing of the wounds caused by the tragedy and for the prevention of any further danger to the country.
Our thoughts and prayers are found, in particular, on the relatives and friends of the lost, on those who are being treated and on their families. We pray for the rest of the souls of the victims and for the speedy and complete recovery of the wounded. I would also like to express the sympathy and support of our local Church to the Patriarchate of Antioch, personally to His Blessed Patriarch John and to all our brothers who are being tested.
Finally, I feel the need to express our sincere condolences to our fellow citizens, members of the Lebanese Parish of Australia, who with heartache and great anguish are watching what is happening in their homeland. I have to assure them that in these difficult times the Greek Parish participates wholeheartedly in their heavy mourning.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “I send my heartfelt condolences”
Θέλω να εκφράσω τα θερμά μου συλλυπητήρια στον δοκιμαζόμενο λαό του Λιβάνου και ειδικά της Βηρυτού. Ήδη απογειώνεται άμεσα το πρώτο C130 με άντρες και γυναίκες της ΕΜΑΚ για να συνδράμουν σε επιχειρήσεις έρευνας και διάσωσης. pic.twitter.com/ZGLEG0AAyy
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou: “Words cannot express our sorrow and pain”
Devastated by the tragic images of destruction in Beirut. Words cannot describe our pain and sorrow. My deepest condolences to President @General_Aoun and the families of the victims. In these difficult moments, the Greek people stands in solidarity with the Lebanese people.
Australia pledges $2 million in aid to Beirut recovery effort:
The Morrison government has pledged $2 million to the humanitarian and recovery effort in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, said in a statement late on Wednesday that $1 million from the aid budget would be directed to each of the World Food Program and the Red Cross movement, “to help to ensure food, medical care and essential items are provided to those affected by this tragedy.”
Photo: AFP.
Photo: AP Photo / Hussein Malla.
Greece sends fully-equipped Greek Fire Brigade search and rescue team to Beirut:
A fully-equipped Greek Fire Brigade search and rescue team departed for Lebanon on Wednesday morning in a C-130 military cargo aircraft, at the orders of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The team will take part in the rescue operations to find survivors.
The mission was dispatched rapidly, with Greece responding immediately to the Lebanese government’s plea for assistance via the European Civil Protection Mechanism.
The Greek team is made up of twelve rescue workers and a dog, along with two vehicles and special equipment for use in search and rescue operations.
The Greek General Secretariat for Civil Protection is in constant contact with Lebanese authorities and the European Civil Protection Mechanism to dispatch further assistance and support if needed.
