Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas are among the entrants for next month’s Western & Southern Open in New York, which will serve as a warm-up for the US Open.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have also entered the tournament, organisers said.
It will be the first time Kyrgios will face Djokovic since the Greek Australian expressed his fury at the world No.1 conducting a tournament earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in several players contracting the virus, Djokovic included.
Kyrgios has also previously expressed concern that the US Open is to go ahead from August 31 amid the growing coronavirus crisis in the US.
Smh – people that live in the US of course are pushing the Open to go ahead 🤦🏽♂️ ‘Selfish’ I’ll get my hazmat suit ready for when I travel from Australia and then have to quarantine for 2 weeks on my return.
The US has recorded 4.4 million cases of COVID-19, including more than 150,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
Organisers of the warm-up event, which begins on August 20 and was relocated from Cincinnati this year because of COVID-19, said defending champions Daniil Medvedev and Madison Keys are also among the initial entries.
The ATP Masters 1000 event will be the first on the men’s calendar since play was suspended in March because of the virus.
Nick Kyrgios (left) and Stefanos Tsitsipas are among the entrants for next month’s Western & Southern Open in New York.
Among the other entries on the men’s side, which includes 40 of the top 43 ranked ATP players, are world No.3 Dominic Thiem, 2017 champion Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic (2016).
World No.3 Karolina Pliskova, who won the event in 2016, is the highest-ranked player on the women’s side that will feature 39 of the top 53 players in the world.
Wimbledon was cancelled this year and the French Open is scheduled to follow the US Open in September.
From midnight Sunday all Victorians, including those in regional areas, will be required to wear face coverings when they leave their homes.
“It’s inconvenient, it’s challenging, but it’s essentially stage four for Melbourne, and it’s something we can do in regional Victoria without causing significant economic cost, but getting a really significant public health benefit,” Mr Andrews said.
Hopes that care at St Basil’s will improve as regular staff return:
The rise in cases comes as Victoria works to contain more than 80 outbreaks at nursing homes in the state.
The Federal Government has deployed ADF personnel, AUSMAT specialists and extra PPE to Victoria to help bolster the state’s response to the crisis.
Meanwhile at St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Melbourne, staff from the Eastern Health hospitals have headed into the home to support efforts to contain the outbreak.
“To family members, to residents, please know and understand we are, in a joint sense, doing everything we possibly can to provide the care and support that you or a loved one needs,” Premier Andrews said in his press conference today.
Australia’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Alison McMillan, has described the “enormous mountain to climb” for workers who took over at St Basil’s Fawkner after its permanent staff went into quarantine last week.
She also added that as existing staff cleared with negative coronavirus tests returned to work in the coming days, the care would improve.
“Because they are the ones that know those residents best, they are the ones that know that facility,” she said.
Greek Australian conspiracy theorist, Eve Black, dramatically arrested in Melbourne:
As Victoria records a new pandemic record, Greek Australian conspiracy theorist Eve Limberiou, known as Eve Black, was arrested in Melbourne, a week after she laughed her way through a police checkpoint.
The 28-year-old attempted to pull the same stunt in Carlton, an inner-northern suburb of Melbourne, but was unsuccessful.
Eve Black, was arrested in Melbourne, a week after she laughed her way through a police checkpoint.
In a statement, Victoria Police said Ms Black, from Warrandyte, was detained just before 2pm today in an arrest that forced police to smash her car window.
“She was asked to provide her name and address which she refused to do. Police then directed her to produce her driver’s licence and explain her reason for travel, which she also refused to comply with,” police said.
“This led to police arresting her. During the arrest, police were forced to break the woman’s car window as she refused to speak to them, wind down her window, or step out of the vehicle.”
Ms Black has since been released pending summons for traffic-related offences, failing to produce a license, failing to produce name and address, and breaches of the Chief Health Officer’s directives.
His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia will hold a memorial service on Friday, 31 July at 12pm for the repose of the souls of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic and will commemorate the names of the brethren who have recently departed this life and, in particular, those who were residents of the aged care facility of St Basil’s in Melbourne.
The memorial service will be conducted at The Cathedral of the Annunciation of our Lady Theotokos in Sydney, and will be live streamed on social media.
Greek:
Ο Σεβασμιώτατος Αρχιεπίσκοπος
Αυστραλίας κ.κ. Μακάριος την Παρασκευή, 31 Ιουλίου 2020, στις 12.00 π.μ., θα
τελέσει Τρισάγιο υπέρ αναπαύσεως των ψυχών των θυμάτων της πανδημίας του
κορωνοϊού και θα μνημονεύσει τα ονόματα των αδελφών μας που έφυγαν από τη ζωή
τις τελευταίες ημέρες και βεβαίως αυτών που ήταν φιλοξενούμενοι του Κέντρου
Φροντίδας τρίτης ηλικίας «Βασιλειάδα», στη Μελβούρνη.
Το Τρισάγιο θα τελεστεί στον Ιερό Καθεδρικό Ναό του Ευαγγελισμού της Θεοτόκου στο Σύδνεϋ (242 Cleveland Street, Redfern) και θα μεταδοθεί ζωντανά από τα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης.
Greece will this year return 1.4 billion euros to pensioners whose income was slashed during the financial crisis of the past decade, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.
Mitsotakis’ conservative government made the decision following a top court ruling which said that some pension cuts imposed in 2015-2016 were illegal.
The Prime Minister said the one-off payment applies only to main pensions – not supplementary pensions or benefits.
Η κυβέρνηση θα καταβάλει μέσα στο 2020 τα αναδρομικά που δικαιούνται οι συνταξιούχοι βάσει της απόφασης του ΣτΕ. Πρόκειται για ποσό ύψους €1,4 δισ. που αφορά κύριες συντάξεις του ιδιωτικού τομέα. Δικαίωμα που επεκτείνεται, τώρα, και στους συνταξιούχους του Δημοσίου. #Βουλήpic.twitter.com/XiuJZHZqjj
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) July 29, 2020
The money will be distributed to about 2 million private and public sector pensioners, a government official added.
The decision is expected to burden this year’s budget. Greece’s economy is seen shrinking by up to 10 percent this year due a nationwide lockdown the government imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“This particular cost touches the limits of the country’s fiscal potential,” Mitsotakis told lawmakers. “There is no room for further provisions.”
Under the terms of three international bailouts in 2010-2015, Greece cut state pensions several times to reduce spending and make the system viable.
The country still has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the eurozone and the health pandemic dashed its hopes for strong growth this year.
Its finances are being closely monitored by the country’s international lenders, the European Union and the IMF.
Tensions over disputed tracts of the Eastern Mediterranean continue despite an apparent pause in Turkish exploration activities on Tuesday to facilitate Ankara-Athens negotiations over shared maritime boundaries.
Hours after Turkish officials called off gas exploration activities near the Greek island of Kastellorizo, Ankara issued a NAVTEX message reserving an area inside Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone to conduct hydrocarbon research until September 18, Kathimerini Cyprus reported.
It plans to conduct seismic activity inside Blocks 2,3 and partly 13 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.
Turkey plans to conduct seismic activity inside Blocks 2,3 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.
The news comes after Turkish navy vessels withdrew from Greek waters on Tuesday in an move to de-escalate recent tensions through reportedly Berlin-mediated talks between the neighboring states.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said at the time he was prepared to sit at the negotiation table with counterparts in Athens.
“In line with the instructions of our president, we are ready to discuss all issues; the Aegean, continental shelf, islands, airspace, research and screening efforts, and Eastern Mediterranean along with other bilateral matters with Greece without any precondition,” Kalin said.
This latest move is set to strain the relationship between the two countries once again.
Legendary composer, politician and writer, Mikis Theodorakis was one of the most important and talked about personalities of modern Greece.
Michael (Mikis) Theodorakis was born in Chios on July 29, 1925, to a Cretan father and an Asia Minor mother. Due to the professional capacity of his father (senior civil servant) he spent his childhood moving to various cities in Greece, including Mytilene, Syros, Athens, Ioannina, Argostoli, Patras, Pyrgosand Tripoli.
Before World War II he had discovered his love for music and wrote his first compositions, while in 1942 he published his first poems, under the pseudonym Dinos May. In 1943 he settled permanently in Athens and continued his musical studies, with Philoktitis Economidis as his teacher. At the same time, he worked with the resistance, working through the ranks of EPON and the KKE. He was arrested by the Italians and sent to prison.
Mikis Theodorakis.
During the Civil War (1946-1949) he was exiled first to Ikaria and then to Makronisos. His political persecutions do not stop his creative work. He composed works of classical music and on March 5, 1950, his first play, “Festival of Asi-Gonia” (1946), was presented at the Orpheus theatre in Athens, by the Athens State Orchestra.
In 1953 he married Dr. Myrto Altinoglou (the couple had two children, George and Margarita) and continued his music studies in Paris. He continued to compose and in 1959 was awarded the “Copley” prize for the best European composer of the year.
One night in 1958, while waiting for his wife in the car, he read “Epitaph” by Giannis Ritsos and composed the first eight poems on the spot. In 1960 they will be recorded for the first time with the voice of Grigoris Bithikotsis.
With the imposition of the dictatorship of April 21, 1967, a new cycle of persecution and exile will begin for the composer, which will end in 1970 with the amnesty that will be granted to him after international outcry. The composer went abroad and gave dozens of concerts against the colonels, which will make him known everywhere as a symbol of the anti-dictatorship struggle.
During the Metapolitism period, his music was widely accepted and heard freely again. It became a point of reference for a new period for Greece and at the same time, remained a symbol for the fighters of many countries against totalitarian regimes.
In his sixty-year career, Mikis Theodorakis had written over 1,000 songs, many symphonic works, cantatas and oratorios, music for dozens of plays and tragedies, operas and music for the cinema.
“It’s been a long time but I’m sure there’s someone
out there who will have matching DNA,” Arthur Dangas tells The Greek Herald
exclusively.
It’s been 55 years since Arthur’s mother Asimenia gave
birth to his twin sisters, Eleftheria and Anastasia, in November 1965 at the
General Hospital of Edessa in Greece. After the birth, the doctor advised
Asimenia that one of the babies had died after living 3 hours, while the other
one survived only three days.
No birth or death certificates were issued for the
twins and when Asimenia asked for their bodies, the doctor refused saying they
were in a safe place with other babies who had died.
Stories like this are not uncommon from the Cold War era in Greece between the 1950’s and 60’s.
Arthur’s niece is allegedly the spitting image of the missing twins. Photo supplied.
Professor Gonda Van Steen first uncovered the shady adoption practices occurring in Greece during that period in his book ‘Adoption, Memory and Cold War Greece.’ It was not unheard of for hospitals, especially in Patras and Thessaloniki, to “arrange” for the adoption of children who had “died in childbirth” to wealthy American families.
But being only 16 years old at the time, Asimenia didn’t
question the death of her babies until recently when her son decided to start
searching for his biological siblings.
“I rang the hospital in Edessa and asked if I could
retrieve some records from 1965 and they said… I’d need to speak to the
director of the hospital. When I spoke to him, he said my mum needed to submit
a statutory declaration with a copy of her passport, and it needed to be signed
and stamped by the Greek Consulate in Victoria,” Arthur explains to The
Greek Herald.
“But unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic broke before then and of course, I couldn’t take my mum to get the documents signed.”
Arthur Dangas is searching for his missing twin sisters with help from The Eftychia Project.
This tiny setback wasn’t a deterrent for Arthur
however. He decided to get an Ancestry DNA test and although he did match with some
relatives, he had no luck connecting with his long-lost sisters.
Cue ‘The Eftychia Project.’ The project was founded by Linda Carol (Eftychia) Trotter, who was one of over 3,000 Greek children adopted by Americans during the Cold War. In June 2017, she was lucky enough to find her biological mother and extended Greek family.
Ever since then, she has been helping people like Arthur experience the same joy and closure of finding and reuniting with their biological families and reclaiming their Greek heritage.
“In the case of Arthur, we collect as much information
and documents as possible… then evaluate where to go next. It’s a bit more
difficult in the case of Greek families seeking lost children. Even if an
adoption record exists for the lost child, the birth family is not allowed to
access those records,” Linda Carol explains.
“So if there is little to no paperwork, then publicity of the story and DNA are the only hope. Arthur’s post on The Eftychia Project Facebook page reached over 30,000 people. Social media has power.”
So too do the DNA samples Linda Carol is beginning to
collect from the Greek families who have asked for help in finding their lost
children. In fact, it is this aspect of the project which encouraged Arthur to
reach out in the first place.
“The only way you will find out if someone is alive is
by doing DNA, so Linda Carol is doing the right thing. If we all did a DNA test
that’d be a good thing because at the end of the day, if there’s a match it
would show up,” Arthur says.
But how would Arthur feel if a match actually did turn
up?
“I just got goosebumps with that question,” Arthur says. “The look on my mum’s face if I ever told her that I found a connection somewhere in this world would be priceless.”
“She said to me once, ‘If only I knew that they’re
alive and well.’ But my goal is that if I know they’re alive, I’m on the first
flight out to go and bring them to mum. I don’t care what it costs me. At the
end of the day, they’re my mum’s children. She deserves it and they deserve to
know the truth.”
And with The Eftychia Project’s success rate of
already reuniting 6 adoptees with their Greek families so far, there’s a strong
hope that Arthur won’t have to wait long before he too is reunited with the
twins sisters he lost all those years ago.
The photographic exhibition, “EVZONES/Guardians of the Unseen“, is travelling in August to the acritic Kastellorizo, after having achieved great success in Thessaloniki, Crete, Messolonghi, Xanthi, Igoumenitsa, Kavala, Warsaw and various locations in Athens.
The Municipality Kastellorizo proudly presents the 14th individual photography exhibition of the acknowledged photographer Dimitra Hatziadam. The project will be hosted by the Municipal Art Gallery of Megisti, from the 1st until the 16th of August 2020. The opening event will take place on Saturday, 1st of August, at 19:00. The Vice-Minister of National Defense, Stefanis Alkiviadis will also honour the event with his attendance.
The works adorning the exhibition give people the opportunity to witness a unique artistic journey of a three-year photo production, which took place from 2013 until 2016. Dimitra Hatziadam is the photographer who managed to enter this inaccessible place, following the principles that govern it and fostering feelings of high respect and admiration.
In this way, she paved the way for people to discover the confined world of the Presidential Guard. She came across the rigorous daily life, capturing not only the Evzone’s solemn face, but his human side as well. Now, she is telling stories inside and outside the Presidential Guard, while the exquisite hues of her works are attracting the attention of the viewer, thus arousing emotions and illuminating the invisible side of Evzone.
The exhibition has been successfully presented in 13 cities, both in Greece and abroad. Hundreds of visitors and students have attended in the presence of Ms. Hatziadam, who tells the stories behind every picture. People are currently banned from visiting the remarkable place. However, visitors are provided with an extraordinary audiovisual recording, allowing people to observe and listen to the sounds.
The Evzone embodies a globally recognised symbol, whose sight inspires utter awe, epitomising Greek bravery and dignity. Regardless of the weather conditions, he is the salient example of military virtue and ethos.
Through the photographer’s works, people can even “wander” around Acropolis and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as get to know the Guardians’ appearance. Dimitra’s ultimate goal is to present the exhibition abroad, for expatriates, yet for the philhellenes as well.
The viewer is exposed to 45 works, 6 of which have the height of a true Evzone, i.e. 2 meters long. The project aims to bring emotion through the senses, with the audience given the chance to see and touch real tsarouchia and foustanella.
Parallel to the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to admire a series of photos that depict the six uniforms of the men of the Presidential Guard. Uniforms will be exhibited in houses, along Megisti bay, in order for it to be the first and the most significant sight faced when entering the port of the island.
*The Greek Herald is a media partner of the ‘EVZONES/Guardians of the Unseen’ exhibition.
In a time of coronavirus and given people cannot take theatre lessons in person, the head of the theatre department of the Greek Community of Melbourne, Mrs. Katerina Poutachidou, was not left with folded arms.
From the beginning of May, the Creative Drama & Arts Centre of the Greek Community of Melbourne co-organised with the Theatrical Visual Arts Centre “Poupoulo” of Thessaloniki, and the Motivation in Arts Foundation of Paphos, the 1st International Internet Conference : “Child and adolescent theatre groups perform roles in front of a microphone”.
The main source of inspiration for this particular initiative was the Radio Theatre, a genre of dramatic art that was very successful in the 1920s and was one of the first choices for the newly established Western radio stations, led by the British BBC.
Through the project, a number of amateur theatre groups have the opportunity through the radio to chat, explore new forms of expression, as well as to experiment creatively with new technologies. At the same time, this experience, unprecedented for all participants, acts as a vehicle for the Greek language, which travels through radio frequencies to different parts of the world, moving the ubiquitous Hellenism.
The project naturally has multiple pedagogical and linguistic benefits, as it gives children the opportunity to practice their oral speech in a creative and fun way.
“The children themselves enter the process, to listen and recognise any mistakes they make, to give colour to their voice and to find the style and the way of the correct interpretation of their role”, says Ms. Poutachidou.
“It’s a creative and fun way to learn to give life to their storytelling and speech, a skill useful not only for theatre.”
So far, the works “Around the world in 80 days” and “The false shepherd” by Greek children in Australia have been recorded and broadcast, and “Tzitzikas and Mermgikas” is being prepared and will be broadcast in 2 weeks.
The radio that broadcasts the recorded plays in Australia is SBS, every Wednesday 5- 6. Respectively, in Greece the plays were heard by ERT 3’s 102fm and 9.58fm, and in Cyprus by the First Program of RIK.
The recordings remain available to the general public on the internet at the website: www.dramacenter.gr
This program does not end here. Ms. Putahidou continues, in collaboration with Greek schools, to prepare new projects. Some of the expected titles in the coming weeks are from the “Odyssey”, the Myths of Aesop and from Greek mythology, e.g. “The Rapture of Europe”, “The Pandora’s Box”, “The Heroes of Hercules”.
This innovative action aims to become an initiative that aspires to be a bridge of communication and “voice” for all Greeks abroad, bringing together even more amateur theatre groups from Greece, Cyprus and Australia.
Teenage entrepreneur Fotios Tsiouklas has pushed for more modernised Greek teaching in Greek schools as part of a new guest speaking initiative.
The main encouragement currently used by teachers for teaching children Greek is centred on communication with their relatives in Greece, or the benefits it can provide to their VCE or HSC. However, Fotios says kids “tend not care for that anymore”.
Speaking to The Greek Herald, Fotios shares his hopes for Greek school teachers to make education more collaborative and engaging to students.
“I think a lot of it just doesn’t apply to the real world,” Fotios says to The Greek Herald.
“They want to learn the language that applies to the current situation. So rather than reading a Greek article about something from the 1920’s, make them read articles on current stories and current situations they’re passionate about in Greek.
“Make them have debates in Greek, because passion is what breeds education in my opinion.”
One of my passions has always been helping the Greek community.After this pandemic dies down, I plan on going to a new…
Fotios says he wants Greek schools to focus more on educating children about the benefits of the Greek language, how it can be used to further develop their careers.
“It can help them and give them credibility particularly amongst more traditionally Greek people. They’re going to have a bigger network they’re going to have more clients,” Fotios adds.
Recognising the Greek media as a powerful marketing tool, Fotios advises children to follow his path into gaining credibility in the Greek business world.
“The first apps I sold were to Greek people. The first press I did was in Greek newspapers. The first contacts I made in pretty much every industry were Greek people.
“So Greek people opened the doors for me in every single department. And the way you level up in this world is by working with people who are much more experienced than you.
“We have a very powerful Greek community in Melbourne, we’ve got over half a million Greeks, so knowing the Greek language opens the doors to those people as it’s giving you that credibility.”
Σήμερα επισκέφθηκε το Σχολείο μας ο Φώτιος Τσιούκλας, ένας ελληνομαθής μαθητής της Μελβούρνης, και μίλησε στους μαθητές…
Fotios on Monday spoke with the students and teachers of the Greek Orthodox Community of Dandenong & Districts Greek school via Zoom.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic settles, the 19-year-old businessman is planning to go to a new Greek school “every week” to speak about maintaining the Greek language.
“I love our community and will continue to offer more things for free. Whether it be educational apps, seminars or movements like this,” Fotios says on his Facebook page.
