The honorary Greek citizen is back on Australian shores to film Baz Luhrmann’s big budget Elvis Presley biopic.
Production was halted after the Hollywood star and his Greek-American wife, Rita Wilson, contracted the coronavirus during Australia’s first wave.
The pair were admitted to a specialist ward at Gold Coast University Hospital before returning to their rented house on the Gold Coast and eventually jetting home to the United States.
“We’re home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on with sheltering in place and social distancing,” the Oscar winner said on Twitter in April.
“Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us.”
Returning down under, the Golden Globe winner is again believed to be staying in Gold Coast at The Oracle Resort in Broadbeach.
Elvis Presley alongside Austin Butler. Picture: PA
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed in June that she was working closely with renowned director Baz Luhrmann to get the blockbuster rolling safely again.
“We want to ensure that this can happen as soon as possible while making sure that the cast and crew can operate safely,” she said.
“Screen Queensland and Queensland Health are also currently developing a screen industry COVID safe plan that will be released shortly, paving the way for the whole sector to get rolling cameras again and crew back to work on sets.”
The Migration Ministry will be halting refugee transfers to Greece’s mainland due to the rapidly increasing coronavirus cases within the refugee camps, Katherimini sources claim.
A major testing and contact-tracing operation at Greece’s largest migrant camp on the eastern island of Lesvos has so far detected 35 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among the overcrowded facility’s 12,500 residents, authorities said Tuesday.
The ministry said health teams from the National Organisation of Public Health (EODY) conducted a total of 2,000 tests, of which 100 were done on employees and 1,900 on residents.
Photo: Efsyn
According to the Katherimini sources, authorities are halting transfers from refugee camps to the Greek mainland, aiming to curb the movement of recognised refugees and limit the possibility of further infections.
This, in turn, may help decongest Athens’ central Victoria Square, where many evicted refugees have set up camp.
Migrants turned Victoria Square into a temporary makeshift camp in June after a government announcement saw hundreds of migrants be transferred to Athens.
The problem was broached during an Athens City council meeting with officials underlining the need for authorities to offer food and shelter to the refugees. Nasos Iliopoulos, a leftist SYRIZA official and head of the Anoixti Poli (Open City) movement, on Monday visited the square.
“Local residents and businesses can see that the situation taking shape is reprehensible both for the homeless refugees as it is for the quality of life in their neighbourhood, which is only just starting to recover after a series of crises,” Anoixti Poli said.
Manolis Glezos was a Greek World War II resistance hero who has been described by Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as a “lion-hearted man with a kind look”.
Following the war, Manolis remained an active political figure in Greece. Read on as we take a look at his life.
Early Life and WWII resistance:
Manolis Glezos was born in Apeiranthos of Naxos on September 9, 1922. He achieved worldwide notoriety and honour for being a resistance fighter in Greece during their occupation by Germany in WWII.
At age 18, Glezos and fellow university student, Lakis Santas, climbed up the Acropolis in Athens at night and cut down the Nazi flag. It had been raised one month earlier when the country fell under German occupation in the spring of 1941.
“It was a large flag and when it fell it covered us. We got it off us, hugged and danced a little, right on the spot,” Glezos told a program for state television decades later.
On March 24, 1942, he was arrested along with Santas by German troops and imprisoned for a month in Averoff Prison, where he was tortured inhumanely, resulting in severe tuberculosis. After being released, he proceeded to be arrested three more times by German and Italian troops for various minor offences, taking part in Greece’s liberation group.
Later Life:
Following the conclusion of WWII, he worked as a journalist for the official Greek Communist Party newspaper and the left-wing daily Avgi, and remained active in politics throughout his life.
He re-entered national politics in 2012 as a member of Parliament with the left-wing Syriza party led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, before being elected to the European Parliament in 2014.
He retired the following year, but continued to lend his public support to protest initiatives, mostly against harsh economic austerity linked to the financial crisis and international bailout.
Death and Legacy:
Glezos passed away at the age of 97.
Glezos tragically died on the 31st of March, 2020, at the age of 97 in Athens. Thousands of tributes flooded social media as the resistance hero’s actions were remembered and honoured by the Greek public.
“Greeks are poorer today following the death of Manolis Glezos, but he leaves the country richer for the life that he led and the example he gave: a genuine patriot and true fighter,” Mitsotakis said following his death.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides has claimed Turkey’s “destabilising actions” are hampering attempts to resume Cyprus reunification talks.
Meeting with Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday, the two foreign counterparts discussed Moscow’s intention to step in and help start talks if asked by all the countries involved in the tense standoff.
European Union members Greece and Cyprus accuse Turkey of violating international law and of “gunboat diplomacy.” Turkey insists it’s defending its rights and those of breakaway Turkish Cypriots on ethnically split Cyprus to their rightful share of the area’s potential gas deposits.
“It’s therefore essential at this juncture for the international community to intercede with Turkey especially by all U.N. Security Council members like Russia with the aim of immediately ending Turkey’s unlawful actions and behaviour that clearly don’t adhere to the framework of international law,” Christodoulides said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades talk during their meeting at the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. (Iakovos Hadjistavrou/Pool Photo via AP)
Greece and Turkey have faced off against each other in recent weeks as Turkish survey vessels and drill ships continue to prospect for gas in waters where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights. Greek and Turkish armed forces have been conducting military exercises in the area in a show of muscle-flexing to underscore each side’s resolve.
Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey’s search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and rejected any actions that could lead to further escalation.
“Russia considers as unacceptable any steps that could further escalate tensions,” Lavrov said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Christodoulides.
“We would be ready to contribute to building good neighborly relations in the event this is requested of us by those involved,” Lavrov said, adding that Moscow has repeatedly called on leaders in the region to “resolve these differences though dialogue and within a legal framework.”
In this photo provided on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, by the Greek Defense Ministry, warships from Greece, Italy, Cyprus and France, participate in a joint military exercise which was held from 26-28 of August, south of Turkey in eastern Mediterranean sea. (Greek Defense Ministry via AP)
Lavrov was alluding to Washington’s decision to partially lift an arms embargo on Cyprus that was designed to prevent an arms race hindering United Nations-facilitated talks to reunify the island.
The embargo was directed against the southern, Greek Cypriot part of the island, where Cyprus’ internationally-recognized government is seated.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aimed at union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and claims 44% of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone as falling within its own continental shelf.
Washington said it was lifting the arms embargo against Cyprus for one year — with the option of renewal — to let it procure non-lethal equipment.
Turkey reacted angrily to the partial embargo lifting and announced that Russia would also be conducting live-fire naval exercises this month in areas in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish research vessels are prospecting for gas.
Campaigners on Monday placed 13,000 chairs outside the German parliament building in Berlin, in a symbolic protest calling for the overcrowded migrant camps in Greek islands to be shut down.
Each chair represented one of the people stuck in terrible conditions in the Moria camp on Lesvos island, said the organising groups Seebruecke, Sea-Watch, Campact and LeaveNoOneBehind.
The chairs also recalled that German communes and states, with Berlin at the head, have said they are ready to take responsibility for migrants languishing in the insalubrious camps on several Greek islands.
13,000 chairs are placed in front of the Reichstag building in an action to call for the evacuation of the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP.
“The Bundestag was on holiday this summer, the humanitarian catastrophe at the EU [European Union] external borders was not,” the groups said in a statement.
Greek authorities last week imposed a 14-day quarantine on Moria after one man who had been living in a tent outside the camp fence tested positive for the virus. As of August 31, the Moria camp housed 12,714 people, several times its capacity of 2,757.
Germany’s federal government has agreed to take in a total of 243 children from camps in Greece who need medical treatment, as well their closest relatives. So far, 99 of the children have arrived.
It also has taken in 53 unaccompanied children evacuated from the camps.
During the Axis occupation of Greece in WWII, seemingly ordinary people crossed into the heroic sphere. Lela Karagianni was one of them. A simple home-maker and mother of seven children, Lela’s only responsibility for much of her adult life was to tend to her family’s needs.
But from the moment the Nazis invaded and occupied Athens, she became a critical member of the organised resistance movement— even creating her own cell, which she code-named Bouboulina.
It was these actions which led to Lela’s untimely death by firing squad on September 8, 1944. She was only 46 years old.
Early Life:
Lela was 46 years old when she was executed by Nazi’s.
Lela Minopoulou was born on June 24, 1898 in Lake Evia. She was the eldest daughter of Athanasios Minopoulos and Sofia Boubouli.
In 1916, she married the pharmacist Nikolaos Karagiannis, with whom she had seven children: Joanna, George, Electra, Byron, Nelson, Nefeli and Eleni.
Heroine of the resistance:
The occupation of Greece by the Italo-Germans transformed the Greek housewife into a protagonist of the National Resistance.
She formed the resistance cell, ‘Bouboulina,’ which operated out of her husband’s pharmacy and provided information to other cells about Nazi movements. She even helped smuggle people out of the Nazi zone and into the mountains, which were controlled by the resistance.
Lela and her team also forged documents and were instrumental in hiding Jews, who were constantly hunted by the occupying forces.
Arrest and Execution:
In July 1944, Lela was arrested in Athens by the German occupation forces. She was taken to the SS headquarters on Merlin Street, known to some Greek prisoners as “Hell House.”
There, she was tortured for several days before being sent to Haidari concentration camp on the outskirts of Athens.
Even as a prisoner, Lela continued to coordinate various resistance efforts against the Germans from inside the jail.
At the dawn of September 8, 1944, Lela Karagianni was led with other patriots to the Dafni Grove. Shortly before her execution by Nazi firing squad, she shouted: “Let the Nazis see that the Greeks know how to die for their homeland.”
Her body, pierced by bullets, was secretly received by friends of her family and buried in the 2nd Cemetery of Patissia.
Legacy:
A full-length marble statue of Lela pictured in her hometown in Limnos, Evvia. Photo by April Kalogeropoulou Householder.
A bronze bust of Lela has been erected at the War Museum in Athens and a full-length marble statue between the National Museum and the Polytechnic.
The Academy of Athens awarded her the Virtue and Self-Sacrifice Award.
On June 18, 2020, the Hellenic Republic also awarded her the rank of brigadier general.
Her house in Athens is a protected monument and the City of Athens named a central road after her.
For her work in hiding and saving Jews, she received Israel’s highest honor, recognised as a member of the prestigious “Righteous of the Nations,” a list of non-Jews who sacrificed and risked their own lives to save Jews at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issued new threats against Greece referring indirectly to Kastellorizo during a speech on Monday.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan hit out at “the plans of those who try to lock a country of 780,000 square kilometers to its shores using an island of 10 square kilometers in the eastern Aegean” – an apparent reference to Kastellorizo.
“Those who are asserting themselves to us, when the time comes, I hope they do not pay a heavy price,” he added.
Erdogan also responded to Greece’s announcement on Monday that it would be boosting its military funding, calling the Greek armed forces “dilapidated.”
“I advise those who, instead of sitting around the table with us, show defiance with their dilapidated military forces, to carefully inspect our diplomatic efforts and military operations of the past four years,” Erdogan said.
“Turkey will continue to follow a determined and active policy in the eastern Mediterranean.”
South Australia has a new residential property record after prominent North Adelaide property, Bishop’s Court, sold to local businesswoman Mary Kotses.
The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide yesterday confirmed the sale of their iconic Adelaide property at 45 Palmer Place, which hit the market in February and was expected to fetch more than $10 million.
Mrs Kotses, who is the founder and owner of homewares and lifestyle stores Wheel & Barrow and Karma Living, acquired the grand 164-year-old mansion, which sits on more than 5300 sqm of prime land overlooking Palmer Gardens.
In a statement, Mrs Kotses said she had not planned on moving from her current property when the stately home hit the market.
The grand staircase at Bishop’s Court. Picture: Booth & Booth Real Estate.
“We had just started to embark on an extensive renovation of our existing French-inspired home, just around the corner,” Mrs Kotses said.
“My husband and I would often walk past and admire the beauty of Bishop’s Court. It certainly is a rare and unique estate, constructed in traditional Gothic style architecture.
“South Australia has some amazing late Victorian mansions. However, nothing quite compares to the scale of Bishop’s Court.”
A spokeswoman for Mrs Kotses added the property would be used as a family home and would be renovated in time.
Neither the church, nor Mrs Kotses’ spokeswoman would reveal the property’s final sale price, although The Advertiser understands it has broken SA’s residential real estate record, last set by Gilberton mansion Ivanhoe, which sold for $7 million in 2016.
45 Palmer Place, North Adelaide. Picture: Jonathan Kissock.
The property was listed by both the National Trust of South Australia and State Heritage, and is set over three levels including a cellar.
It has seven bedrooms, two studies, a family room, a dining room, a formal sitting room, a drawing room, a kitchen, a grand entry hall and lobby, and an attached chapel. A double garage, a shed and a spacious workshop are located nearby.
Mrs Kotses opened her first kitchenware store in Adelaide in 1993, resigning from her position as managing director in 2011 for health reasons.
She has since worked behind-the-scenes at her family’s other tourism ventures, including cellar doors and accommodation, and also assists with her husband and business partner, Angelo’s regional food and beverage industry projects.
Greece plans to acquire arms, boost its armed forces and revamp its defence industry, the government’s spokesman said on Monday, as tensions with NATO ally Turkey over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean grow.
Greece, which emerged from its third international bailout in 2018 and has been struggling with the economic impact of the novel coronavirus, wants to spend part of its multi-billion-euro cash reserves on its defense sector.
“The Turkish leadership is unleashing, on a near daily basis, threats of war and makes provocative statements against Greece,” Greek government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, said.
“We respond with political, diplomatic and operational readiness, determined to do whatever is necessary to protect our sovereign rights.”
Air force jets participate in a joined training drill with armed forces from Greece and the United Arab Emirates near the Greek island of Crete, southern Greece. Photo: Greek Defense Ministry via AP.
Petsas said Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, would be announcing details of plans to upgrade the country’s military during his annual state of the economy speech on Saturday.
“We are in contact with friendly countries in order to reinforce the equipment of our armed forces,” Petsas said.
Last week, Greece raised 2.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in a bond auction as the country seeks to increase military spending and raise funds for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Greek media has reported the purchases may include French-made Rafale fighter jets and at least one French frigate.
Petsas said Mitsotakis would be meeting with French President, Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting in Corsica of European Union Mediterranean countries.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the European Union’s strained relationship with Turkey, Macron’s office said.
Turkey and Greece have long disagreed over the extent of their continental shelves. Tensions rose last month after Ankara sent an exploration vessel into disputed waters, accompanied by warships, days after Greece signed a maritime deal with Egypt.
Ankara has since been extending the vessel’s work in the wider region, issuing advisories which Athens calls illegal.
No.15 seed Maria Sakkari had her hopes of playing in a US Open final crushed by Serena Williams last night, after an immensely hard-fought game 3-6, 7(6)-6, 3-6.
Sakkari dominated the early stages of the match, outhitting Serena and sending a message to her storied opponent by delivering three aces in her opening service game of the match.
The Greek had three break points in the fifth game but failed to take any of them and duly paid the price as punishing hitting forced Sakkari to fire a forehand into the net and give Williams the break.
Down but never out. @serenawilliams got in done in three sets over Maria Sakkari.
An ace sealed the first set for Williams, who was left screaming in frustration at the end of a gruelling second as a net cord brought up set point for Sakkari.
Williams saved that set point and another to force a tie-break that was dominated by Sakkari.
The world number 22 raced into a 4-0 lead and, though a powerful winner from Williams saw off another set point, an overhit forehand sent the contest into a decider.
Williams again went long in the opening game of the third to surrender the break, which Sakkari consolidated despite some shaky serving.
But Williams brought concerted pressure on the Sakkari serve two games later and it told as she broke back with a blistering cross-court forehand.
That marked a changing of the tide and Williams brought up three break points in the eighth game of the set, taking the third thanks to a tame off-balance forehand into the net from Sakkari.
Despite admirable resistance from Sakkari, there was never a sign of Williams failing to serve out an absorbing match and staying on track to finally end her wait for major number 24.
The final outcome comes just 12 days after Sakkari defeated Serena in the Western & Southern Open.
