Marking the beginning of her duties, the new Consul General of Greece in Adelaide, South Australia, Alexandra Theodoropoulos, visited Bishop Silouan of Adelaide on Monday, August 26.
Also in attendance, was Ms Theodoropoulos’ son Jason and Father Charalampos Koutantos, who has been appointed as a teacher in Adelaide by Greece’s Education Ministry.
The new Consul General received a warm reception from Bishop Silouan on behalf of Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
Alexandra Theodoropoulos. Photo: Bookpress.
During the visit, Ms Theodoropoulos explored the Archiepiscopal Church of St Sophia (The Holy Wisdom of God) and the offices of the Diocese of Adelaide.
Lunch was then offered to the distinguished guests after which the Bishop held a meeting with the Consul General where they discussed pressing issues.
Bishop Silouan informed Ms Theodoropoulos about the diverse ecclesiastical, social, philanthropic, educational, cultural, missionary work of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
The final of the Over-45 Football Championship in NSW took place at Poulton Park at 7 pm on Friday, August 23, between Hurstville City Minotaurs and San Souci.
The spirit of Peter (The General) Sarikakis’ players was evident on the field. Although they played with only ten players due to the dismissal of their key defender, Nikos Plataniotis, they were undeterred and gave everything to win the Over-45 Championship. This was the tenth consecutive Championship win for the team.
The popular Greek team proved they were not ready to relinquish their status as the top team in the St. George area just yet.
The Minotaurs opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a powerful goal from Manuel Sarikakis, who had returned from a holiday on the Greek islands just a week prior. After a 20-minute stoppage, he entered the box, bypassed a defender, and unleashed a rocket that no one could stop.
The Minotaurs’ supporters celebrated, boasting about their right to victory against the strong San Souci supporters. Near the 20th minute, while the game was quite balanced, the referee dropped a bombshell that threatened to overturn the match by issuing a “controversial” second yellow card to the popular Plataniotis.
All the Minotaurs players protested this decision, leading to Kerry Agiasotis also receiving a 10-minute suspension. With the Minotaurs losing both of their midfielders, it was time for The General to take control and lead a team of just nine players against a strong San Souci side with 11 players. They managed to keep San Souci scoreless during the 10 minutes they played with two fewer players.
When Agiasotis returned to the field, The General reorganised the team. In the 38th minute, with the Minotaurs having a corner kick and after a scuffle by Peter Andriotis for a high ball, the ball reached Malcolm Bidau, who struck it beautifully to make the score 0-2 in favour of the Minotaurs, sending shockwaves through the large San Souci stand, which could not believe what was happening to their team.
The Minotaurs’ coach once again worked his magic, and even with one player less, his team began to control the game.
The halftime break came with the Minotaurs dominating the game and leading 0-2. During the break, The General had to instil confidence in his players, convincing them that they were on the verge of making history by winning the 10th cup in the last 10 years, even with just 10 players.
Of course, the score could have been 0-3 in the 80th minute when Andriotis received the ball five meters in front of the goal and was alone with only the goalkeeper to beat, but he missed the easy chance to score.
At the end of the 90 minutes, San Souci succumbed to the superiority of the Mighty Minotaurs, who celebrated by singing their team song and the Greek National Anthem later at the Bexley Gyro Shop, where The General took his players to celebrate the conquest of their 10th consecutive cup.
When The General was asked which of his players performed the best, he replied: “All my boys played like heroes!”
He reminded everyone that “this victory was dedicated to the memory of the player and friend, Nikos Andreou, who passed away last year at the age of 47 from a heart attack after returning from his tour in Crete.”
Coach: The General Team: Dragan Pupovac, Ali Jaafar, Robbie Hooker, Malcolm Bidau, Sam Panagakis, Kerry Agiasotis, Nick Plataniotis, Manolis Pitsourdakis, Ahmad Al Sudani, Manuel Sarikakis, Peter Andriotis, Aris Coloveros, Tom Pontidas, Modar Sultan, John Cosentino, Steve Lourbeas, Spiro Kladis, Gojko Sekutkoski, Chris Christopoulos, and George Karavatakis.
Influencer and Crohn’s disease advocate Jordan Lambropoulos was told she would be infertile following a life-changing stem-cell transplant she underwent in 2023.
To enhance her chances of being able to be a biological mother one day, she participated in an “incredibly invasive” egg retrieval surgery at the age of 24.
Despite the impossible odds and the fact twins don’t run in her family, Jordan has since discovered she has miraculously fallen pregnant naturally with twins.
“It’s crazy, just over a year ago I didn’t think I would even see my next birthday and now here I am pregnant with twins… This was an absolute miracle,” she told The Advertiser.
The 26-year-old went into remission for Crohn’s disease after being the first person in Australia to undergo a stem-cell transplant.
Jordan is 14 weeks pregnant and is due at the end of February 2025.
Single mum Kayla Psaradellis has revealed her negative experiences with landlords and property agents after tragically losing her husband to a rare form of cancer.
No longer requiring her spacious $1000 per-week rental that was intended for a growing family, the widower contacted property agents in the hope of finding something smaller.
She told realestate.com.au she believed the agents were imposing an unwritten requirement leaving her and her two-year-old child at a disadvantage.
“What I noticed was I felt like they were looking for an undisclosed criteria of what they wanted… I don’t think a single mum is on that list,” she said.
“It’s preferred to be in a two-income household, looking like you’re a stable family unit rather than a single mum.”
Photo: Realestate.
Only further complicating the rental market, the issue of rent bidding also made Ms Psaradellis feel helpless with the uncertainty of how to navigate people offering more than advertised.
“I have my own business so I have a very stable income and I can afford the rent even though I don’t have a partner in the house,” she added.
During one rental application, a property manager asked Ms Psaradellis if she had anyone else she could put on the lease to help her chances.
Ms Psaradellis said reform and policy must be changed to ensure renters all have an equal opportunity.
Peros’ defamation claim was dismissed in Queensland’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 27 after Judge Peter Applegarth found he had failed to prove he suffered serious harm to his reputation.
Justice Applegarth said that “unsurprisingly, the coroner’s finding that the plaintiff (Peros) violently killed Blackburn was widely reported… Those publications have remained online since their first publication.”
Peros sued Shandee’s sister, Shannah Blackburn, along with The Australian and journalist Hedley Thomas over episode 13 of the Shandee’s Story podcast.
Photo: The Australian.
By the time the flagged episode aired, listeners would have already concluded that Peros was the killer, despite a jury acquitting him of the murder, Justice Applegarth said.
“The plaintiff has not discharged his burden of proof that episode 13 caused serious harm to his reputation. The appropriate order is that the proceeding is dismissed,” he added.
The judge ordered Peros to pay the defendants’ legal expenses, with the total bill for both sides expected to be well over half a million dollars.
Shannah has spoken of the distress the proceedings caused her and welcomed the findings. “It’s a relief. A little win, one of the first we’ve ever had in a court of law,” she said.
ABC Radio National’s listenership has notably decreased, with its soft ratings likely to concern the organisation’s chair Kim Williams.
Radio National’s program Breakfast with Patricia Karvelas has lost a sizeable chunk of its audience over the past twelve months, according to latest figures from GfK.
Patricia Karvelas interviewing mental health professionals on her ABC Radio National breakfast program. Photo: @MarcJBryant / X.
The ratings show Karvelas‘ program now has 79,000 listeners in Sydney, down from 100,000 in the same survey in 2023.
She now has 64,000 daily listeners in Melbourne, compared to the 94,000 audience she boasted this time last year.
Despite the fall in the number of listeners over the past year, Karvelas slightly increased her audience share in Melbourne and Sydney by 0.1 percentage points over the past three months.
Jason Demetriou has returned after being fired by South Sydney Rabbitohs in May, announcing his new role as head coach of the Papua New Guinea Kumuls.
Demetriou’s appointment will lead to immediate speculation he will now be among the favourites to be named inaugural coach of the new PNG franchise, likely to enter the NRL in 2028.
The Greek Australian coach guided South Sydney to top place on the NRL table after 11 rounds last year before the club missed the finals.
It is this NRL experience and expertise that PNG officials hope to advance the Kumuls, which is vital given PNG’s looming and historic push into the NRL.
“We have worked really hard to create the right pathways structure that will allow us to identify the best young talent and then develop those players so that when they reach the Kumuls they can benefit from the systems Jason will put in place,” PNG NRL Bid chief executive, Andrew Hill said.
“Everything we are doing is in preparation for becoming an NRL team and we believe Jason’s appointment is another really positive step towards that goal.”
In response, Demetriou said “the game in PNG is going from strength to strength and it is a fantastic opportunity to work with such a talented squad.”
“I have watched the team with interest in recent years and they have a passion for the game that shows itself every time they pull on the Kumuls jersey and represent their country… It is a great time to be involved in the game in this country and I’m excited about what lies ahead,” he added.
Television series Famagusta will appear on streaming platform Netflix, showcasing a story based on the tragic events that unfolded in the Cypriot city of Famagusta.
The series director and lead actor Andreas Georgiou took to Instagram to announce it will be on Netflix from September 20.
The show depicts the events of the Turkish invasion in 1974, portraying a woman attempting to flee with her baby.
The woman falls and is knocked unconscious but when she awakes, her baby is missing. Fifty years later, she and her husband are still trying to find their lost child.
The series initially debuted on Mega Channel in January, with the second season being shown during the spring and early summer, and the third season set to air in the autumn.
The move to Netflix follows the success ofFind Me Falling, which was the first Cyprus production aired on the streaming giant.
The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion that was recently attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has confirmed fears from officials and is now leaking oil into the Red Sea as it drifts ablaze, a Pentagon spokesman announced on Tuesday, August 27.
Thetanker was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah as the Iran-aligned Houthis has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said that an unidentified third party had tried to send two tugs to help salvage the Sounion, but the Houthis threatened to attack them.
Photo: AP.
“[The Houthis’ actions reveal] their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents,” he added.
Ryder announced the US Central Command had been monitoring the situation to determine how best to assist the Sounion, which is carrying 136,000 metric tonnes of crude oil to prevent environmental devastation.
“These are simply reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilise global and regional commerce, put the lives of innocent civilian mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant maritime ecosystem,” Ryder added.
In one of the biggest upsets at the US Open so far, Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis secured the biggest win of his career against the heavily favoured, 11th seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday, August 28.
Kokkinakis held the upper hand from the outset before concluding the 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in just under four hours.
He immediately fell to his back as he secured his spot in the second round, shouting in celebration before shaking hands with Tsitsipas.
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE 🇦🇺
Thanasi Kokkinakis notches the biggest win of his career at Grand Slam level! pic.twitter.com/SOUaex1jAs
