Sam Konstas, Australia’s 19-year-old batting prodigy, has retained his spot in the Test squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, marking another milestone in his rapid rise.
Chief selector George Bailey expressed confidence in Konstas’ adaptability to subcontinental conditions, describing him as “a quick learner” with a technique suited to the challenges of slow, spinning pitches.
“You never really know until someone’s faced with them… but we’re expecting him to get a lot out of this tour,” Bailey said.
Teen sensation Sam Konstas (R) and Travis Head (L) are both options at the top of the order this tour. Photo: Michael Klein.
Konstas’ selection raises questions about how Australia will structure its batting line-up. The teenager could open alongside Usman Khawaja, or the team might opt for Travis Head, who excelled as an opener in similar conditions two years ago.
Selectors opted for youth in this squad, with Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa missing out. Maxwell’s omission at 36 may signal the end of his Test career, while Handscomb’s solid record in Asia was overlooked in favour of younger talent.
Thanasi Kokkinakis has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Adelaide International to focus on recovering from a shoulder injury in time for the Australian Open.
Kokkinakis withdrew from his home tournament ahead of his quarterfinal match against second seed Sebastian Korda due to the recurring shoulder injury.
Despite efforts to recover, Kokkinakis said he was in worse condition on Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately, I was in a lot of pain last night… it just crept up on me,” he told The Advertiser.
“I’m already looking forward to next year… the next goal is to try and see if I can be ready for next week’s Australian Open.”
The withdrawal leaves Sebastian Korda to progress to today’s semi-final against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, who defeated Benjamin Bonzi in straight sets.
The Hellenic Air Force has received its final Rafale fighter jet, completing its fleet of 24 French-made aircraft.
The single-seat jet, bearing serial number 457, arrived at the 114th Combat Wing at Tanagra Air Base following a direct flight from Mérignac, Bordeaux. It was formally handed over to the 332nd Squadron.
This delivery marks the fulfilment of a supplementary contract signed in March 2022, which expanded Greece’s initial Rafale fleet from 18 to 24 aircraft. The deal also included three FDI frigates and cost €1.09 billion.
The Hellenic Air Force has received its final Rafale fighter jet.
Equipped with state-of-the-art 4.5th generation Rafale F3R jets and Meteor medium-range missiles, Greece now holds air superiority in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
The Getty Villa museum in Pacific Palisades, California, narrowly avoided devastation as the Palisades wildfire reached its grounds on Tuesday, January 7.
According to The Guardian, despite flames burning trees and vegetation on the property, no structures were damaged, and the museum’s invaluable Greek and Roman antiquities remain safe.
The fire, driven by powerful winds, forced mass evacuations across Los Angeles County.
Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, assured the public that “staff and the collection remain safe,” crediting year-round fire mitigation efforts, including brush clearance, water storage, and advanced air-handling systems that sealed the museum’s galleries and library from smoke.
The Getty Villa, located along the Pacific Coast Highway and styled as a re-creation of a Roman country house, closed on Tuesday morning and will remain shut to visitors until at least Monday, January 13.
Footage shared online showed flames near the museum’s driveway, but these did not pose a direct threat to the Villa itself.
The Palisades Fire has damaged more than 1,000 homes and businesses. Combined with the Eaton and Hurst fires, the blazes have led to widespread devastation across LA, with approximately 180,000 people evacuated and five deaths reported.
Firefighters continue to battle the flames across multiple affected areas, including the Hollywood Hills, which was briefly evacuated but has since lifted its evacuation orders.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s $26 million home in Pacific Palisades narrowly escaped the devastating wildfire that has been sweeping through Los Angeles.
According to Page Six, the couple’s four-bedroom, five-bathroom residence, purchased in 2010, remains untouched, while the cliffside mansion just above it was completely destroyed.
The Palisades Fire, which erupted on Tuesday, January 7, has damaged more than 1,000 homes and businesses. Combined with the Eaton and Hurst fires, the blazes have led to widespread devastation across LA, with approximately 180,000 people evacuated and five deaths reported.
Several celebrities, including Paris Hilton and Leighton Meester, have also suffered significant losses in the fires.
Firefighters continue to battle the flames across multiple affected areas, including the Hollywood Hills, which was briefly evacuated but has since lifted its evacuation orders.
Hanks and Wilson previously owned a 1929 Spanish-style villa in Pacific Palisades, which they sold in 2014 for $5 million. Hanks also has a beach house in Malibu, though it remains unclear if it was impacted by the fire.
Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis was laid to rest on Thursday, January 9 at Athens’ First Cemetery, following a funeral service at the Athens Metropolis Cathedral.
The ceremony was conducted with the honours accorded to a sitting prime minister. Simitis was laid to rest next to the co-founder of PASOK Andreas Papandreou.
Simitis’ wife, Daphne, their daughters Fiona and Marilena, and their families placed white roses and received the folded Greek flag that draped his casket.
The funeral procession paused at the Greek Parliament and the Monument of the Unknown Soldier before reaching the cemetery, where an honour guard fired three ceremonial shots.
Prominent attendees included Greece’s President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, current and former PASOK party members, and political figures such as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who gave a eulogy and called Simitis “a fighter against dictatorship and a noble servant of democracy.”
Relatives and officials attended Costas Simitis’ funeral in Athens, Greece. Photo: AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris.
Known as the architect of Greece’s entry into the eurozone, Simitis’ tenure as prime minister (1996–2004) was marked by significant achievements, including securing Cyprus’ EU membership, preparing Athens for the 2004 Olympics, and implementing major infrastructure projects.
In her eulogy, President Sakellaropoulou praised him for “setting the bar high for a strong, equal Greece in Europe.”
Mourners lined the streets to pay their respects, recalling Simitis’ pragmatism and reformative policies.
Born in 1936, Simitis studied law and economics in Germany and the UK before entering politics. He passed away on Sunday at the age of 88, after a life dedicated to modernising Greece and strengthening its ties with Europe.
The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA) will hold its highly anticipated election on Saturday, 11 January 2025, at the Olympic Hall, from 9am to 6pm. The election marks a pivotal moment as candidates present their vision for the future of this historic organisation.
Among the hopefuls is Peter Ppiros, a candidate representing the Independent Progressive Alliance. Ppiros is well-known for his tenure as the General Secretary of GOCSA from 2016 to 2022 and as a newspaper editor.
His campaign centres on fostering unity, enhancing transparency, and ensuring the independence of the community.
“If our team is elected, our first priority will be to reunite our Community, which has been divided over the past two years. This division has had a negative impact on the life, activities, and functioning of our historic organisation,” Ppiros told The Greek Herald in a statement.
“As a matter of priority, we will ensure that our churches, which have been operating at reduced capacity or intermittently over the past two years, return to normal functioning.
“At the same time, we will conduct a thorough investigation into the Community’s finances, including those of our Community care home, ensuring full transparency and providing detailed reports to members regarding the financial situation.”
Ppiros said his group would also safeguard “through legal measures… both the democratic constitution and the assets of the Community.”
“This will ensure that any future attempts at engagement with the Archdiocese will be firmly grounded in state-backed guarantees of the Community’s democratic operation and the protection of its assets,” he added.
“The candidates of the Community Independence platform will remain committed to the constitution, particularly Articles 2A and 4A, which pertain to the independence and autonomy of the Community. The cornerstone of our good governance is: DEMOCRACY – TRANSPARENCY – PROGRESS!”
Second-hand stores and deceased estates are a place where all sorts of items can be found. It’s hard to walk away from a pile of photographs and not wonder about them.
Canberra speech pathologist Jes is on a mission to reunite lost photographs with their families, not just in Australia but around the globe.
For 20 years, with support from her husband, Jes has been collecting old photographs from rubbish tips and deceased estates. The first old photograph Jes felt compelled to purchase was of a woman with a beautiful smile holding a bunch of flowers.
“I loved looking at the photos and would wonder who these people were, what lives they’d led, and what stories they’d held,” Jes told The Greek Herald.
“I couldn’t bear thinking these photos could be lost to history, so I’d purchase them with the intent of one day returning them to their families.”
Many years ago, while in Yass, New South Wales, Jes came across a large photo album containing many photographs of a Greek wedding in Sydney.
“The Greek wedding photos are part of a large photo album I found many years ago,” she explained.
“The album has photos from Sydney, Cooma, Narooma, Leeton, Ingham in Queensland, and even a postcard from Italy.
“Some of the photos have Greek written on the back. There is even a photograph of a man who migrated from Romania to Australia.
“The owner of the album remains a mystery, but there seems to be a connection between migrants to Australia – I wonder if the album belonged to someone in the Canberra / Yass region who themselves was a new migrant, or perhaps helped new migrants settle into Australia.”
In May 2024, Jes posted the Greek wedding photographs on her new Instagram and Facebook page – The Lost Portrait Archive– in the hope the happy couple would be identified.
The photographs were taken in 1958 at a Greek Orthodox church in Surry Hills, Sydney.
In November 2024, people began to comment on the social media post with someone identifying a couple who were guests at the wedding. Before long, the bride and groom were identified as Jim and Koula.
Jes was excited to find out that the couple’s grandson had identified a great uncle in the photograph and thought the bride and groom in the photograph could be his grandparents.
The grandson visited his yiayia and asked to see her wedding photo and sure enough – his grandparents were the unidentified couple.
“I was so excited when the couple was identified,” Jes said.
“The couple is so beautiful – they are so in love. I’d looked at them (the photos) for many years and had always hoped they’d be identified one day.”
This labour of love not only stems from wanting to return photos to loved ones, but the meaning a photograph can have to a person.
“My husband and I have had a difficult couple of years, birthing stillborn twins followed by a pregnancy ending in miscarriage,” Jes said.
“For us, the photographs that the midwives took of our twins are all we have left of them. The photos hold such meaning.
“We felt the old photographs I’d collected might hold that same importance to family members and that it was time to finally start to identify and reunite them with their families.”
Jes checks the social media pages daily to answer comments and sometimes to follow a lead that could lead her to a potential family.
“It’s such an honour to be able to return these photos to loved ones,” she said.
“In some cases, families had never seen the photos before. It’s a very special feeling knowing they’re back where they belong.
“I’d be most appreciative if readers could join my Facebook and/or Instagram account and have a look through the photos to see if they recognise anyone. Any help is much appreciated.”
*If any reader recognises in one photo above the lady in the background who is behind the groom as he is getting in the car, please contact Jes via her Facebook page The Lost Portrait Archive. The mystery lady was once the owner of the album that Jes had found.
Three Greek Orthodox private schools in Sydney, New South Wales, are set to have their government funding increased from 2024-2029, according to analytics presented by TheSydney Morning Herald (SMH).
The analysis shows that St Euphemia College in Bankstown will have its funding raised by $2153, from $12,757 to $14,910 over the 2024-2029 period.
All Saints Grammar in Belmore is set to have its funding increased by $1880 from $10,983 in 2024 to $12,863 in 2029.
Despite this small funding boost, other private schools are shown to have cuts in the coming years. These include the Athena School in Newtown, Northern Beaches Christian School, St Augustine’s College in Brookvale and MLC School in Burwood, which are set to lose more than $2000.
According to the SMH, 30 NSW schools are set to lose funding, while another 66 will see reductions in their School Resourcing Standard (SRS) percentage, according to Senate estimates.
The SRS formula, part of the Gonski reforms, calculates government funding for each school.
Private schools receive a “capacity to contribute” score based on family income, lowering their base SRS. While the federal government covers 80% of private school SRS, NSW funds the rest.
For state schools, NSW is the primary funder. Overfunded independent schools will have their funding gradually reduced until 2029.
Zoe Karatzovalis, 25, has realised her childhood dream of joining The Wiggles, after years of performing as a professional dancer.
Growing up in Port Lincoln, South Australia, Zoe and her brother Kosta watched The Wiggles daily, sparking her passion for dance.
“I always dreamed of one day joining The Wiggles on stage,” she told ABC News.
After training at Sydney’s Brent Street Performing Arts School, Zoe pursued dance but faced challenges during the 2020 lockdown. She opened a dance studio, Infinite Abilities Performing Arts, for people of all abilities, including those on the autism spectrum.
