Daily Archives: March 21, 2014

One of Sydney’s premier Greek musicians, Makis Voutsinas, is visiting Brisbane for one night only performance.

One of Sydney’s premier Greek musicians, Makis Voutsinas, is visiting Brisbane for one night only performance.

Dalaras Night with Makis Voutsinas, backed by Nick and Mike Paras, will be hosted at The Greek Club.

Included in the ticket price are mezedes, served with slow cooked lamb, lemon potatoes and Greek salad.

Bookings are essential. Tickets: $50 per person.

When: Saturday 29 March, doors open at 7.00 pm with dinner at 8.00 pm Where: The Greek Club, 29 Edmondstone Street, South Brisbane 4101

source: Neos Kosmos

Cultural Diversity Week will close with a bang this Sunday with a huge festival planned for Federation Square.

Melbourne’s Federation Square will be packed with culture and colour as it ends week long festivities for Cultural Diversity Week this Sunday.

Many Greek Australian artists will perform, while Greek cuisine will shine amongst hundreds of other cultures that make up the ethnically diverse state of Victoria in a big event called Viva Victoria.

Byron and the Gypsy Cats will be performing at the event, with the band taking to the Riverside Terrace stage at 2.30 pm to entertain audiences with a mix of traditional music from the Greek islands and Asia Minor.

Fronditha Care will be one of 23 stalls offering home made food from their motherland, so expect lots of tiropites and desserts to fill the bellies of the hungry crowd.

Despite featuring in other years, there will be no Greek dancing troop on the program, but there will be new first time performers on the bill. The festivities add to a full week long calendar of events all across the state.

The week kicked off with the Premier’s Gala Dinner that saw outgoing Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship minister Nicholas Kotsiras hand over the reins of the portfolio to the Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

The Greek Australian community was showcased in a number of events throughout the week, including a special Greek food night at the Mill Park Library that included cooking demonstrations and tastings.

Vasili Kanidiadis from Vasili’s Garden was out in Greensborough this week to give a talk on how to switch to a healthier lifestyle through gardening in the community. Today in Lalor, Greek band Aetos will take to the stage for the Lalor Community Connection Day.

Cultural Diversity week always includes Harmony Day, which was celebrated on Friday with a number of events including the Harmony Cup.

Premier Denis Napthine says the week is a perfect way to honour the thousands of ethnically diverse Victorians who call the state home.

“With 26 per cent of Victorians born overseas, we are fortunate to be home to one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse societies in the world,” Dr Napthine said.

“Cultural Diversity Week is a vibrant celebration of the benefits that multiculturalism brings to every part of our great state.”

Cultural Diversity Week is held annually to coincide with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March.

source: Neos Kosmos

More than 60 community groups and schools will march. Photos: Kostas Deves.

Thousands of Greek Australians will march this Sunday to remember the martyrs of 1821 who created the Greece we know today.

Cities across Australia will be awash with blue and white as thousands of Greek Australians march to remember their motherland and commemorate Greek Independence Day.

Hundreds of students of all ages will salute the heroes of the 1821 uprising against the Ottoman Empire and will reaffirm their commitment to preserving Greek history and the Greek Orthodox tradition in the diaspora.

The day that is a national holiday in Greece also serves as a reminder to all citizens not to take freedom for granted.

The march in Melbourne will include more than sixty groups and schools marching at the Shrine of Remembrance this Sunday.

The event is one of the rare times you’ll see bipartisan support, with both Premier Dennis Napthine and Opposition leader Daniel Andrews standing at the base of the Shrine to greet the marchers.

The two will be joined by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece and Minister responsible for the Hellenic Diaspora, Akis Gerontopoulos, who will be in Melbourne to represent Greece at the march and also meet with Australian officials and members from the Greek Australian community.

Greece’s Ambassador to Australia, Haris Dafaranos, will also attend the Melbourne march, alongside Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis and Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis representing the Greek Orthodox Church.

Many Greek Australian MPs and mayors will stand at the Shrine’s base to mark their respects.

Secretary of the National Day organising committee, Kostas Nikolopoulos, says the event is one of the most important in the Greek Australian community calendar and is a way to keep traditions alive with the younger generations.

It is not, he says, a place for political parties to further their cause.

“The Committee Charter explicitly prohibits the participation of political organisations in the parade,” he says.

“We warn that police have been notified and whoever dares disturb the celebration will suffer the consequences attached by the laws of the state.”

Mr Nikolopoulos also wanted to remind people hoping to attend to respect the sacredness of the Shrine and act in a respectful manner before, during and after the march.

The Greek Australian community is the only migrant community that is allowed to march at the Shrine and it is a privilege that can easily be revoked with bad behaviour.

source: Neos Kosmos

Tony Abbott: “If there is anything down there, we will find it”

An international search of the southern Indian Ocean is continuing for a second day as authorities try to locate a missing Malaysian airliner.

Five military and civilian aircraft are taking part in the search for debris from flight MH370, which disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.

Satellite images released on Thursday showed objects possibly related to the plane in waters far south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

Bad weather hampered Thursday’s search.

“It’s about the most inaccessible spot that you can imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it,” said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is currently visiting Papua New Guinea.

“We owe it to the families of those people (on board) to do no less.”

Flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers and disappeared from radar.

Satellite data has led to a search in two corridors to the north and south of its last known location in the Malacca Straits – the opposite direction from its flight path.

Malaysian officials say they believe the plane was intentionally diverted. Authorities in many countries have scrutinised the backgrounds of both passengers and crew on board but say they have no substantive leads.

Other reports of debris to date have proved not to be linked to the missing plane.

The St Petersburg, a Norwegian merchant ship, was the first vessel to reach the area

The debris which is the current focus of the search was identified on satellite images by Australian experts.

Mr Abbott announced early on Thursday that vessels were being sent to investigate, but cautioned that the objects found could be unrelated to the plane.

Four military planes, including three Orions belonging to the Royal Australian Air Force, are taking part in the search, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.

A civilian Bombardier Global Express is also involved. Two Orions and the Bombardier Global Express were due in the search area on Friday morning, with another Orion and a US P8 Poseidon aircraft due there later in the day.

The aircraft are searching a 23,000 km area, about 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth, Amsa said.

Each aircraft is able to search for no more than two hours, due to the distance from land.

The first aircraft returned on Friday without finding any debris.

A Norwegian merchant ship is in the area and has been searching since Thursday. Another merchant ship is en route, as is an Australian navy vessel with recovery capacity.

John Young, manager of Amsa’s emergency response division, said: “Although this search area is much smaller than we started with, it nonetheless is a big area when you’re looking out the window and trying to see something by eye.

“So we may have to do this a few times to be confident about the coverage of that search area.”

On Thursday military officials said weather had hampered the search.

The captain of the first Australian air force Orion to return from the search area described conditions as “extremely bad” with rough seas and high winds.

Warren Truss, Australia’s deputy prime minister, emphasised the difficulty of the task.

“Clearly this is a very, very difficult and challenging search. Weather conditions are not particularly good and [the] risk [is] that they may deteriorate,” he said.

China says it is sending three navy vessels to the search area. It also has an icebreaker in Perth that could join the search, its National Maritime Search and Rescue Centre said.

‘False information’

On Thursday, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein described the debris sighting as a “credible lead”.

The largest object appeared to be 24m (78ft) in size, the Australian authorities said.

Correspondents say many families are hoping the objects are not debris from the plane, as they are holding onto hope that their relatives could be alive somewhere.

Wen Wancheng, whose 33-year-old son Wen Yongsheng was on the plane, said: “What wreckage? In a few days they are going to say it’s not true.

“[The Malaysian authorities] need to stop giving us false information. I simply don’t believe them any more.”

Malaysia says search efforts are continuing in both corridors, involving a total of 18 ships, 29 aircraft and six ship-borne helicopters.

“Until we are certain that we have located MH370, search and rescue operations will continue in both corridors,” Mr Hishammuddin said.

source: bbc.com

Μια τεράστια επιχείρηση έρευνας από στεριάς και αέρος πραγματοποιείται στη θαλάσσια περιοχή κοντά στην Αυστραλία, όπου δορυφόρος εντόπισε δύο ύποπτα αντικείμενα, δίνοντας ελπίδα ότι βρέθηκαν τα πρώτα στοιχεία για το χαμένο Boeing των Μαλαισιανών αερογραμμών. Σκοτάδι πάντως επικρατεί ως προς το τι μπορεί να συνέβη στο μοιραίο αεροσκάφος, με τις αρχές να επικεντρώνονται σε τέσσερα βασικά σενάρια.

Σενάριο 1ο: Ξέσπασε φωτιά στο πιλοτήριο
Αν τα δύο αντικείμενα που εντοπίστηκαν 3.000 χιλιόμετρα δυτικά από τις ακτές του Περθ ανήκουν τελικά στο Boeing 777, τότε ενισχύονται οι θεωρίες που θέλουν να ξέσπασε φωτιά στο πιλοτήριο, με αποτέλεσμα οι πιλότοι να χάσουν εντελώς τον έλεγχο του αεροσκάφους, κάτι που είχε γίνει και στην πτήση 111 της Swissair στις 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 1998.

Σενάριο 2ο: Το αεροσκάφος καταρρίφθηκε κατά λάθος
Καθόλου απίθανο δεν είναι το σενάριο το Boeing να καταρρίφθηκε κατά λάθος από το στρατό κάποιας χώρας,  όπως είχε συμβεί και στο δυστύχημα του 1996 όταν το αμερικανικό ναυτικό εκτελούσε γυμνάσια και χτύπησε κατά λάθος με πύραυλο αεροπλάνο της TWA σκοτώνοντας 230 επιβαίνοντες.

Σενάριο 3ο: Υπήρξε αποσυμπίεση στην καμπίνα του αεροσκάφους
Καθόλου απίθανη δεν είναι η θεωρία της αποσυμπίεσης . Αν ισχύει αυτό το σενάριο, τότε πιλότοι και επιβάτες πιθανόν να έχασαν τις αισθήσεις τους . Το αεροσκάφος ήταν στον αυτόματο πιλότο ώσπου τελείωσαν τα καύσιμα και έπεσε στον Ινδικό Ωκεανό.

Σενάριο 4ο: Έπεσε θύμα αεροπειρατείας
Η απόλυτη σιωπή των πιλότων μετά την αναστροφή του αεροσκάφους , σημαίνει πώς κάτι  γρήγορο και βίαιο συνέβη μέσα στο πιλοτήριο όπως αεροπειρατεία. Το ότι κάποιος έκλεισε το τρανσπόντερ ενισχύει το σενάριο που θέλει τον κυβερνήτη να  έριξε το αεροσκάφος, θέλοντας να αυτοκτονήσει όπως είχε γίνει το 1999 με την πτήση 990 της EgyptAir από το Λος Αντζελες για  Κάϊρο.

Το μυστήριο με το αεροσκάφος «φάντασμα» γίνεται πιο πυκνό. Ακόμη και αν τα συντρίμμια βρεθούν και ανήκουν στο Boeing των Μαλαισιανών αερογραμμών, παραμένουν αναπάντητα βασικά ερωτήματα όπως  το γιατί άλλαξε πορεία και ποιοι ήταν αυτοί που διέκοψαν τις επικοινωνίες του αεροσκάφους.

Πηγή: madata.gr

The location of debris from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean would eliminate some of the wilder theories about what happened to the plane and would lean towards the likelihood of an emergency on the flight, an attempt by the crew to turn back and complications that caused them to fall into unconsciousness leaving the plane on a ghost flight until it ran out of fuel.

While some sort of botched hijacking that led to the pilots being killed cannot be ruled out entirely, it seems very unlikely given the location of the possible wreckage. The hijack theory would have more credence if MH370 was located along the north-western flight path towards the Middle East. The trajectory might have even pointed to the political motivation.

The location also seems to rule out the hijack theories, because there are no airports along the southern flight path.

Far more plausible is the theory, favoured for days now by professional pilots on chat sites and blogs,  that the pilots had an event on board that took out the communications and led to a slow or rapid decompression which rendered the crew incapable of making an emergency landing.  Pilots have only a few minutes to bring a plane down to below  4000 metres before the passengers and crew will become disoriented, then unconscious and eventually die.  In 1999 a Lear jet carrying professional golfer Payne Stewart flew for several hours with its passengers and crew unresponsive, before it ran out of fuel and crashed in a field in South Dakota.

Speculation on the cause of a disaster has focused  on:

Corrosion around the satellite antenna which caused it to break, cutting off communications, and causing a slow decompression that left the crew confused by the time the cabin pressure alarm went off. The satellite antennas on Boeing 777s had been the subject of an airworthiness directive issued by the National Transport Safety Bureau in November 2013.

An explosion of the flight deck crew’s emergency oxygen supply,  in a bay under the floor which also includes communications systems. In 2008 an emergency  oxygen tank exploded on a Qantas 747, causing a hole in the fuselage, decompression,  and an emergency landing.

A fire, which might explain why the plane initially climbed before descending. The crew may have been attempting to extinguish the fire by depriving it of oxygen, but then were overcome by smoke and fumes, leaving the plane to continue on autopilot.

Several pilots familiar with Asian air routes have speculated  the new  route programmed into the plane’s computer was consistent with it heading for  Langkawi, which has a large airport and  easy terrain.

The possibility of pilot suicide cannot be ruled out, but in the last two cases where it was suspected, the planes were   flown into the ground.  The notion of a pilot disabling the communications systems and  waiting  for the plane to run out of fuel in eight hours’ time seems far-fetched. It only makes sense if the pilot killed himself and the passengers and crew by depriving them of oxygen after setting a course on autopilot.

source: smh.com.au