Daily Archives: April 19, 2014

Από τον Πανάγιο Τάφο στα Ιεροσόλυμα μεταδόθηκε το μήνυμα της Ανάστασης του Κυρίου. Λίγα λεπτά μετά τις 14:00 ο Ελληνορθόδοξος Πατριάρχης Ιεροσολύμων κ. Θεόφιλος βγήκε από το Κουβούκλιο του Παναγίου Τάφου κρατώντας τις δυο δεσμίδες των λαμπάδων με το Άγιον Φως.

Χιλιάδες προσκυνητές από ολόκληρο τον κόσμο είχαν κατακλύσει τον Ναό της Αναστάσεως προκειμένου να ζησουν από κοντά αυτή τη μεγάλη εμπειρία.

Από τον ναό της Αναστάσεως, το Άγιο Φως αρχίζει το ταξίδι του με προορισμό τις εκκλησίες της Ελλάδας. Το αεροπλάνο με τον υφυπουργό Εξωτερικών κ. Άκη Γεροντόπουλο, το μεταφέρει από το Ισραήλ στην Αθήνα και στο αεροδρόμιο Ελ. Βενιζέλος, γύρω στις 18.30 το βράδυ, όπου γίνεται η τελετή υποδοχής, με τιμές αρχηγού κράτους για να ξεκινήσει, αμέσως μετά η διανομή του σε όλη τη χώρα.

Δύο αεροσκάφη αναχωρούν αμέσως μετά την άφιξη της αποστολής από τα Ιεροσόλυμα προς περιοχές του Αιγαίου και του Ιονίου, μεταφέροντας το Άγιο Φως σε Ιωάννινα, Κέρκυρα, Κεφαλονιά, Ζάκυνθο, Μύκονο, Σάμο, Κω, Μυτιλήνη με προγραμματισμένη ώρα άφιξης στον τελευταίο προορισμό για κάθε τομέα, κατά προσέγγιση τις 22:30.

Παράλληλα, προκειμένου να γίνει η μεταφορά και σε άλλους προορισμούς- Ηράκλειο, Χίο, Σαντορίνη, Καβάλα και Θεσσαλονίκη- μετατίθεται αργότερα, κατά μία περίπου ώρα, η αναχώρηση σε προγραμματισμένες αεροπορικές πτήσεις. Έτσι, από τα αεροδρόμια φθάνει στις πόλεις της επικράτειας και από εκεί, στις εκκλησίες, για να φωτίσει την Ανάσταση του Κυρίου και να φτάσει από χέρι σε χέρι σε κάθε σπίτι.

Πηγή: dogma.gr

Χιλιάδες πιστοί από νωρίς κατέκλυσαν την εκκλησία του Αγίου Γεωργίου Εξορινού στην εντός των τειχών κατεχόμενη Αμμόχωστο, όπου μετά από 58 χρόνια πραγματοποιήθηκε η περιφορά του Επιταφίου.

Οι πιστοί προσέρχονταν με δέος για να προσκυνήσουν τον επιτάφιο, ο οποίος στολίστηκε με άσπρα γαρύφαλλα, κρίνους και τριαντάφυλλα.

Για την ασφάλεια των προσκυνητών και την ομαλή διεξαγωγή του προσκυνήματος, αστυνομικοί βρίσκονταν σε κεντρικά σημεία της κατεχόμενης πόλης καθοδηγώντας τους οδηγούς των οχημάτων με πινακίδες εγγραφής της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας, σε χώρο στάθμευσης που βρισκόταν 250 μέτρα μακριά από την Εκκλησία.

Παρόντες στη μικρή εκκλησία του Αγίου Γεωργίου Εξορινού ήταν μεταξύ άλλων, ο Δήμαρχος της κατεχόμενης Αμμοχώστου Αλέξης Γαλανός, ο πρώην Πρόεδρος της Δημοκρατίας Γιώργος Βασιλείου και η Επίτροπος της ΕΕ, σύζυγός του, Ανδρούλλα Βασιλείου, ο Πρόεδρος του ΔΗΣΥ Αβέρωφ Νεοφύτου, ο ΓΓ του ΑΚΕΛ Άντρος Κυπριανού, ο Δήμαρχος της κατεχόμενης Κερύνειας Γλαύκος Καριόλου, ο Ευρωβουλευτής Τάκης Χατζηγεωργίου, ο υποψήφιος Ευρωβουλευτής και τέως Κυβερνητικός Εκπρόσωπος Χρήστος Στυλιανίδης.

Τη λειτουργία παρακολούθησαν επίσης η Ειδική Αντιπρόσωπος του ΓΓ του ΟΗΕ στην Κύπρο Λίζα Μπαντενχάιμ, ο Βρετανός Ύπατος Αρμοστής Μάθιου Κιντ, ο Πρέσβης των ΗΠΑ Τζον Κόνιγκ και άλλοι.

Τηλεοπτικά συνεργεία βρίσκονταν στο χώρο για άμεση μετάδοση του γεγονότος που προσέλκυσε και διεθνές ενδιαφέρον.

Θετικό βήμα, τονίζουν ξένοι διπλωμάτες

Η Ακολουθία του Επιταφίου, της Μεγάλης Παρασκευής, στην εκκλησία του Αγίου Γεωργίου Εξορινού, στην εντός των τειχών κατεχόμενη Αμμόχωστο, αποτελεί μια πρωτοβουλία που μπορεί να συμβάλει στην οικοδόμηση εμπιστοσύνης μεταξύ των δύο κοινοτήτων στην Κύπρο, εκτιμούν ξένοι διπλωμάτες που παρακολούθησαν τη λειτουργία στην κατεχόμενη ελληνορθόδοξη εκκλησία.

Σε δηλώσεις τους, μετά τη θεία λειτουργία, εξέφρασαν την ικανοποίησή τους που κατέστη δυνατό να τελεστεί η Ακολουθία, επισημαίνοντας ότι αυτό αποτελεί απτή απόδειξη του τι μπορούν να πετύχουν οι δύο κοινότητες όταν εργάζονται από κοινού.

Η Ειδική Αντιπρόσωπος του ΓΓ του ΟΗΕ στην Κύπρο Λίζα Μπατενχάιμ, χαιρέτισε την τέλεση της Ακολουθίας του Επιταφίου, την πρώτη από το 1957, όπως σημείωσε.

«Μετά από τόσα χρόνια, αυτό είναι μια θετική εξέλιξη. Εκτιμώ τις προσπάθειες που κατέβαλαν από κοινού οι Δήμαρχοι της Αμμοχώστου κ. Γαλανός και κ. Καγιαλπ για να πραγματοποιηθεί απόψε η λειτουργία αυτή. Τέτοιες πρωτοβουλίες βελτιώνουν την ατμόσφαιρα και οικοδομούν εμπιστοσύνη,» πρόσθεσε.

Από την πλευρά του, ο Βρετανός Ύπατος Αρμοστής Μάθιου Κιντ εξέφρασε την ευαρέσκειά του που παρευρέθηκε στην λειτουργία μαζί με τόσο κόσμο.
«Αυτό αποτελεί ένα παράδειγμα πώς και οι δύο κοινότητες μπορούν να εργαστούν, συνεργαζόμενες, για να καλλιεργήσουν το σεβασμό η μια προς την άλλη και να έχουν αποτέλεσμα,» είπε ο κ. Κιντ.

Η Πρέσβειρα της Ολλανδίας Brechje Schwachofer δήλωσε ότι νιώθει «πολύ προνομιούχα» που της δόθηκε η ευκαιρία να παραστεί στην αποψινή Ακολουθία του Επιταφίου, «σε αυτή την ειδική και συναισθηματικά φορτισμένη θρησκευτική τελετή, στην Αμμόχωστο,» όπως ανέφερε.

«Για εμένα αυτό αποδεικνύει ότι και οι δύο κοινότητες, Ε/κ και Τ/κ, έχουν τη δυνατότητα να εργαστούν μαζί ενωμένοι. Στέλνει ένα πολύ καλοδεχούμενο μήνυμα εμπιστοσύνης και δείχνει τη θέληση και την ικανότητα να εργαστούν για ένα κοινό μέλλον,» κατέληξε στις δηλώσεις της.

ΠΗΓΗ: 24h.com.cy

Leading Seaman, Boatswain’s Mate, William Sharkey searches for debris in the Southern Indian Ocean Photo: EPA/AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE DEPARTMENT

The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 is at a ‘critical’ stage, a senior Malaysian official announces, as Australian officials coordinating operations say underwater searches for its flight data recorders be concluded within a week.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has reached a “critical juncture”, Malaysia’s defence minister said on Saturday, six weeks after the Boeing 777 vanished with 239 people onboard.

Θρήνος επικρατεί στη Γουέστ Χαμ μετά τον απροσδόκητο χαμό του Ντίλαν Τομπίδη, που άφησε την τελευταία του πνοή σε ηλικία 20 ετών από καρκίνο στους όρχεις.

Ο Ελληνοαυστραλός επιθετικός είχε αφήσει τις καλύτερες εντυπώσεις στη δεύτερη ομάδα του λονδρέζικου συλλόγου το 2011 και ετοιμαζόταν για το ντεμπούτο του στην Πρέμιερ Λιγκ, όταν εντελώς τυχαία σε έναν έλεγχο αντιντόπινγκ ενόψει ματς της Εθνικής ομάδα Αυστραλίας αποκαλύφθηκε ένας όγκος στα γεννητικά του όργανα.

Η Γουέστ Χαμ –που του έδωσε τελικά την ευκαιρία να αγωνιστεί φορώντας τη φανέλα της σε αγώνα κόντρα στη Γουίγκαν για το Λιγκ Καπ το Σεπτέμβρη του 2012- θα κρατήσει ενός λεπτού σιγή στη μνήμη του, στο ερχόμενο ματς κόντρα στην Κρίσταλ Πάλας.

«Ο Ντίλαν είχε κερδίσει τον σεβασμό όλων όσων τον γνώριζαν, για τις ευφυείς απόψεις του στο παιχνίδι και τον χαρακτήρα του που ξεπερνούσε τη ζωή», αναφέρει ανάμεσα σε άλλα ανακοίνωση των «σφυριών» που συνεχίζει «Ήταν ένας αγαπημένος γιος, ένας φοβερός αδερφός και ένα αξιοσέβαστο μέλος στην ομάδα. Είναι τεράστια απώλεια για όλους όσους είχαν την τύχη να τον γνωρίσουν».

Πηγή:madata.gr

Συγκινημένοι και σοκαρισμένοι ήταν η Κέιτ Μίντλετον και ο Πρίγκιπας Γουίλιαμ.

Το ζευγάρι επισκέφτηκε το νοσοκομείο Bear Cottage και εκεί συνάντησε διάφορους ασθενείς.

Ανάμεσά τους ήταν και παιδιά με τις οικογένειές τους και ένα από αυτά είναι πολύ βαριά άρρωστο και του μένουν ακόμα λίγες ημέρες ζωής.

Μάλιστα, έχει την ίδια ηλικία με τον Πρίγκιπα Τζορτζ και αυτό ήταν ένας ακόμα παράγοντας για να κάνει την Κέιτ Μίντλετον να δακρύσει.

Ο Πρίγκιπας Γουίλιαμ μάλιστα είπε: «Φοβόμουν ότι θ’ αρχίσω να κλαίω με λυγμούς. Κρατήθηκα με το ζόρι.

Αν άρχιζα να κλαίω δεν θα σταματούσα με τίποτα. Χρειάστηκε μεγάλη προσπάθεια ώστε να καταφέρω να ελέγξω τον εαυτό μου. Το μωρό έχει την ίδια ηλικία με τον George. Ήταν πολύ συγκινητικό».

Πηγή: madata.gr

The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized three days ago, leaving 28 people dead and 268 missing, has been arrested and charged.

Lee Joon-seok faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

A joint investigation team of police and prosecutors on Friday had sought arrest warrants for Lee, 52, and two of his crew, without specifying charges.

Yonhap says a local court in Mokpo had issued warrants for him and two other crew members, citing the possibility that they may flee or destroy evidence.

During his police arraignment, Lee defended his decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation immediately when the ship started listing.

Lee was asked by TV reporters why passengers had been ordered to remain in their seats and cabins for more than 40 minutes after the ferry first sent a distress signal.

“At the time a rescue ship had not arrived. There were also no fishing boats around there for rescues or other ships to help,” he said.

“The currents were very strong and water was cold at that time in the area.

“I thought that passengers would be swept far away and fall into trouble if they evacuated thoughtlessly without wearing lifejackets.

“It would have been the same even if they did wear lifejackets,” he said.

Earlier, prosecutors said Lee had handed the helm to his third officer before the ferry capsized.

The ship captain has come under scrutiny after witnesses said he was among the first to escape the sinking vessel, which was on a 400-kilometre voyage from the port city of Incheon to the Korean holiday island of Jeju.

Earlier, Park Kyoung-nam, who was working in the ship’s wheelhouse, told reporters he was unsure if an evacuation order he said was made by the captain was received by passengers.

“The captain made the order, but I do not know if it was properly communicated,” he said.

“What is announced through the speakers in the cabin cannot really be heard in the wheelhouse because they have different microphone systems.”

Crew interviews to give insight into accident cause: expert

Captain James Staples, a US-based maritime safety consultant, told the AM program that authorities should be able to determine the cause of the accident through interviews with the captain and crew, without pulling the vessel from the water.

“[The captain] should be able to answer probably 80 per cent of the questions, along with the chief engineer,” he said.

“They should be able to come to some kind of conclusion as to what happened, putting together the bridge team to see where the position of the vessel was.

“They don’t need the ship right now, but they could use the ship later on for forensics if she does indeed have what we call a VDR – a voice data recorder – which is very similar to what airlines have with black boxes.”

He says authorities will have broader questions about the safety protocols on the vessel.

“What we need to look at is to see what the procedures and protocols were for lashing of cargo on that type of vessel, and to see if it was being done or if the crew had been complacent. From what I understand … they hadn’t even run evacuation drills on board the ship.

“So it sounds like there may be some training issues here we have to look at, some complacency with being on runs for a long period of time. There’s quite a few things we need to look at, but training would be the first one I would be looking at.”

Divers unable to access passenger area

Meanwhile, the vice principal of a South Korean high school, who accompanied hundreds of pupils on the ferry and survived, has committed suicide.

Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday. His body was found outside a gym in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the people missing on the ship, mostly children from the school, were gathered.

Authorities are still searching for any survivors of the maritime disaster, which is South Korea’s worst in 21 years, based on possible casualties.

Divers gained access to the cargo deck of the ferry on Friday, although that was not close to the passenger quarters, according to a coastguard official.

Other coastguard officials said that divers made several attempts to make it to the passenger areas but failed.

Marine salvage expert Captain John Noble has told the ABC it would be a “miracle” if anyone were found alive inside the sunken ferry.

“The water temperature is about 12 degrees. It is now many hours … since the tragedy occurred. People just cannot survive in water at that temperature for that length of time and if they found an air pocket I doubt that there would be much chance of survival by now.

“If there is, it would be a miracle.”

Cranes have been deployed near the wreck site as preparations begin to raise the ship.

source: abc.net.au

THE Australian football community is mourning the loss of youth international Dylan Tombides, who passed away yesterday following a three-year battle with cancer. He was aged 20.

The Perth-born Tombides made the first-team squad at English Premier League club West Ham United while being treated for testicular cancer and represented Australia at U-17 and Under-23 level.

Football Federation Australia boss David Gallop paid tribute to Tombides as an outstanding player of his generation.

“On behalf of the Australian football community, we offer our deepest condolences to Dylan’s family, team mates and friends during this extremely sad time,” said Gallop in a statement.

“The Tombides family has lost a fine young man and Australian football has lost one of its most promising football players. He will be remembered for the courage he showed in his personal battle as much as the prodigious talent he displayed on the football field.”

Tombides played his early football in Perth and Hong Kong, before joining West Ham as a 15-year-old.

After impressive performances for the Hammers at youth and reserve levels, Tombides was named on the bench for the final Premier League fixture of the 2010/11 season against Sunderland. In June 2011 Tombides was named in Australia’s squad for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico where his disease was diagnosed in a routine drug test.

Tombides played in all four of Australia’s matches and scored the winning goal against Cote d’Ivoire in their opening match.

After treatment and months of recovery in London, Tombides battled back to make his West Ham first-team debut off the substitutes’ bench in a League Cup match against Wigan in 2012.

In January this year, he was in the Olyroos squad (Australia U-23) that competed at the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship in Oman. As a mark of respect, the Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United will wear black armbands and hold a minute’s silence at today’s A-League elimination final at Gosford.

His death will also be marked by a minute’s applause before West Ham’s home match against Crystal Palace in London this weekend. West Ham posted a statement on the club’s website praising his resilience through months of surgery and chemotherapy.

“Away from the pitch, Dylan did a huge amount of work to raise awareness of male cancer, supporting the One for the Boys campaign at a number of high-profile events alongside the likes of Hollywood star Samuel L Jackson, snooker star Jimmy White and fellow Australian Peter Andre.

“Dylan was respected by everyone who knew him for his intelligent views on the game and his larger than life character. He was a loving son, amazing brother and well-respected member of the West Ham squad. He will be hugely missed by everyone who had the honour of knowing him.”

source: theaustralian.com.au

Japan has laid out a roadmap back to commercial whaling in its first comprehensive response to the International Court of Justice ban on its Antarctic “scientific” hunt.

The Japanese government announced plans to continue its North Pacific “research” whaling, though in reduced numbers, and set a path to a lethal Antarctic catch in late 2015.

The Fisheries Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the government’s plans had given maximum consideration to the ICJ ruling.

“We will continue our research hunts aimed at collecting scientific data and seek to resume commercial whaling,” Mr Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.

Japan was forced to reconsider its hunts after Australia won a case against it at the ICJ, which ruled that the Antarctic program, known as JARPA II, breached International Whaling Commission rules for scientific research.

Japanese Fisheries Agency officials previously said the whalers would not go south in 2014-15, but Mr Hayashi indicated there would be a voyage next summer, limited to whale observation.

He confirmed a move back to the Antarctic with “hunting plans” in 2015-16, after Japan prepared a new program.

“We will carry out extensive studies in co-operation with ministries concerned to submit a new research program by this (northern) autumn to the International Whaling Commission, reflecting the criteria laid out in the verdict.”

Environment Minister Greg Hunt cast doubt on Japan’s’ ability to persuade the IWC, which meets in Slovenia in September.

“Given the strength of the ICJ court order, it would seem the prospect of the IWC approving any further whaling is quite low,” Mr Hunt said.

In its judgement the ICJ called on Japan to take account of the court’s findings in any further scientific permits it issued to its whalers.

But ANU Professor of International Law Don Rothwell said the actual orders of the court covered the Antarctic hunt, and did not extend to the North Pacific.

“As such Japan is under no legal obligation to suspend that program for the time being,” Prof. Rothwell said.

In the North Pacific hunt, to commence on 26 April, the quotas have been halved to a total 210, but still include 90 endangered sei whales.

Mr Hayashi said the scale of the hunt was being reduced in view of the ICJ verdict, but Greenpeace said it still flew in the face of the ICJ ruling.

Such a defiant stance would damage Japan’s international standing at a time when whale meat stockpiles showed no sign of reducing, Greenpeace Japan executive director Junichi Sato said.

“The continued commercial hunting of whales supposedly for research purposes will surely be challenged legally, especially when endangered species are being targeted,” Mr Sato said.

source: smh.com.au

The rising pension age. Source: TheAustralian

THE pension age will be pushed out to 70 in next month’s budget and may come into effect as early as 2029 under a razor-gang proposal to accelerate Labor’s plan to raise the pension age from 65 to 67.

There are no plans to cut the existing pension but consideration is being given to changing the rate of indexation for age-pension payments.

Under a “live option” being reviewed by the Abbott government’s expenditure review committee, the planned rises in entitlement age for the pension, between 2017 and 2023, would continue from 2023 to 2029. Every worker entitled to an age pension born since 1959 would be affected by the new retirement age of 70, effective in 2029.

The government is also considering the option of increasing the retirement age to 70 but using the same formula as Labor’s rate of a six-month rise every two years, which would see the retirement age of 70 ­effective in 2034. Earlier reports suggested the change would take effect by 2040.

No decision has been taken on the rate of the rise in the ­retirement age and neither scheme will have any impact on the four-year budget period from Joe Hockey’s first budget on May 13.

The emphasis in the changes is on making the aged-pension system sustainable in the long term and not delivering savings to this budget through cuts to pensions. This will allow the government, which promised before the September election to leave the pension unchanged, to put any decisions to voters before they take effect.

The Rudd government’s decision to increase the pension age from 65 to 67 — introduced in the 2008 budget — begins in 2017 with six-month rises in the qualifying age every two years.

It is estimated that the budget savings when the pension age rises to 67 in 2023 will be $6 billion a year.

In 2008, then treasurer Wayne Swan said lifting the ­retirement age for the pension would “improve the long-term sustainability” of the pension system. “To reflect improvements in life expectancy and to help counter the long-term costs of demographic change, the government will progressively increase the qualifying age for the age pension to 67 years,’’ Mr Swan said at the time.

The Rudd government also changed the pension income test by lifting the rate at which the pension was cut for each dollar of private income from 40c to 50c. This was aimed at saving $1.2bn over four years.

While the expenditure review committee is looking at the indexation rate for the pension and its relation to the inflation rate and average male weekly earnings, the emphasis is on the longer term changes rather than immediate budget cuts.

On Tuesday, Tony Abbott committed to keeping election promises on pensions.

“If there is one lesson to be learned from the political quagmire that the previous government got itself into, it is: keep your commitments. So we will keep them,’’ the Prime Minister said. “So we will be doing that but, as for pensions and pensioners, I am confident that pensioners will be better off because under this government they will lose the carbon tax, but keep the compensation.”

On Sunday Joe Hockey said the age pension was one area that had to be addressed and there needed to be a discussion on the retirement age.

“That’s certainly one of the ­issues that needs to be addressed and it will affect my generation,’’ the Treasurer told the ABC’s ­Insiders.

“This doesn’t happen overnight, but it may be the case that my generation has to work for an extra three years.

“Don’t forget that the Labor Party increased the retirement age from 65 to 67 from 2023-24 and the fact is that now, as in the United Kingdom, as is probably the case in Australia, that one in every three children born today will live to 100.

“Quite frankly, we need to redesign our systems to manage the fact, and celebrate the fact that we’re all living longer and we want to maintain a good quality of life along the way.

“We need to have a health and welfare system that appropriately deals with the changing demographics of the nation.”

source: theaustralian.com.au