Monthly Archives: September 2014

George Bozinis.

A mysterious disease won’t stop five-year-old George Bozinis from taking part in this Sunday’s Walk With Me in Melbourne, raising awareness about people with disability.

At the age of only five, George Bozinis’ body can barely produce the energy he needs to eat and swallow – let alone walk or crawl.

Due to the rare genetic mitochondrial disease specialists believe he has – but is yet to be officially diagnosed with – as a five-week newborn, George even struggled to breathe. At the age of two he was finally able to sit on his own.

He had decreased muscle tone, difficulty sucking and limited vision from birth. At two months old he started having regular apneas where he required resuscitation.

“One month later George ended up in ICU where he was intubated as his apneas were getting worse. An MRI then showed lesions which indicated a possible mitochondrial disorder,” George’s mum Cristina Bozinis tells Neos Kosmos.

Doctors said that George was unlikely to live past two years of age.

At the age of five, the always smiling boy keeps defying the odds. Not only that he refuses to fulfil doctors’ predictions about his life span – he also started walking.

With the help of Scope, a Victorian disability service provider and a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to enable each person to live as an equal citizen, since recently George has been able to walk without his parents’ help.

Now, with the Hart Walker provided by Scope, he is enjoying his freedom.

“We didn’t think he would actually ever walk – and I didn’t think he would enjoy it this much.

“It gives him the freedom to actually make the steps and walk. Before, he was able to make the steps when we would hold him. This equipment helps him stand, so he can make the movements to walk. He is doing all the hard work on his own but the Hart Walker provides him the support,” Cristina says.

And without the support of Scope, the Hart Walker would be a hard-to-afford equipment for the young Bozinis family.

“If Scope didn’t exist in Victoria, I don’t think we would have a chance to have such equipment. The Hart Walker costs $7,000 – and it was purely funded through Scope.”

This Sunday, Scope will stage its annual Walk With Me at Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, to raise money and awareness to help those like George.

Now in its fifth year, Walk With Me is a national 2 km or 4 km walk that raises awareness that one in four Australians are impacted by disability.

“While it is only a short walk for some, Walk With Me is a real challenge for others. It redefines the traditional notion of an event challenge. It’s not about running faster, swimming further or cycling longer distances. It’s an event challenging us to take the time to walk alongside people of all abilities.

“It is an opportunity to support and celebrate the diversity within our community in an inclusive and festive environment,” Scope CEO Dr Jennifer Fitzgerald tells Neos Kosmos.

George and his parents Bill and Cristina Bozinis will make their way to Birrarung Marr on Sunday. Having nearly lost their son on many occasions in only five years of his life, they take every day as a bonus.

“We don’t know how long he has to live as the doctors still believe George has a mitochondrial disorder, even though he hasn’t been diagnosed yet.”

For now however, George is a bubbly and always smiling toddler, with a fancy walker and always very vocal to express his feelings and opinions.

“George is not able to formulate words, however he communicates to you in his own language – he is very verbal,” Cristina says with a laugh.

“He is so gorgeous – after all, that’s what makes us get through everything.

“While George’s condition remains undiagnosed, we live in hope and we cherish each day with him. The origins of the disease are still unknown. It’s good luck that we still have him.”

For people with a disability

With recent research demonstrating that Australians with a disability experience significantly lower levels of wellbeing compared with the rest of the population, Dr Jennifer Fitzgerald agrees that more awareness needs to be raised about people with disabilities.

“Yes, it’s important to raise awareness and acceptance of people with a disability in our communities. Recent research conducted, the Scope 1 in 4 Poll, suggests that there is still a lot of work needed to increase the wellbeing of people with a disability in Australia to become equal with the rest of the population.

“With the introduction and roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme across Victoria and Australia, it will mean that people with a disability have access to the services and supports that they need to achieve their goals.”

As one of the largest providers of services to people with a disability in Victoria, Scope supports the needs of people with physical, intellectual and multiple disabilities and their families.

“At Walk With Me, the whole community comes together to celebrate the diversity within our community in an inclusive and festive environment. There are always lots of families with children who attend the walk as there are kids activities and entertainment on the day. This year, Peppa Pig is performing two live shows at the event,” Dr Fitzgerald tells.

Providing family, friends, colleagues, businesses and members of the general public with the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people with a disability, Walk With Me is also a fundraiser.

With over 20 Dick Smith Walk With Me events to take place across Australia in September, all funds raised will be distributed to provide vital disability services to children, adults and their families.

Over 700 people are expected to attend Sunday’s event in Melbourne.

“Walk With Me in Victoria raises money for Scope so we can continue to support people with a disability and their families, like George,” Dr Fitzgerald says.

Join the Scope and Dick Smith Walk With Me on Sunday 7 September, at Birrarung Marr, Batman Avenue, Melbourne, from 9.30 am to 2.00 pm. Visit www.scopevic.org.au to register. To donate to George Bozinis’ team, visit https://wwmemelbourne2014.everydayhero.com/au/cristina

source: Neos Kosmos

Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrives back in Sydney after his visit to India and Malaysia. Source: News Corp Australia

FORMER Howard government minister Peter Reith says the Coalition should have been more honest about its plans for budget cuts before the election, one year ago today.

Tony Abbott has returned from a brief trip to India and Malaysia to mark his anniversary in Sydney today, amid scores of assessments about his first year in office.

Mr Abbott’s former ministerial colleague Peter Reith offered his assessment on Sky News’ Australian Agenda today, saying Mr Abbott was likely to win the election but had suffered from mishandling of his first budget and the tough measures it included such as the Medicare co-payment.

“I think they should have been more upfront,” he said.

“Oppositions going into an election are terribly worried that if they tell the Australian public there (were) going to be cuts … obviously they’re worried that they’re not going to get in.

“Oppositions in the past have been more forthright.”

Independent senator Nick Xenophon echoed Mr Reith’s view, accusing the government of “sneaking up on people with quite radical changes” over the past 12 months.

“The government promised no surprises,” Senator Xenophon told the ABC.

“I think some Australians feel more tasered than surprised by some of the changes.”

Senator Xenophon singled out deregulation of university fees, a $7 GP co-payment and welfare cuts.

He criticised the way the Abbott government went about the planned reforms, highlighting a lack of consultation and a less cautious approach than that adopted by the former Howard government.

“I think a lot of Howard battlers are feeling quite betrayed at the way the government has gone about things,” he said.

source:theaustralian.com.au

Malaysia Airlines planes at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. Associated Press

Prime Minister Najib Razak Reiterates Call for Justice Against Perpetrators.

Malaysia said Saturday intelligence reports on the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are “pretty conclusive” and investigators are now working on assembling physical evidence that can be presented to court.

“First of all, we do have the intelligence reports [on] what happened to MH17 and the reports are pretty conclusive,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a joint news conference with Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott on his first official visit to Malaysia.

The comments come ahead of Tuesday’s release of a preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board on Fight 17’s crash. The board plans to conduct further investigations and expects to publish the final report within a year of the crash on July 17.

Investigators have said they believe the plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile from an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

“What we need to do next is to assemble physical evidence that can be brought to court when the time comes so that it can be proven beyond any doubt that the plane was shot down by a missile,” Mr. Najib said.

Mr. Najib added that investigators will need at least a few weeks to search the crash site in the volatile Donetsk region for remains and evidence before those responsible in the “atrocious crime” can be brought to court.

source: wsj.com

KUALA LUMPUR – An intensified underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will start in about two weeks’ time, Australian premier Tony Abbott said Saturday as he visited Malaysia to discuss the issue.

Abbott said the hunt for the jet, which inexplicably veered off its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route on March 8 with 239 people aboard, would continue for as long as necessary.

Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off western Australia, but the massive air, sea and underwater search has so far failed to find any wreckage.

Speaking after talks with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, Abbot said the new phase of the search would begin “in about a fortnight’s time”, in addition to ongoing mapping through a sonar survey.

“(The underwater search) will utilise the best available technology. It will last as long as it needs to scour the seabed,” he told reporters.

Experts have used technical data to finalise MH370’s most likely resting place deep under the Indian Ocean.

The more intense underwater search will focus on a dauntingly vast stretch of ocean measuring 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 square miles).

Najib’s government and the national flag carrier were widely criticised over what many saw as a disorganised and secretive response to MH370’s disappearance.

– ‘Justice’ for MH17 –

Paying his first official visit to Malaysia, Abbot also discussed with Najib the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which exploded over strife-torn eastern Ukraine in July.

The two leaders called for “justice” for the 289 people — among them 38 Australian citizens or residents — who were killed in the disaster.

The West has blamed Russian-backed separatists for shooting down the plane, while Moscow blames Kiev.

Najib said intelligence reports on what happened to the plane were “pretty conclusive” but did not elaborate.

Dutch air crash investigators have announced that they will release a preliminary report on Tuesday into what brought down the flight, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The Netherlands is leading the probe into the crash, which killed 193 Dutch citizens.

“What we need to do next is to assemble physical evidence that can be brought to court when the time comes so that it will be proven beyond any doubt that the plane was shot down,” Najib said.

He added investigators needed “at least a few weeks” — before winter set in — to search the crash site for human remains and to “assemble physical evidence”.

The search has been suspended since early August due to heavy fighting between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in the area and although most human remains have been recovered, some are believed to still be at the site.

“Once that process is completed, we will look at the criminal side, who is responsible for this atrocious crime,” he said.

The two premiers also met with Malaysian personnel involved in the missions to find MH370 and to salvage wreckage and remains from the MH17 crash site.

Later in the day, Abbott will meet business leaders as well as educationalists to present his government’s “New Colombo Plan”, a scholarship programme to encourage more Australians to study across the Indo-Pacific region, officials said.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

A meeting on Friday between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Turkey’s new president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales achieved little other than underlining their radically different positions on the Cyprus problem, Kathimerini understands.

The meeting, which took place in the wake of provocative statements by Erdogan in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, lasted 50 minutes and was said to be tense. Erdogan is believed to have repeated his calls for a “two-state solution” for divided Cyprus, despite the fact that new United Nations-mediated peace talks are ostensibly aimed at reunifying Cyprus as a “bizonal, bicommunal federation.” According to sources, Samaras said Erdogan’s statements were torpedoing peace talks and undermining prospects for a settlement. The Greek premier also referred to recent Turkish violations in the Aegean, saying that they were poisoning bilateral ties.

Diplomatic sources expressed concern about Erdogan’s stance, describing the new development as “very important and very worrying.”

Samaras, for his part, is said to have reiterated Greece’s unconditional support for Nicosia and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades in the negotiations and to have emphasized the need for a settlement to the Cyprus problem to be in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“Well Mr President, we are faced with a real problem here, a real difference of opinion,” Samaras is said to have told Erdogan.

According to sources, Erdogan asked Samaras for a briefing on the outcome of a Greek anti-racism law, whose articles are to be voted on in Parliament on Tuesday, expressing concern about a possible negative impact on Greek-Turkish relations.Turkey has consistently challenged the use of the word genocide to define mass killings of Christians populations.

The Greek premier was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi during his meeting with Erdogan, while the latter was flanked by two senior Turkish diplomats.

One thing that was agreed in the meeting, according to sources, is that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will visit Greece in late November.

Coast guard officers seized just over 100 kilos of heroin at the northwestern port of Igoumenitsa on Saturday.

Authorities said the drug was hidden in special compartments in the truck, which was being used to transport livestock.

The vehicle was searched before it was due to board a ferry for the Italian port of Ancona.

Two men, Bulgarians aged 35 and 37, were arrested.

Officers said that heroin, weighing 100.2 kilos, was divided into 190 packages and was discovered by a sniffer dog.

source: ekathimerini.com