Daily Archives: November 11, 2014

Tony Abbott with APEC Leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping for the family photo at the Water Cube in Beijing. Source: Supplied

TONY Abbott has raised gaining access to the MH17 site with Russia president Vladimir Putin in a brief conversation at a gala APEC dinner last night.

The Prime Minister and the Russian President talked briefly at the gala event but are set to have another meeting today at the APEC leaders’s retreat.

The move would take the heat out of the Australia Russia relationship ahead of the G20 in Brisbane this weekend

This morning Mr Abbott attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Australian embassy with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key before leaving Beijing to attend the formal sessions of APEC today at the Yangqi Lake resort.

Chinese president Xi Jinping will start the first session titled Advancing Regional Economic Integration.

President Xi Jinping will start the session with an introduction and invite selected leaders to provide opening comments.

China has been pushing to add impetus to APEC’s long-term goal of relating a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

Mr Abbott will today highlight linkages between APEC and G20 priorities, promote Australia’s trade and economic interests — including support for the multilateral trading system and free trade agreements.

The leaders are planning a working lunch on closer economic ties based on a Chinese blueprint.

Targets in the blueprint of particular interest to Australia including creating dedicated public private partnerships centres in each APEC economy, boosting trade facilitation systems in each economy by 2020 and increasing the number of APEC business travel card holders.

The blueprint also calls for increasing the number of student exchanges to developing economies and achieving 800 million APEC tourism arrivals by 2025.

source: theaustralian.com.au

Ο πεζοναύτης που υποτίθεται πως έδωσε τη χαριστική βολή στον Μπιν Λάντεν, περιγράφει τις τελευταίες ώρες του αρχιτρομοκράτη της Αλ Κάιντα

Ο Αμερικανός πεζονάυτης Ρόμπερτ Ο Νηλ, εν μέσω κλίματος αμφισβήτησης για το αν είναι εκείνος που σκότωσε τον μπιν Λάντεν ή όχι, επανέρχεται και διαβεβαιώνει ότι είναι αυτός που έδωσε την χαριστική βολή στον επικεφαλής της αλ Κάιντα.

“O Οσάμα μπιν Λάντεν πέθανε σαν χέστης” είπε χαρακτηριστικά κατά τη διάρκεια συνέντευξης που παραχώρησε στο CNN.

Treasurer Joe Hockey did not deny analysis showing a $51 billion hole in the budget as the iron ore price dropped. Photo: Nic Walker

Treasurer Joe Hockey has declined to deny independent analysis indicating a $51 billion hole in his budget, blaming tumbling iron ore prices for putting pressure on the bottom line.

Speaking on Adelaide radio station 5AA on Tuesday, Mr Hockey was also keen to keep consumer sentiment buoyant before Christmas, ruling out any immediate savage cuts to the budget in a bid to tackle the widening deficit.

The Treasurer has put Labor on notice saying the opposition will need to eventually help the government address the deficit, if it is serious about restoring the budget to surplus.

Mr Hockey’s warning coincides with the release of a private forecast, which says reduced commodity prices, combined with the Senate’s decision to block key government measures, have blown a $51 billion hole in the budget.The Treasurer did not deny the figure when asked about it on Adelaide Radio station 5AA on Tuesday.

“Iron ore prices are between 30-40 per cent less than they were when we first made our forecasts in the budget, that has a direct impact on our budget bottom line, there is no doubt about that,” Mr Hockey said.

The iron ore spot price has fallen from $138 US per tonne in November 2013 and was valued at $75 US per tonne as of last week, according to Bloomberg data. But the Treasurer was keen to reassure businesses of the government’s intent to forgo cuts before Christmas.

“I am very focused on maintaining economic momentum in Australia in the Christmas period and beyond [so] we are not going to turn our mid-year budget into a mini-budget, we are not going to go down the path of trying to make up lost ground immediately,” he said.

ANZ’s weekly survey of consumer sentiment conducted by Roy Morgan recorded a 0.2 per cent increase in consumer sentiment.

Chief economist Warren Hogan said confidence in the economic outlook remained subdued.

“While it is encouraging that consumer confidence is now trending higher, the pace of improvement is slightly disappointing,” Mr Hogan said.

He said worsening unemployment and job losses in the aviation and manufacturing sectors combined with the already announced federal budget cuts were contibuting to cosumer’s unease.

Mr Hockey sought to put pressure on Labor over the deficit saying: “Sooner or later the Labor party needs to understand that they can’t keep whingeing about spending more money, whilst we fail to get the revenue that was anticipated from iron ore exports and coal exports months and a year ago.”.

But Labor’s Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said the opposition would not back the government’s “unfair budget” because it was “fundamentally bad for the economy”.

And Mr Bowen said Mr Hockey’s warning about diminishing revenues flew in the face of his previous claims in opposition that Australia did not have a revenue problem and accused the Treasurer of abandoning his May budget.

“This is a complete and humilating back down for the Treasurer,” Mr Bowen told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

“As world leaders fly into Australia for the G20, they are witnessing the Abbott government’s first budget completely unravelling.”

Mr Bowen urged Mr Hockey to “bite the bullett” and reveal the budget’s true state at the “earliest opportunity”.

The mid-year economic update is due to be released in December.  It is likely to contain some new government spending measures and further cuts to the ABC and SBS’s funding.

source: smh.com.au

Ο κ. Γιώργος Γαλανόπουλος

Πρώτος Παγκόσμιος Πόλεμος. Ένας πόλεμος που άρχισε σχεδόν μυθιστορηματικά στις 28 Ιουλίου 1914 και έληξε την 11η Νοεμβρίου 1918. Άφησε πίσω του στα πεδία των μαχών 10 εκατομμύρια νεκρούς, συνολικό αριθμό θυμάτων που ακόμη και σήμερα παραμένει άγνωστος ενώ οι νεκροί και οι τραυματίες υπολογίζονται σε περίπου 37 εκατομμύρια.

Η Αυστραλία άνδρωσε αυτόν τον πόλεμο με 330.000 παιδιά της, οι 114.000 απ’ αυτούς από την Βικτώρια. Περίπου 61.000 από τους Αυστραλούς άνδρες και γυναίκες που υπηρέτησαν σ’ αυτόν τον πόλεμο δεν επέστρεψαν ποτέ πίσω στις οικογένειές τους.
Η Ελλάδα θρήνησε σ’ αυτόν τον πόλεμο 26.000 στρατιώτες.

Το «παύσατε πυρ» του πολέμου-σφαγείο ήταν μία αχτίδα ελπίδας για την ανθρωπότητα… Ελπίδα ότι ο φόρος αίματος που πλήρωσε θα ήταν αρκετός για να αποτρέψει μία ακόμα παρόμοια θηριωδία. Δεν ήταν όμως. Και η ιστορία έχει αποδείξει μέχρι σήμερα ότι η λήθη είναι συνοδοιπόρος αυτής της πραγματικότητας.
Κάθε χρόνο, η 11η Νοεμβρίου έχει καθιερωθεί σε όλες τις χώρες που έλαβαν μέρος στον Α’ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο ως μέρα μνήμης αφενός για τα θύματα του πολέμου αλλά και για την ανατολή της ειρήνης.

Όπως κάθε χρόνο την 11η ώρα (στις 11 το πρωί), της 11 μέρας του 11ου μήνα, θα κρατηθεί ενός λεπτού σιγή. Η αυριανή μέρα μνήμης καθιερώθηκε το 1919 και στη Μελβούρνη η πρώτη ολοκληρωμένη τελετή για να τιμηθεί η μέρα που οι εμπλεκόμενες χώρες πήραν την απόφαση να δώσουν μία ευκαιρία στην ειρήνη, έλαβε χώρα το 1934 όταν εγκαινιάστηκε και το Μνημείο Πεσόντων, το ευρύτερα γνωστό Shrine of Remembrance.

Αύριο στο Μνημείο θα βρεθούν και πάλι απλοί πολίτες, άνδρες των ενόπλων δυνάμεων της χώρας μας αλλά και πολιτικά πρόσωπα για να θυμηθούν αλλά και να τιμήσουν όλους αυτούς που «κάηκαν» στην φωτιά του πολέμου- σφαγείο.

Δύο συμπάροικοί μας, ο κ. Στιβ Κυρίτσης, πρόεδρος του Ελληνικού Παραρτήματος του RSL και ο κ. Γιώργος Γαλανόπουλος, που για πάνω από 20 χρόνια υπηρετούν ως εθελοντές το Μνημείο, σας προσκαλούν και εσάς να επισκεφθείτε το μνημείο αύριο.

Θα έχετε την ευκαιρία αφενός να δείτε από κοντά την ομολογουμένως ιδιαίτερα συγκινητική τελετή που θα λάβει χώρα εκεί και αφετέρου να ξεναγηθείτε στους χώρους του μνημείου στα Ελληνικά. Είναι μία μοναδική ευκαιρία που το ιστορικό της μέρας που την συνοδεύει σίγουρα θα την κάνει ακόμα πιο ενδιαφέρουσα.
Μάλιστα, όπως μας πληροφόρησε ο κ. Γαλανόπουλος, οι υπεύθυνοι του μνημείου ζητούν και άλλους έλληνες εθελοντές ξεναγούς, γεγονός που μπορεί να σας ενδιαφέρει.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Greeks have spent over 700 million euros in the last seven years for repairs or replacements of damaged smartphones

Greeks, followed by Italians and Spaniards top the list for phone damage

Over 40 per cent of Greek smartphone users managed to damage their phones in stumbling incidents over the last two years. In the same period, 39.8 per cent of Italian and 38.9 per cent of Spanish smartphone users had slipped up when using a phone.

The least clumsy country was Poland, with only 24.3 per cent of users reporting having had an accident in the last two years, followed by Belgium (24.9 per cent) and Switzerland (26.3 per cent). German mobile phone users came a respectable 12th in the list.

Greeks have spent over 700 million euros in the last seven years for repairs or replacements of damaged smartphones.
More than 50 per cent of accidental damage occurs at home, while 15 per cent of owners damaged their phone after they forgot it on the car roof.

Thirty per cent of damaged smartphones were owned by people under 45 and iPhone users were 23 per cent more likely to damage their phone.

Source: SquareTrade, Greek Reporter

Premier Napthine at the Oakleigh Glendi.

We are only two weeks away from the state election, and the Greek Orthodox Community of Oakleigh continues to be a focal point of the Napthine government. The premier joined celebrations at the annual Glendi Festival last Sunday, where he announced $200,000 worth of funding for the upgrade of the centre’s kitchen facilities to a commercial standard. State Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews also promised a $60,000 grant to the Greek Glendi Festival of Oakleigh if Labor is elected.

“The new kitchen will allow the community to continue to use the centre for major events, conferences, exhibitions and multicultural activities,” Dr Napthine said.

Dr Napthine, alongside Planning Minister Matthew Guy, said the Greek Orthodox Community of Oakleigh is intertwined with the local Greek population in the south-east.

“Victoria’s Greek community is one of our largest and most influential and is a community that has prospered and contributed to the development of our city, our state and our nation,” he said, highlighting the event’s great turnout throughout the weekend, which, in spite of the rain on Saturday, attracted thousands of people to Warrawee Park.

As part of the Liberals state election plan – for communities with easy access to parks and playgrounds, infrastructure that is appropriately maintained, state-of-the-art facilities, and roads that are in the best condition possible – Oakleigh Glendi will receive major funding in next year’s round of the Multicultural Communities Infrastructure Fund.

Another 28 organisations are to receive grants from the Victorian Coalition government. This amount includes a $20,000 Multicultural Festivals and Events grant, awarded in 2014-15 and a $100,000 Unity Through Partnerships grant for the inaugural 2013 event. It is worth mentioning that since 2013, the annual Glendi Festival has already seen $120,000 in funding.

The Oakleigh Greek Glendi – Unity Through Diversity Festival – remains a key priority for the Victorian government, which acknowledges the Greek community’s contribution to the district, in terms of entwining the different cultural heritages of its citizens.

“It’s our policy to have multiculturalism as one of our advantages regarding the economy and the growth of the state, the equality of life in Melbourne and Victoria. We as a coalition government support multiculturalism,” Premier Napthine explained.

Melbourne’s east is the home of one of the largest Greek communities, which has an important role to play in the upcoming state election.

“Theo Zografos is the new member for Oakleigh. He is a person who listens to Oakleigh, who knows Oakleigh and can strongly represent Oakleigh. The coalition will continue to work with the Greek precinct in Oakleigh, where we’ve got a strong track record of supporting the Greek heritage and history here, for over 50 years. The Greeks have been one of the great contributors to Oakleigh and district. We want to grow and maintain that,” the premier concluded.

source: Neos Kosmos

Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. Photo: Steve Kyritsis.

Nations will pause for one minute at 11.00 am today to commemorate Remembrance Day and the end of World War I in 1919.

Following the 96 years since its outbreak, Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance will remember the lives lost throughout ‘the Great War’, which included 61,000 Australian deaths and 26,000 Greek deaths.

On this day, in 1918 at 11am, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare. That moment became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the war and was marked by a minute’s silence for years to come.

As time went on, Remembrance Day took on new meaning, and became a day to remember all those who died or suffered for Australia’s cause in wars and armed conflicts.

Today Prime Minister Tony Abbott took the time to speak on Australia’s contribution to WWI while in China for the APEC summit.

‘From a population of under five million, 417,000 enlisted, 332,000 served overseas, 152,000 were wounded and 61,000 never came home,’ he said.

‘It was sacrifice on a stupendous scale. Every November 11, Australia renews its vow to never forget the sacrifice.

‘We pause to remember the suffering and loss that has occurred in all wars, for we are a country of memory, as well as memorials.

‘Today, we will remember the courage, achievements, pain and loss of all who have served in our name.

‘And we draw strength from their memory’.

Former prime minister John Howard will give a Remembrance Day address to mark the 96th anniversary of the armistice, but also recognise the 100 year anniversary of the Great War’s beginning.

The Haritos brothers taking Prince Philip crocodile shooting in 1956.

For some the prospect of a family reunion would have people faking illnesses or purposely missing flights.

But for this family, it’s a little bit different.

Documented as one of the earliest and most prolific Greek migrant families in Darwin, the Haritos family is now organising a mammoth reunion to mark the 100 year anniversary of their grandfather’s arrival to the Northern Territory.

Eustratios Haritos settled in Darwin in 1915 and had eight children, from which sprung a whole Greek empire.

The family has had a hand in everything from pearl diving, salt works and crocodile hunting, as they’ve spread far and wide around the Northern Territory and Australia.

Now the challenge is to rustle every living relative back to Darwin for a colossal reunion in 2015.

Michael Anthony Haritos has taken charge of the proceedings, and has teed up some impressive activities.

The family will have a stall at the annual Darwin Greek Glendi in June, showing off some amazing old photos of the family and giving everyone a bit of a history lesson at the same time.

Buses have been hired to take the family on a guided tour of grandfather Eustratios’ old haunts.

It’s going to be a big weekend for the family.

Adrienne Haritos is coming up from Canberra and says the bus trip is going to include some spots most members of the family will remember.

“We’re going to do a trip around Darwin in a bus, just pointing out a few sites that might not exist in the same way anymore because the town’s grown a lot, but we’ll have a look at the salt pan and we’ll go out to the harbour,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“The family had an old tin hut on the harbour where the family used to stay recreationally and we’ll visit that on the harbour trip as well.”

The Haritos family created a lot of firsts for the Greek community of Darwin.

Eustratios is thought to be the first to have a traditional Greek wedding in the territory. Eustratios and his fiancé Eleni Harmanis had no choice but to ship a Greek priest from Perth to perform the service as no priest had settled in Darwin. Yet. Only a small influx of about 1,000 Greek migrants arrived in the city between 1914 and 1919 as they looked for work as WWI broke out.

Since it was such a rarity to have a Greek Orthodox priest at the time, Eustratios organise for his wedding to become a double wedding, with his friend piggybacking on the service, getting married to Eleni’s sister.

With a working knowledge of how to extract salt – something he learnt from his hometown of Moschonisi in Asia Minor – Eustratios started a salt pan business with fellow Greek migrants, John Sphakinakis and Dick Colivas to service the newly built meatworks.

Keeping close to the water, Eustratios made sure his eight children would embrace that Greek love of the sea and created a number of businesses linked to it.

The four Haritos boys fished, pearled and hunted crocodiles for their hides, as Eustratios shipped supplies to the small Aboriginal coastal communities of North Australia.

The Haritos family also established the barramundi trade down south and eventually kick-started the industry as they began exporting the fish to Melbourne in 1956.

As impressive a businessman as Eustratios was, he was a quiet man.

“Grandfather wasn’t a great talker, he was a hard worker, a sober kind of guy,” Adrienne Haritos says.

Quite different to his wife, Eleni.

“She worked hard in the heat of Darwin raising the children in the frontier town, establishing the family business and keeping chickens to sell the fresh eggs,” Adrienne remembers.

“A cheerful, loving lady.”

Amazingly, Eustratios invested a lot of time trying to tame Darwin’s icon, the crocodile, something his children immediately took on board.

One of his sons, George, kept a 13-foot crocodile in his backyard as a pet and even helped the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip, shoot and skin a crocodile in the 1950s.

More than 100 family members have been contacted for the reunion and are set to arrive on June 6 2015. They’re in the process of booking a large hall to host the opening event.

source: Neos Kosmos