Daily Archives: November 20, 2014

Ο πρόεδρος του ΛΑΟΣ Γ.Καρατζαφέρης (Φωτογραφία: ΑΠΕ )

Στον αρμόδιο εισαγγελέα εφετών παραπέμπεται ομοφώνως ο πρόεδρος του ΛΑΟΣ Γιώργος Καρατζαφέρης με απόφαση της Επιτροπής Ελέγχου των οικονομικών των κομμάτων και των βουλευτών για ανακριβή δήλωση «πόθεν έσχες» και παράνομη συμμετοχή σε off-shore.

Επίσης, ζητείται καταλογισμός από το Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο των δυο επίμαχων εμβασμάτων που φέρεται να κατέληξαν στην υπεράκτια εταιρεία Catalina Ltd. συμφερόντων του κ. Καρατζαφέρη, ύψους 1,65 εκατ. ευρώ, ως παρανόμως κτηθέντος, ώστε να περιέλθει το ποσό αυτό στο Δημόσιο.

Εν τω μεταξύ, η εκπρόσωπος των ΑΝΕΛ Μαρίνα Χρυσοβελώνη υποστήριξε στην Επιτροπή ότι ο κ. Καρατζαφέρης διαθέτει και τρίτη off-shore, με την επωνυμία «Deck Rock Limited».

Πηγή:in.gr

Finance minister expected to submit the final draft in Parliament tomorrow with negotiations still ongoing.

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis is set to table the final draft of the 2015 budget in Parliament on Friday without having secured the approval of the country’s creditors. It will be based on the midterm fiscal plan agreed by Athens and the troika.

The representatives of the country’s three creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – are for now sticking to their estimate for a fiscal gap next year that could reach up to 3.6 billion euros as things stand, while the government continues to reject this forecast, poignantly recalling.

In this context the 2015 budget, with no new austerity measures, provides for a primary surplus of 3 percent of gross domestic product. Sources also said that this year’s primary surplus will amount to 1.8 percent of GDP, against a target for 1.5 percent.

Officials familiar with the goverment’s negotiations with Greece’s creditors say that the troika does not intend to budge on its estimates, insisting on last-minute changes to the budget so as to guarantee that the target of a 3 percent primary surplus is attained. Such changes would entail new measures, which the government clearly rejects, considering some methods it has resorted to in the past to overcome such deadlocks, the same officials note.

The most likely strategy would be to let the first few months pass so as to see which side was right in its estimates, and if the troika is the one to be proven correct then there would be two options: to revise the estimates through the next midterm fiscal plan, set for February or March 2015, or to table a supplementary budget that would bridge any gaps created.

The troika believes some changes might be introduced to the budget even after the debate in Parliament has started, but the government is aware of the negotiation process’s tight timetable and realizes such a possibility is quite unlikely.

source: ekathimerini.com

3 Towers Road sold.

A Greek Australian mining magnate has borrowed against a high-profile Toorak mansion at the centre of a disputed tax bill, moving the money offshore to fund his family’s life in Europe, The Age reported.

According to the report, the home at 3 Towers Road, built by prominent businessman Socrates Vasiliades, was bought earlier this year by Sarah Lew, former daughter-in-law of business mogul Solomon Lew.

Documents show the title was transferred from the name of Mr Vasiliades’ wife Celeste to Ms Lew on October 22.
The ATO, in pursuit of a $29.8 million tax bill from Mr Vasiliades, the boss of Core Mining, produced a freezing order last month that covers the proceeds of the Towers Road sale.

The Federal Court was told that $2.6 million from a joint ANZ account secured against the Towers Road house had been transferred into a bank account in Luxembourg in Mr Vasiliades’ name.

Mr Vasiliades’ lawyer, Ian Martindale SC, said his client had moved to Europe in 2008 and had “virtually no assets worth freezing”.

He said his client’s bank was holding $2.71 million in proceeds, after the mortgage and real estate agent fees were paid, from the sale of Towers Road.

Mr Martindale said he would contest the tax office’s position that Mr Vasiliades had a stake in assets in his wife’s name.

source: Neos Kosmos

GOCMV president Bill Papastergiadis presenting last Tuesday night.

A public meeting was convened by the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) to discuss the changing needs of the Greek Australian community and maintaining the future of its organisations.

“The aim of the meeting was to engage with the general community with all the other community groups, to sit down and work collaboratively to determine what is needed by the community,” president of the GOCMV, Mr Bill Papastergiadis, told Neos Kosmos.

“We want to ensure that all the organisations are appropriately recognised, that they’re relevant in terms of what needs to be done and that their voices are heard. We want to develop a common strategy on how it will be realised.”

Many of the smaller community groups had expressed difficulties in finding young people to take over the reins of their organisations, resulting in the selling of community group assets.

This highlighted a great need for a meeting of this kind, in order to encourage discussion with the general community about how to attract the current and future generations of the Greek Australian community to continue the hard work of these groups.

“We’ve seen a generational change, a lack of interest largely in most of those organisations by the second and third generations,” said Mr Papastergiadis.

“The community can’t continue to spit out the same old events like a xoro or something like that and think we’re going to be winning over the hearts and minds of the second and third generations.”

Over 110 people gathered at the newly opened Centre for Contemporary Greek Culture on its original site of Lonsdale Street, with close to 40 Greek community groups from across Victoria represented.

Officially presenting on the night were Mr Bill Papastergiadis, Dr Marinis Pirpiris and Mr Stelios Koukouvitakis.

The GOCMV presented two initiatives to be funded collectively by the community, both looking to education as the way forward.

One idea was the funding of a chair of Greek language at one of the universities to fund research projects for university students, in addition to the increase of scholarships currently available for the three Greek grammar schools in Victoria.

Additional investment opportunities in the CBD were also suggested, in order to maintain the Greek presence, with examples including a Greek bookstore and a kafenio for the elderly.

Following the presentation, the dialogue was opened up to the rest of the attending community members with 20 to 25 different community leaders expressing their ideas and concerns.

A surprise proposal put forward by Mr Paul Mavroudis, president of the Thessaloniki Association, was that small community groups change their constitution so that if the groups fold, the assets are passed on to an organisation that continues to represent the Greek community, such as Fronditha Care, the Australian Greek Welfare Society, or to bigger community groups such as the GOCMV.

Almost 20 years since the Greek community had a meeting of this kind, Mr Papastergiadis was very enthusiastic with the turn out, saying “not only was I happy with the turnout but more importantly, I was very impressed by the collegiate and supportive atmosphere of all those who attended and their readiness to work collaboratively”.

Following the meeting, the concerns expressed on the night will be collated, picking out three main ideas, after which, a follow-up meeting, expected to take place early next year, will be held to discuss the funding of the future projects.

To conclude, those attending on the night were given a tour of the new building and took in the beautiful city views from the top floor.

source: Neos Kosmos

The GOCMV has put a call out for volunteers to register their interest now in the build-up to the event.

The Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria is sticking to the February dates for the Lonsdale Street Festival and will once again host the festival on February 14 and 15.

Moving away from the late March, early April dates, GOCMV has taken a liking to the new dates as it enables those who would like to fast during the Easter months a chance to get their souvlaki fix in February and bask in the last rays of summer sun.

While the festival initially became synonymous with the Greek Independence Day celebrations on March 25, the new dates allow for a less busy event calendar in the city to compete with and more favourable weather conditions.

The warm weekend is expected to once again welcome local and international performers in the heart of the Greek precinct, but no word yet on who will be booked for the headlining act. In this year’s festival Greek Australians braved the rain to see Greek popstar Mihalis Hatzigiannis, who only recently came back to play with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Cooking demonstrations, zorba till you drop competitions, karaoke and a non-stop program of traditional dancing and music will be just some of the events on offer next year.

The Lonsdale Greek Festival is arguably one of the largest festivals of the Greek diaspora, which celebrates all things Greek.

The GOCMV has put a call out for volunteers to register their interest now in the build-up to the event.

Stall holders who would like to participate and performers keen to sign up to perform will be asked to sign up shortly, and should visit the festival’s official page in the next couple of weeks for more information.

To volunteer for the 2015 Lonsdale Street Festival visit this link and fill out the application form www.surveymonkey.com/s/lsf15volunteer

For more information visit www.antipodesfestival.com.au/2014-lonsdale-street-festival.

source: Neos Kosmos

Wi-fi worries: Thanks for connecting with us: That’ll be $1359. Photo: Peter Rae

A passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight was surprised to find that the charges for using the in-flight Wi-Fi were just a tad higher than expected.

Jeremy Gutsche signed up for a 30MB internet plan for US$28.99 ($33.64) during a flight on November 12.

The plan’s terms included additional charges for data used beyond 30MB, and in this case the bill totalled US$1171 ($1359) when Gutsche landed — a whopping US$1142 for extra data.

I had an otherwise enjoyable flight,” he wrote in a post on his website, “but the sticker shock of being gouged $1,200 made me feel like I was deplaning from Total Bastard Airlines, that old skit from SNL where they kick you off the plane with a ‘Buy BYE!'”

“If you were a family traveler or someone like my mother, that bill would certainly ruin your vacation,” Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter, said.

“I hope my team liked it,” he wrote.

The Wi-Fi provider, OnAir, told the Wall Street Journal that its purchase process is “entirely transparent.”

“To consume several hundred megabytes during one flight takes much more than basic email viewing, for example downloading heavy attachments, cloud access and using Skype,” OnAir told WSJ.

“If we can land a probe on an asteroid, and if every other airline can manage to serve internet at a flat rate (or free), then it shouldn’t be so wildly complicated for Singapore Airlines that they need to bill some people $1200,” Gutsche said.

He added that the airline investigated the bill, but is sticking to the full amount.

The bill should be a reminder to all travellers to pay close attention to the pricing details of in-flight services.

“I bought the $30 package, slept through most the flight, and really didn’t think I’d end up a thousand bucks past the limit,”Gutsche said.

“Just because someone agrees to terms and conditions does not actually mean that the pricing and terms are ethical,” Gutsche said.

This post was originally published on Mashable.

source:smh.com.au

Contractors with the dead shark at Bondi yesterday. Picture: Nick Wenham Source: Supplied

AS a 2.5m-long great white shark was hauled from a net and on to a boat off Bondi Beach in Sydney yesterday, Doron Milner was swimming with his mates less than 100m away.

“I recognised the boat and joked to my friend, ‘Hope they’re not pulling in anything too big’. We had a bit of a laugh,” said Mr Milner, who has been swimming off the beach most days for 25 years. Further out from shore than usual, he did swim back towards the beach, as he was “a bit nervous”.

Department of Primary Industries contractors found the dead male shark in the nets during a routine inspection.

Mr Milner, a lifeguard at North Bondi, said although the nets were staggered, with gaps in between, they were effective.

“They stop (the sharks) from setting up breeding grounds. They can get through, but it ­deters them,” he said.

Great whites are on the endangered list so the shark would probably have been released if it had been alive.

“(The nets) are not designed to create a total ­barrier between bathers and sharks,” a DPI spokeswoman said. Contractors checked the nets at least every 72 hours in order to protect the two million people who swam at nearby beaches every year, she said , just three weeks before more than 2000 swimmers are due to compete in the annual Macquarie Bondi to Bronte Ocean Swim charity event.

Event director Stephen Ford isn’t put off. “Three years ago we had that red algae and a few years before that some other marine life (jellyfish) were getting too friendly with swimmers,” Mr Ford said. “I was at Bondi on the weekend doing my training and there were about 30 or 40 people out there doing it — we’re not concerned.”

No one has been killed by a shark at Bondi since 1937, and the last attack was in January 2010, when a surfer’s arm was mauled.

Some 47 Australians have been killed off NSW by sharks in the past century. The actress Marcia Hathaway was killed by a shark in Sydney Harbour’s Middle Harbour in 1963.

Mr Milner is not deterred. “I’m going for a surf this afternoon,” he said yesterday.

source: theaustralian.com

Μια τραγωδία σημειώθηκε το πρωί της Τετάρτης στην πρωτεύουσα του αφρικανικού κράτους του Νίγηρα, Νιαμέυ, όπου 12 παιδάκια βρήκαν φρικτό θάνατο!

Στο κανό που μετέφερε συνολικά 18 παιδιά, ηλικίας 12 έως 13 ετών, στο σχολείο τους, επιτέθηκε ένας ιπποπόταμος, ο οποίος κατασπάραξε τα 12… από αυτά!

«Αρκετοί από τους μαθητές μας ζουν κατά μήκος του ποταμού Νίγηρα και χρησιμοποιούν κανό για να περάσουν τον ποταμό», δήλωσε ο διευθυντής του σχολείου.

Ο κυβερνήτης της επαρχίας όπου συνέβη το τραγικό περιστατικό ανακοίνωσε πως έχει δώσει εντολή στις Αρχές να εντοπίσουν και να σκοτώσουν τον ιπποπόταμο, ο οποίος σκότωσε τα παιδιά.

Πηγή:madata.gr