Daily Archives: January 27, 2015

Olympia has been modelling for a number of years before entering the Neighbours set.

A go get it attitude was the defining element in Olympia Valance’s character that helped this stunning 22-year-old score a regular role on Neighbours as feisty Paige Novak in February. One of the first people she alerted was her famous older sister Holly, who launched her career on the popular series 15 years ago.

A year has passed since her debut in the popular series and Olympia is getting ready to achieve another milestone. The aspirational actress will be competing with another dozen of her young colleagues for the 2015 Logie Award in the New Talent category.

The initial stage of the nominations closes on the 10th of February and until then you can vote for Olympia at http://tvweeklogieawards.com.au/vote/

Olympia has been modelling for a number of years before entering the Neighbours set. She has long nurtured a desire to pursue acting, attending drama schools since she was a teenager, and still studies at the Melbourne Actor’s Lab.

“This is an amazing opportunity to learn from so many experienced actors and really hone my skills,” says Olympia, who is also working on several independent film projects.

The daughter of Greek and Serbian parents, Olympia, who was born and raised in Melbourne, is the third eldest of eight half-siblings and the step-daughter of Mondo Rock and Daddy Cool great Ross Wilson, so music is also a big part of her life. Her younger sister Athina is an aspiring singer.

“We really are the modern family and I guess we’re not unlike a lot of the extended families represented on Neighbours, so I already have an affinity with some of the characters,” says Olympia.

With cooking playing a big part in her cultural background, Olympia also has a passion for food. In her downtime from the Neighbours set, she enjoys catching up with friends and trying the new cuisines and restaurants that her hometown has to offer.

source: Neos Kosmos

Founder of Greek Ambassadors, Evy Yannas on her recent visit to the Doctors of the World headquarters in Athens.

Greek Ambassadors recently donated $2000 to Doctors of the World Greece.

In the spirit of Christmas, not-for-profit Greek Australian organisation Greek Ambassadors donated $2,000 to Doctors of the World for the destitute children in Greece.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteer doctors, nurses and therapists, the humanitarian organisation has been lending its services to those most affected by the crisis.

Thanks to the generosity of the Greek and wider Australian community who made a donation, the funds will help support 250 children through the European winter.

The money will fund the purchase of medicines and medical supplies such as antibiotics, inhalants, skin ointments, nasal sprays and anti-fever medications.

Doctors of the World will also be running their annual ‘A little milk for a lot of kids’ campaign, creating Christmas trees from donated cans of milk and distributing them to children in need.

For more information or to make a donation please email your enquiries to aid@greekambassadors.org

Ο Ντέμης Ρούσσος το 1974

Τον γύρο του κόσμου κάνει η είδηση του θανάτου του Ντέμη Ρούσσου, με τον καλλιτεχνικό κόσμο να απευθύνει τον δικό του αποχαιρετισμό στον σπουδαίο τραγουδιστή και μουσικό.

Συγκινητικό το μήνυμα του φίλου και πρώην συνεργάτη του, Βαγγέλη Παπαθανασίου (Vangelis), ο οποίος έγραψε στην ιστοσελίδα του: «Ντέμη φίλε μου, μόλις έφτασα στο Λονδίνο και έμαθα ότι αποφάσισες να κάνεις το μακρύ ταξίδι. Είμαι σοκαρισμένος γιατί δεν πιστεύω ότι αυτό συνέβη τόσο σύντομα.

» Η φύση σου έδωσε αυτή τη μαγική φωνή που έκανε εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο πολύ ευτυχισμένους. Όσο για μένα, κρατώ αυτές τις πολύτιμες αναμνήσεις που μοιραστήκαμε μαζί εκείνες τις πρώτες ημέρες και ελπίζω να είσαι ευτυχισμένος όπου και αν βρίσκεσαι».

Η Νάνα Μούσχουρη δήλωσε στο γαλλικό ραδιόφωνο RTL: «Είχε μία υπέροχη φωνή, ταξίδευε στον κόσμο. Αγαπούσε αυτό που έκανε. Ήταν καλλιτέχνης, φίλος. Ελπίζω να βρίσκεται σε έναν καλύτερο κόσμο».

Τα συλλυπητήριά του εξέφρασε το Royal Albert Hall, επισημαίνοντας ότι ο Ντέμης Ρούσσος είχε εμφανιστεί εκεί δέκα φορές.

Την είδηση του θανάτου του Ντέμη Ρούσσου είχε ανακοινώσει αρχικά ο παρουσιαστής Νίκος Αλιάγας, ευχόμενος «καλό ταξίδι φίλε μας Έλληνα Ντέμη».

Πηγή:in.gr

There is a possibility that Greece could be strong-armed by its creditors towards an exit. Photo: Reuters

Greek voters delivered an emphatic message to their European Union neighbours at national elections on Sunday – they have had enough of austerity.

Far left anti-austerity party Syriza stormed to victory, securing 36 per cent of the vote and falling just two seats shy of the 151 seats it needed to govern alone. It has formed a coalition government with a right-wing fringe party, Independent Greeks, who won 13 seats.

At 40, Syriza’s outspoken and charismatic leader Alexis Tsipras is the country’s youngest prime minister in 150 years.

A bolstered tourism industry wouldn’t be enough to stimulate Greece’s economy. Photo: Reuters

With the future of Greece’s international bailout agreement hanging precariously in the post-election balance, the prospect of Greece’s exit from the eurozone, or “Grexit” as it has come to be known, is a very live issue.

Among Tsipras’s first orders of business will be a round of tough negotiations with Greece’s creditors, who have bailed out the country to the tune of €240 billion on condition that Greece pursues a system of austerity.

In his victory speech, Tsipras set the stage for a showdown, declaring “Europe is going to change.

In his victory speech, Alexis Tsipras set the stage for a showdown, declaring “Europe is going to change”. Photo: AP

“The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate,” he said.

“Greece has turned a page. Greece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain.”

Although Tsipras has formally said he does not want to leave the euro, his party’s hardline anti-austerity policies have not been looked on favourably by Greece’s creditors, namely Germany.

As both sides go to the trenches in the coming weeks, here are the most likely scenarios to come from the negotiations.

Successful re-negotiation on debt

Under an international bailout involving the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and European Commission – the “troika” – Greece has borrowed nearly €240 billion ($343.8 billion).

On the table is a final bailout tranche of €7.2 billion ($10.3 billion), but the troika has made it clear this remaining aid is conditional on Greece implementing further austerity measures.

While Tsipras has made it clear he wants to end Greece’s austerity, the country is still battling astronomical debt – about 175.5 per cent of gross domestic product – as well as 26 per cent unemployment, including 50 per cent youth unemployment.

If Syriza don’t agree to more austerity conditions, Greece won’t get the loans it needs to avoid default by the summer, which would all but shore up a Grexit.

Tsipras will probably go to the negotiation table seeking the final bailout sum and a reduction in Greece’s debt or an easing of the terms of repayment. But for the troika to agree to refinance Greece’s loans, Tsipras will have to scale back some of Syriza’s more profligate policies, including his promise to increase public expenditure and expand the public sector payroll.

However, even with some concessions from Syriza, the key issue will remain: Greece won’t be able to pay off its debt any time soon.

Despite the friction, a negotiated outcome is most likely, because it suits neither side’s vested interests – Greece or its main creditor Germany – for Greece to leave the eurozone. This brings us to the two other potential scenarios, both of which contemplate a Grexit.

Greece defaults on debt

The attractiveness of a debt-free life outside the eurozone might lead Greece down the path of default. Abandoning its debt and leaving the eurozone would mean Greece would be instantly locked out of international markets, leaving it to fend for itself with a newly reintroduced drachma. It would then have to print drachma to fund its policies, leading to rampant inflation.

While a devalued drachma might entice more holidaymakers from around Europe, a bolstered tourism industry wouldn’t be enough to stimulate Greece’s economy to the extent it needs in the short term to fund its public service and welfare programs. With an ailing economy, and massive unemployment, there are few clear ways Greece could generate income without reliance on outside funds. In short, the consequences for Greece of leaving the euro are unpredictable, but at the extreme end it could result in internal economic catastrophe, with skyrocketing inflation, recession and the possibility of Greece’s banks collapsing.

For this reason, many commentators predict Syriza will be the first to blink in the debt negotiations.

Greece pushed towards exit

There is a possibility that Greece could be strong-armed by its creditors towards an exit by them refusing to consider Syriza’s debt-restructuring pleas. This theory is based on speculation that Germany is fed up with pumping money into Greece and that a cost-benefit analysis now favours Germany cutting its needy neighbour loose.

Other commentators have been quick to reject this. First, a Grexit would set an unsettling precedent that might trigger some of the other struggling countries in the eurozone, such as Spain or Italy, to follow.

It is also not in Germany’s interest for the zone to splinter – euro membership increases Germany’s annual economic growth by 0.5 per cent of GDP.

As Bloomberg contributor Leonid Bershidsky notes:

“Germany stands to gain €1.2 trillion from it between 2013 and 2025, much more than it would contribute to any Greek bailout. The amount Germany could lose if Greece reneged on troika debt – €70 billion in taxpayer funds – pales in comparison.”

Publicly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has maintained her support for Greece remaining in the euro, affirming in January that she had “no doubt whatsoever” that a “successful conclusion” would be reached with Greece.

source:smh.com.au

ATHENS, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on Monday as the prime minister of a new hardline, anti-bailout government determined to face down international lenders and end nearly five years of tough economic measures.

The decisive victory by Tsipras’ Syriza in Sunday’s snap election reignites fears of new financial troubles in the country that set off the regional crisis in 2009. It is also the first time a member of the 19-nation euro zone will be led by parties rejecting German-backed austerity.

Tsipras’ success is likely to empower Europe’s fringe parties, including other anti-austerity movements across the region’s economically-depressed south. The trouncing of the conservatives represents a defeat of Europe’s middle-ground political guard, which has dallied on a growth-versus-budget discipline debate for five years while voters suffered.

Sporting his trademark no-tie look, the 40-year old former student Communist Tsipras became the first prime minister in Greek history to be sworn in without the traditional oath on a Bible and blessing of basil and water from the Greek Archbishop.

At a brief secular ceremony where he pledged to uphold the constitution, Tsipras told President Karolos Papoulias: “We have an uphill road ahead.” In a symbolic move, his first action as prime minister was to commemorate Greek resistance fighters with red roses at a memorial in Athens to those executed by Nazis.

Defying predictions that he would turn from populist to pragmatist after taking power, Tsipras quickly sealed a coalition deal with the small Independent Greeks party which also opposes Greece’s EU/IMF aid programme.

Syriza won 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament with its campaign of “Hope is coming!”, leaving it just two seats short of an outright majority and in need of a coalition partner. The Independent Greeks, at odds with Syriza on many social issues like illegal immigration, won 13 seats.

The alliance is an unusual one. The parties, at the opposite end of the political spectrum, share only a mutual hatred of the 240-billion-euro bailout programme keeping Greece afloat at the price of budget cuts.

Stavros Theodorakis, leader of To Potami, a new centrist party once seen as a potential Syriza coalition partner, said he could not join a government that included the Independent Greeks, whom he called “far right” and “anti-European”. But he said he would wait to see the government’s programme before deciding whether to support a vote of confidence in parliament.

The tie-up suggests Tsipras will keep up his confrontational stance against Greece’s creditors, who have dismissed his demands for a debt write-off and insisted the country needs reforms and austerity to get its finances back on track.

“At first sight this looks like a very strange marriage, but both parties share a strong opposition to austerity,” said Diego Iscaro, an analyst at IHS Global Insight.

“SELF-REINFORCING CRISIS”

Yanis Varoufakis, an economist and outspoken blogger crusading against austerity, was expected to become finance minister when the cabinet is unveiled on Tuesday, senior party officials said.

He wrote on Monday that Greeks had “put an end to a self-reinforcing crisis that produces indignity in Greece and feeds Europe’s darkest forces”.

Reaction from financial markets to Syriza’s victory was largely muted, with the euro recovering from a tumble to an 11-year low against the dollar on initial results. Greek stocks fell 3 percent, led lower by bank stocks including Piraeus Bank which fell 17.6 percent. Greek 10-year bond yields rose but stayed below the levels seen in the run-up to the vote.

For the first time in more than 40 years, neither the New Democracy party nor the centre-left PASOK, the two forces that had dominated Greek politics since the fall of a military junta in 1974, will be in power, beaten by a party that has until recently always been at the fringe.

Together with last week’s decision by the ECB to pump billions of euros into the euro zone’s flagging economy, Syriza’s victory marks a turning point in the long euro zone crisis.

It signals a move away from the budget rigour championed by Germany as the accepted approach to dealing with troubled economies, though it is unclear what concessions Syriza will be able to wring from creditors.

Both IMF head Christine Lagarde, who said the Fund would continue supporting Greece, and the chairman of the eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said they wanted to work with the new government.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said there could be some room for a deal to adjust debt maturities and cut interest rates rather than writing the debt off.

But Tsipras can expect strong resistance to his demands from Germany in particular and a series of European policymakers urged Syriza not to renege on previous governments’ commitments.

“There is no room for unilateral action in Europe,” ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told Europe 1 radio, saying it was important to play by the “European rules of the game”.

Tsipras has drawn the ire of lenders with his pledge to end budget cuts and heavy tax rises that have helped send the jobless rate over 25 percent and pushed millions into poverty.

But with Greece unable to tap the markets because of sky-high borrowing costs and facing about 10 billion euros of debt payments this summer, he may find himself with limited room to fight creditors. The new prime minister will also need a deal to unlock more than 7 billion euros of outstanding aid to make debt payments in the summer.

Standard and Poor’s sent an early warning shot to Greece’s new government, saying it could downgrade its credit rating even before its next planned review in mid-March if things go badly. (Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Lefteris Papadimas and George Georgiopoulos, Tim Ahmann in Washington, Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Writing by James Mackenzie and Deepa Babington; editing by Anna Willard, Sophie Walker and Pravin Char)

source:reuters.com

NATO authorities say a Greek F-16 crashed after losing power on take-off at a training centre in Albacete, Spain. This file photo shows a Taiwan Air Force F-16 fighter jet. Photo: AP

Madrid: Ten people were killed and another 13 people were injured after a Greek fighter plane crashed during NATO training in Spain on Monday, a spokesman for the defence ministry said.

The F-16 plane crashed shortly after taking off at the training centre in Albacete, 262 kilometres south-east of the Spanish capital of Madrid.

“The plane, part of the Tactical Leadership Programme of NATO was carrying out a (training) exercise when during the take-off the plane lost power, crashing into the parking area for planes, crashing into various planes that were parked there,” said the defence ministry in a statement.

The defence ministry said firefighters were working to put out a fire at the base and the area had been cordoned off.

source: smh.com.au