Monthly Archives: August 2015

Alex and Eve debuts at The Delphi Bank 22nd Greek Film Festival

After seven years of sold-out shows as a stage play by Alex Lykos, Alex and Eve will finally make it on the big screen at The Delphi Bank 22nd Greek Film Festival, in a film directed by Peter Andikakis.

The emotional Sydney-based story, exploring dating in a multicultural landscape and based on the hit stage play by Alex Lykos, follows Alex, a Greek Orthodox man who falls in love with Eve, a Lebanese woman.

Alex is expected to marry a good Greek Orthodox girl, whilst Eve is arranged to marry a Lebanese Muslim man, and the pair attempt to stop themselves falling in love.

Producer Murray Fahey told The Express it was important to film in an area that depicts what living in the inner west of Sydney is like, thus the story revolves around the suburbs of Lakemba and Canterbury.

“In the spirit of Greek comedy films of the 1960s, the film is a comic examination of ‘falling in love’ and not following your parent’s expectations,” stressed Peter Andrikidis.

“To me it is important to give a voice to all cultures that have migrated to Australia. Australian stories are migrant stories,” he continued, saying that his grand-parents and father migrated to Australia in the 1950s and “those customs they had in the ‘old country’ get ‘frozen in time’ over the decades, even though those customs have progressed in the country they left”.

“Following such a successful festival last year, we are excited to be back with a program that is rich in history and culture,” said festival chair Nia Karteris.
“It is a pleasure to be able to support the talent of our Greek community, which is one of the biggest in the world, whilst celebrating Australia’s cultural diversity.”

The Delphi Bank 22nd Greek Film Festival kicks off on 14 October 2015.

source:Neos Kosmos

Winkler recalled how Lennon attended a recording of the popular TV show in 1974 with his son Julian.

“John was very quiet and shy,” he said.

“I didn’t know how to engage him in conversation till I started talking about how much I loved his first solo album.

“Then he opened up like a flower.”

Winkler’s role as wise-cracking Arthur Fonzarelli in the hit American sitcom propelled him to stardom.

The Fonz, or Fonzie, as he affectionately became known, also revealed he is a huge fan of Strictly Come Dancing.

source:belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Qantas is expected to unveil a profit turnaround of more than $1.5 billion today thanks to its massive cost savings program.

Analysts expect the airline to report an underlying pre-tax profit of around $960 million for the 2014/15 financial year, a huge improvement from the previous year’s $646 million loss.

The improvement is due in part to efforts by chief executive Alan Joyce to strip $2 billion from the airline’s costs, but also lower fuel prices and the end of its battle for market share with Virgin Australia.

source:skynews.com.au

Τζιχαντιστές του Ισλαμικού Χαλιφάτου αποκεφάλισαν αρχαιολόγο στην αρχαία συριακή πόλη της Παλμύρας και κρέμασαν το σώμα του από έναν κίονα στην κεντρική πλατεία του ιστορικού χώρου, είπε ο επικεφαλής της αρχαιολογικής υπηρεσίας της Συρίας την Τρίτη.

Το Χαλιφάτο, του οποίου μέλη έχουν υπό τον έλεγχό τους μεγάλες εκτάσεις της Συρίας και του Ιράκ, κατέλαβαν την Παλμύρα στην κεντρική Συρία από κυβερνητικές δυνάμεις τον Μάιο, αλλά δεν φαίνεται να έχουν καταστρέψει τα μνημειώδη ερείπια της ρωμαϊκής εποχής παρά τη φήμη που έχουν ως καταστροφείς ιστορικών αντικειμένων τα οποία θεωρούν ειδωλολατρικά, υπό τη συντηρητική ερμηνεία της θρησκείας του Ισλάμ.

Ο διευθυντής αρχαιοτήτων Μάμουν Αμντελκαρίμ είπε ότι η οικογένεια του Χάλεντ Άσαντ τον πληροφόρησε πως ο 82χρονος ερευνητής που δούλεψε για πάνω από 50 χρόνια ως διευθυντής ανασκαφών στην Παλμύρα εκτελέστηκε από τους τζιχαντιστές τη Δευτέρα. Ο Άσαντ βρισκόταν υπό κράτηση και είχε ανακριθεί για πάνω από μήνα από τους άκρως ριζοσπαστικούς σουνίτες μαχητές, πρόσθεσε.

«Πώς μπορεί να φανταστεί κανείς πως ένας τέτοιος επιστήμονας που έδωσε τόσο αξιομνημόνευτες υπηρεσίες στον χώρο και την ιστορία θα αποκεφαλιζόταν (…) και το πτώμα του θα κρέμεται ακόμα από έναν από τους αρχαίους κίονες στο κέντρο μιας πλατείας της Παλμύρας. Η συνεχιζόμενη παρουσία αυτών των εγκληματιών στην πόλη αυτή είναι κατάρα και κακός οιωνός για την Παλμύρα και κάθε κίονα και κάθε αρχαιολογικό εύρημα στο χώρο της» είπε ο Αμπντελκαρίμ.

Πρόσθεσε πως ο Άσαντ ήταν γνωστός για αρκετές επιστημονικές μελέτες που είχαν εκδοθεί σε διεθνή αρχαιολογικά έντυπα για την Παλμύρα, η οποία άνθισε πριν από 2.000 χρόνια ως σημαντικό εμπορικό κέντρο στον Δρόμο του Μεταξιού.

Ο Άσαντ είχε επίσης συνεργαστεί τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες με αρχαιολογικές αποστολές από τις ΗΠΑ, τη Γαλλία, τη Γερμανία και την Ελβετία σε αρχαιολογικές ανασκαφές και έρευνα στο χώρο της Παλμύρας (με τους ρωμαϊκούς τάφους και έναν Ναό του θεού Μπελ), η οποία έχει αναγορευτεί από τον διεθνή οργανισμό UNESCO σε μνημείο πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς.

Πριν από την κατάληψη της πόλης από το Ισλαμικό Χαλιφάτο, Σύροι αξιωματούχοι είπαν ότι είχαν μεταφέρει εκατοντάδες αρχαίων αγαλμάτων σε ασφαλείς κρυψώνες από φόβο ότι θα καταστραφούν από τους ισλαμιστές.

Τον Ιούνιο, το Χαλιφάτο ανατίναξε δύο αρχαία ιερά στην Παλμύρα, τα οποία δεν ανήκαν στα οικοδομήματα της ρωμαϊκής εποχής, και οι ισλαμιστές θεώρησαν ειδωλολατρικά και ιερόσυλα.

Πηγή:zougla.gr

Στη Μύκονο βρέθηκε το Σαββατοκύριακο του Δεκαπενταύγουστου ο Lionel Richie, μαζί με τη σύντροφό του Λίζα Παρίτζι.

Ο 65χρονος Αμερικανός συνθέτης και τραγουδιστής και η εδώ και τρία χρόνια αγαπημένη του επέβαιναν στην πολυτελή θαλαμηγό του ιδιοκτήτη του Topshop, σερ Φίλιπ Γκριν, ο οποίος αυτές τις μέρες κάνει κρουαζιέρα στη Μεσόγειο.

Ο φακός του περιοδικού Οκ απαθανάτισε τον τραγουδιστή με την μοντέλο και fashion blogger αγαπημένη του στο Nammos στην Ψαρού όπου γευμάτισαν. Εκεί ο τραγουδιστής βρέθηκε γρήγορα στο επίκεντρο της προσοχής όταν στο άκουσμα της επιτυχίας του, All night long του 1983, ανέβηκε στο τραπέζι και άρχισε να τραγουδά και ο ίδιος.

Πηγή:zougla.gr

Greece’s coast guard rescued hundreds of migrants in more than a dozen search and rescue operations, including one in which a toddler was found unconscious in one of the overcrowded dinghies, authorities said Wednesday.

The coast guard said picked up 534 migrants in 14 incidents off the coasts of the eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Agathonissi, Samos, Farmakonissi and Kos from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning. Those numbers do not include the hundreds more who managed to reach the islands in overcrowded dinghies.

Separately, it said a child of about 2 or 3 years old was found unconscious in a dinghy spotted by a patrol helicopter and carrying 54 migrants off Samos. A coast guard vessel picked up the group and the child was taken to a hospital.

Greece seen record numbers of migrant arrivals this year, most fleeing conflict in Syria and Afghanistan. About 160,000 migrants have reached Greece so far since January, compared to 43,500 in all of 2014, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR. More than four-fifths are from Syria, and 14 percent from Afghanistan.

Few — if any — want to stay in Greece, which is reeling from a financial crisis of its own and has an unemployment rate of more than 26 percent. Instead, they head to Greece’s northern border with Macedonia and from there cross the Balkans, heading to the more prosperous European countries of the north, particularly Germany and the Scandinavian countries.

Short-staffed and cash-strapped authorities on islands have been overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of daily arrivals and have struggled to cope with registering the new arrivals.

With the tourist season at its peak, another problem has arisen — regular ferries are fully booked with holidaymakers heading to and from the islands, meaning thousands of migrants have been unable to find tickets to get to the Greek mainland and continue their journeys.

Hundreds of migrants have been camping out for days at the port of the island of Lesbos, which for months saw the largest numbers of arrivals in Greece. Similar scenes have appeared in other islands.

Authorities chartered a ferry they sent to Kos earlier this week, one of the most severely affected islands, where it acted as an accommodation and registration center for migrants.

The ferry set sail from Kos Wednesday morning with 1,308 migrants on board, the coast guard said, and headed to the nearby small islands of Kalymnos and Leros to pick up hundreds more before heading to the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki. The ship was expected to arrive there early Thursday.

source:abc.go.com

German MPs have voted by a large majority to approve a third bailout deal for Greece.

In total 454 members of parliament voted in favour, while 113 rejected the bailout and 18 abstained.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble earlier warned MPs that it would be “irresponsible” to oppose the €86bn ($95bn; £61bn) package.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right conservative bloc has been divided over the deal.

Prior to the vote nearly 60 of her own MPs had indicated they would vote against the rescue package.
In total 46 MPs did not attend the session, reports the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin.

It is thought a significant proportion are conservatives, who stayed away to avoid defying Mrs Merkel and voting no to the deal.

Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat (CDU) party and its Bavarian CSU allies hold 504 seats in the 631-seat Bundestag.

Last month, 65 CDU/CSU politicians refused to support even starting negotiations for a third bailout.

IMF assurances

The finance minister told Wednesday’s debate in parliament before MPs voted that they should “seize the chance” for a new beginning for Greece.

Mr Schaeuble said: “There is no guarantee that all of this will work and there can always be doubts.

“But considering the fact that the Greek parliament already approved most of the measures, it would be irresponsible not to seize this chance for a new beginning in Greece.”

MPs have been worried about two unanswered questions – the extent of any debt write-off for Greece and whether the International Monetary Fund will back the bailout.

The IMF is avoiding any commitment until Greece’s progress is assessed in October.

Some German MPs suspect that the deal could lead to part of Greece’s large debt being written off – with EU taxpayers having to foot the bill.

Earlier Conservative MP Dagmar Woehrl vowed to vote against the package, saying: “If we’re honest, this is a hidden debt haircut (write-down) at the expense of our children and grandchildren.”

But CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber warned a vote against the deal was “tantamount to stabbing the chancellor in the back”.

A number of parliaments in the eurozone, including Germany, were required to approve the deal with a vote.

On Tuesday, MPs in Austria, Estonia and Spain backed the bailout.

German MPs had to be recalled from their summer break for the vote.

The Dutch parliament has also begun debating the bailout with a vote expected to back the deal later.

But doubts remain about the Greek government’s commitment to the bailout conditions because it previously pledged to oppose austerity.

Many MPs in the ruling Syriza party believe Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras allowed the eurozone lenders to dictate unacceptable terms to Greece, violating the country’s sovereignty.

In exchange for the bailout – and keeping Greece in the euro – Mr Tsipras agreed to further painful state sector cuts, including far-reaching pension reforms.

The new loans will be spread over the next three years. The first tranche will be €26bn – €10bn to recapitalise Greek banks and €16bn in several instalments, the first of which – €13bn – will be made by 20 August, when Greece must repay about €3.2bn to the European Central Bank (ECB).

source:bbc.com