Double demerits
Police are advising motorists to obey the road rules during the Easter holiday. There will be stiff penalties enforced with double demerits from 18 April to 22 April in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Motorists caught speeding, illegally using their mobile phone, not wearing seatbelts and riding without a helmet will incur double demerits and hefty fines. In NSW, motorists can lose 10 demerit points and pay a $337 fine for using their telephones while driving.
RIP Toula Yianni
Toula Yiannis passed away on Sunday causing sadness to fans who enjoyed her performances in Melbourne’s local theatre scene. Apart from her appearances on stage, she received an award for her performance in the TV series, The Slap, based on the book by Greek Australian author Christos Tsiolkas.
Greek photographer Alkis Konstantinidis, 35, won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking New Photography. He was one of a group of Reuters photographers to receive an award for photos of migrants from Central and South America crossing the US border. It is not the first time that Konstantinidis has been honoured for his work. He had also received a Pulitzer Prize for his amazing coverage of the Greek refugee crisis in 2016 along with Alexandros Avramidis and the late Yannis Behrakis.
Aegean farmers from Greece and Turkey arrived in Britain some 6,000 years ago, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature. The genetic samples of ancient remains show that there was little interbreeding between the newcomers and the darker-skinned hunter-gatherer inhabitants of the British isles. University College Evolutionary Genetics Professor Mark Thomas co-wrote the study, says that an explanation for the lack of trace of the original inhabitants may be that the hunter-gatherers were relatively few in number.
Two Greek cardiologists managed to save a 54-year-old woman’s life during a flight from Lisbon to Zurich. Doctors Giorgos Angelopoulos and Nikos Spiliopoulos rushed to the aid of a woman suffering from a heart attack during a TAP flight. The two doctors from Aigio, a port town on the Gulf of Corinth, were returning to Zurich after attending a medical conference in Lisbon. Using minimal equipment the two experienced cardiologists sprang into action, working in unison to resuscitate the Swiss woman. They stabilised her condition. The patient was immediately transported to a hospital.
New York city dressed in white and blue on Sunday 14 April, in honour of the 198th anniversary of Greece’s independence from the Ottoman Empire. The annual Greek parade, which was held on the Fifth Avenue, was attended by thousands of Greek Americans and representatives of close to 100 organisations. Schools, associations and federations, communities and bands all gathered to march for Greece. For the first time, no representative of Greece’s political leadership was present as the organisers only chose to invite local government official.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos called for the return of the Parthenon marbles from their “murky prison” in a new round of rhetoric for the return of the sculptures that were removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century. Speaking at the New Acropolis Museum, created to house the sculptures, Mr Pavlopoulos upped the rhetoric in Greece’s campaign. “Let the British Museum come here and make the comparison between this museum of light and the murky, if I may say, prison of the British Museum where the Parthenon Marbles are held as trophies,” he said.
Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD presented its electric bus model that will soon be making its way to the streets of Athens. The bus is 100 per cent electric, 8.7 metres long and can carry a total of 58 passengers with 22 seated. Greek Transport and Networks Ministry Secretary General Thanos Vourdas said that “an electric bus becomes a reality for the first time in Athens.” He added that electric transport should also gradually be introduced to other urban centres around Greece. However it is not yet known when the bus will make its way to the streets.
Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania announced a joint effort to host the 2030 World Cup and 2028 Euro games. Greek Deputy Sports Minister George Vasiliadis said that the four countries are on a “common course” that is kicking off with optimism for better days ahead for the region. He hosted the signing of a memorandum on Saturday after meetings in Thessaloniki.
New judges
The Andrews Labor Government has announced the appointments of Elizabeth Brimer SC and George Georgiou SC as judges of the County Court.