From May 10-20, in a central hotel of the capital, traditional Greek dishes have won Malaysians’ heart, who want to taste something completely different from their cuisine.

“The Greek Food Festival was first proposed by a big hotel in Kuala Lumpur and we immediately got motivated,” said President of the Greek Community Miltiades Denediotis. “We do the best we can to introduce Greece to Malaysia,” added Denediotis.

According to Denediotis, in Malaysia, Greek cuisine is not so popular because there are no Greek restaurants in the country. “But the locals are somehow familiar with Greek dishes,” he admits.

Greek-Australian chef George Diakomichalis and his mother, Popi, cooked both salty and sweet foods for the attendants. The Greek Chef gave Malaysians some of the recipes as well.

On the opening day of the event, Honorary Consul of Greece in Malaysia Niotis Emmanuel was present, while members of the Community danced the famous syrtaki and taught Malaysians how to drink ouzo.

On May 18, the Greek Community of Malaysia will participate in Tastes of Europe Fest 2012, where each country presents its own dishes. The Greek display stand is the biggest of the event! Almost 1,500 people are expected to join the Fest, including professionals in the food sector, caterers, journalists and many more.

About 60 Greeks live in Kuala Lumpur, and work in big international companies, while others are self-employed.

Poulias takes action in several working sectors, including banking, finance, retail, real estate and telecommunications in London, Athens and Central America.

The two brothers came up with the idea of founding such an organization when they met some impoverished children of Guatemala in 2003. They realized their problems and decided to contribute in the enhancement of their life level.

Thier institution, also called “La sorisa del niño (the smile of the child),” provides help to children living below the poverty line in crime infested areas. Its goal is to help them achieve their full potential through education while also providing for their health and nutrition.

Poulias was trained as an engineer at the Imperial College of London. He moved to Guatemala after receiving a phone call from his brother, Alexandros, who needed his support since business was going pretty well. Alexandros is a graduate student of Harvard Business School and the Executive Director of Televida company in the telecommunications sector.

“It was October 2011 when I first arrived to Guatemala and this was my life’s biggest month,” says Ilias. “Almost 11 years after this, I still live as if it is October 2011,” he continues.

“You see abilities and skills in these kids, of which they don’t have the opportunity to take advantage,” comments the Greek businessman.

That’s why the two Greek brothers turned the conference room of their Guatemala-based company into a classroom. They hired a teacher to help the children with their lessons because they wanted to “show them a different aspect of life.”

Guatemalan children deal with drug situations and criminality in their everyday life, but the Poulias Foundation aims to show them that this is not the only way of living.

“With only 10 euros per month, we can give these children meals for one week,” adds the Greek businessman and calls on institutions and individuals abroad to explore Guatemala and help these young people.

23 children have already been a part of the “Fundacion Poulias,” but about 60 kids could be hosted in total.

Ilias was nominated by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as honorary Consul of Greece in Guatemala.

Published in three volumes by Wiley-Blackwell last year, and more recently in electronic form, the encyclopedia is an invaluable window into Homer’s life and work, elucidating the characters and settings of his work from primary characters to the smallest village mentioned in passing. The volumes also examine the pre-history of Homer and the period in which he lived and wrote, and how the text has been received and transmitted by various cultures and societies throughout history to the present day. One of its groundbreaking areas of research is the reception of Homer in the Jewish and Arabic traditions, a subject that has rarely been explored.

With contributions from 132 scholars worldwide, this three volume work is a universal exploration of all things Homer. “Through this encyclopedia, you can enter Homer’s world and get lost in it,” says Prof. Finkelberg, who was recently awarded the 2012 Rothschild Prize in the Humanities. “It is unique for its comprehensive view — the entire field is seen as vibrant, alive and contemporary. Homer’s work is put in a modern living context, rather than approached as an impenetrable classic monument.”

An avatar of Greek culture

One section of the encyclopedia examines “textual reception” in over 2,000 years of history. Its purpose is to examine how Homeric texts were received from the view of different societies and cultures, e.g. Victorian England. Studying the history of the reception of a major text is an emerging field of study, Prof. Finkelberg explains, and profoundly important to the progress of the humanities.

One of the most original features of this work is an in-depth study of Homer in the context of Jewish and Arabic traditions, conducted by leading specialists. Though Homer’s work is foundational to the Western tradition, it has never been central to these Eastern traditions, which put more of an emphasis on “useful” texts, such as those regarding science, medicine, and philosophy.

The findings, she says, are surprising. Because the Hellenic world is little-known in these cultures, Homer is seen as a symbol of Greek culture in its entirety. “Poetry was not translated in these cultures, and because of this, very little was known about the art of the Greeks beyond philosophers like Aristotle. For them, Homer represented everything to do with Greek culture, including paganism,” explains Prof. Finkelberg. Anything “Greek” was essentially “Homeric” and vice versa.

Homeric archaeology

Prof. Finkelberg believes that the publication is a crucial addition to encyclopedias on the work of other poets such as Dante and Virgil. After all, Homer is not just any writer. In the absence of the sacred religious texts that are central to other traditions, such as the Bible to Judeo-Christian traditions, the Iliad and the Odyssey are the formative texts of Greek culture.

Because of this, the fields of Homeric archaeology and Biblical archaeology rest on the same historical axis, suggests Prof. Finkelberg. Homer’s use of history reflects real historical events and has inspired actual archaeological discovery. It was through Homer, for example, that German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was to search for the ruins of Troy, the site of the Trojan War in Homer’s works. Previously, the city was believed to be a mere literary invention.

Though Homer cannot be used as a historical text in the modern sense, Prof. Finkelberg says that his literary works are themselves not unlike an archaeological site, where different levels of history can be pieced together to reveal an intriguing tale of a world long past.

(AFTAU Press Release)

According to the magazine, Koutalakis’ 32-feet-long sailboat carries amateur fishers from Japan, Korea, and Singapore to Cape Cod in Massachussets to fish mostly tuna.

Koutalakis met with the Japanese journalist who wrote this article last year. When the article was ready to be published, the journalist sent it to Koutalakis but he could only understand the pictures. It was written in Japanese, so he had to translate it into English.

Since the article’s publication, Koutalakis has been very busy. More and more people form New York, Japan, Korea, and other locations, call on him for an unforgettable fishing opportunity. He has already booked 27 days for June!

“The reason that Asians enjoy tuna fishing is that it is a very tasty fish,” says Koutalakis. “At the same time, it is difficult to catch and drag it on the boat alone. Sometimes, you have to fight with them for 1-3 hours, ” he adds.

That’s why he invented a strange harpoon, a very useful tool for the tuna fishing. “When tuna schools approach the boat, I catch them with this harpoon, so that they cannot break the fishing line and escape,” explains the Greek fisherman.

He also refers to the fact that Asian people eat raw fish. “They bring  a great variety of sauces with them and eat tuna without even washing it at all. They just use some napkins to clean it up a little bit and eat it. I eat with them, too, and it’s very tasty,” concludes Koutalakis.

The Institute of Economic and Cultural Action of Greece  and China organized an event April 23-25 in Beijing to promote olive oil, “Oil China 2012.”

The specialized trade fair is the only event with respect to oil and every year, it attracts visitors from every continent.

Import executives of large China-based companies who attended the show had the chance to taste several other Greek agricultural products apart from the oil. Greek ambassador in China Theodoros Georgakelos also attended the event.

The event had a specific purpose: to promote Greek products. As soon as the event ended, officials began discussions about a future collaboration with Chinese import companies who were interested in some of the products.

The Institute has already planned its next event, which will be held in early September.

The Chinese reporter asked Georgeakelos, concerning his current position as Greek Ambassador to China, how he would classify his performance with respect to the promotion of the strategic financial cooperation of the two countries. The Ambassador, appearing modest, said, “It’s rather difficult to classify my own performance, I would rather speak about the performance of the country.” He explained that the bilateral relations between China and Greece have improved significantly over the past years as a result of hard work. He noted that there is still much potential for development of the countries’ collaboration fields.

The Greek Ambassador also explained that his time of office started during a “challenging period” back in 2009, but he implies that the crisis is “a moment of opportunity.” He referred to the substantial increase of Greek exports to China in 2012 in comparison to last year’s figures, and in the most important business sector – tourism – saying that Chinese tourists prefer Greece and that should be “exploited” in the future.

Georgeakelos also noted that the Chinese press and the officials of the country exhibit a very “balanced approach” to the matter of the Greek crisis, and expressed his gratitude to Chinese people for being so discrete. He also called on the Chinese government and Chinese private businesses to realize the investment opportunities offered by Greece.

One of the Ambassador’s primary roles since coming into office has been helping to revive the Greek economy, and publicizing the investment benefits of various sectors, including research, technology, renewable energy and tourism.

The 27-year-old visited St. Martin island in the Caribbean with his wife to celebrate their honeymoon.

Vryonidis had a heart attack and doctors told his wife that he should be transferred to the nearest hospital located on another island in order to take the necessary examinations.

People in charge for his transport moved him to the French part of the island. Vryonidis’ rented accommodation was in the Dutch part of the island, but the airplane used for medical purposes on this part of the island was out of commission the past few days.

Unfortunately, the small airplane he boarded fell into the ocean only 5 minutes after take-off. According to eye-witnesses, the airplane was flying low, close to the sea surface.

Among the dead is the pilot, a doctor and a nurse who were on the plane.

Lu Xun is as prolific a writer as Kazantzakis. The Chinese author is considered to be the founder of the modern literature of his country. The two authors lived and wrote their books in two completely different cultures. However, literary critics found many similarities between both the Greek and Chinese author, and they decided to give them the chance “to meet each other” after death.

The ceremony will be held on May 11, 2012 at the Lu Xun Museum in Shaoxing city, near Shangai. During the ceremony, attendants of the Chinese Museum will have the chance to watch a documentary about Kazantzakis in Chinese, produced by the Chinese Embassy in Athens.

A few days earlier, on May 7, the Museum will also present the work of Kazantzakis in a one-day event organized by the Greek Embassy in Beijing and the International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis.

Main speakers of the event will be, among others, the Kazantzakis’ books Chinese language translator, Li Chenggui, and Kazantzakis Museum Director Varvara Tsaka.

The crew consisted of five Russians and 16 Ukrainians. All are to be flown home on Wednesday and Thursday.
The freighter had been towed to the Hong Kong port to repair a faulty engine.
(source: TASS)