His Eminence Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios of Toronto, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada, was welcomed yesterday by the Parliamentary Speaker Philippos Petsalnikos in his Athens office.

Dr Olga Sarantopoulou, Secretary of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) has announced her intention to be a candidate for the presidency of the organisation in the upcoming elections of December 2010. Sarantopoulou, who is also the General Secretary of the World Network of Doctors (MDs) of Greek Descent, is currently visiting Australia for the first time.

In an exhibition organised by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture (HFC), is presenting works by the F-14 Photographers' Commune in Alexandria, Egypt, depicting the most important archaeological sites of Macedonia, such as Dion, Vergina, Pella, Olynthos, Samothrace, Phillipi, Thassos and Thessaloniki. The exhibition is being held under the auspices of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE).

Together with the mayor of Mannheim and representatives of both the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums and the German Archaeological Institute, the Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office Gernot Erler opened a new special exhibition earlier this month at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim entitled “Alexander the Great and the Opening of the World”. The exhibition devoted to the ancient general and ruler, who lived from 356 to 323 BC, runs till February 21 and features some 400 unique exhibits.

In order to celebrate the 90th birthday of her mother, Yannoula, Greek-Australian Olympia Panagiotopoulou thought up an unusual gift. Apart from the family party she organised, in an effort to turn the clock 50 years back, she placed an ad in the Greek-Australian newspaper, “Neos Cosmos”, asking Greek-Australians who arrived in Australia on the ship “Tasmania”, which sailed from Piraeus Port in August 1955, to contact her.