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The National
6 days ago
- Politics
- The National
‘Life cut short': American man's killing in West Bank highlights scourge of Israeli settler violence
In a weathered strip mall in Tampa, wedged between a smoke shop and a small brewery, an ice cream parlour dishes out scoops of brightly coloured sherbet, experimental baklava and pistachio-filled Dubai chocolate concoctions – cold treats fitting for the dense humidity of Florida summers. On most days, patrons could find the manager and part-owner of Ice Screamin', 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet – Sayf, to those who knew him – behind the counter. 'He wanted to spread sweetness through all he did. That's literally what he did for a living,' his cousin, Fatmah Muhammad, told The National. 'He just excelled in everything he did. He wanted to do it perfectly.' Just before his 21st birthday, his family says, he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting relatives for the summer at their home in the occupied West Bank. His close friend, Mohammad Rizq Al Shalabi, was reportedly shot dead, and 10 others were injured in the same attack. Mr Musallet, a US citizen born raised in Florida, is now among more than 900 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since Israel's war on Gaza began after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, according to UN figures. He's the ninth American killed in the West Bank since 2022. His death has sparked an international outcry, including from US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who described the killing as a terrorist act. The Tampa Bay area, where Mr Musallet lived with his parents and brother, is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in Florida, which in turn is the US state with the fifth-highest number of Arab-Americans. 'Outnumbered' Daylight still shone when Mr Musallet and a group of about eight friends left Friday congregational prayers on June 11, marking the start of the weekend. That Friday should have been no different than any other. Mr Musallet and friends sauntered down the hill from the mosque in their village of Al Mazraa Al Sharkiya, north-east of Ramallah, talking about their families, their latest investment ideas, who among them might get married next. They were headed towards what they call 'the Batin', a shallow valley surrounding its namesake hill, Jabal Batin, and marked by terraced groves of sturdy olive and fig trees. The area is dotted with Israeli settlements: Maale Levona, one of the largest, sits on top of Jabal Batin. Several of the young men made their way to a local coffee shop in the Batin for a cup of freshly juiced mint lemonade, their handy saj – a dome-shaped metal cooking pot – in tow, ready for use at a small barbecue, or sajiyyeh, held among themselves on land passed down through generations. 'Before you know it, all hell breaks loose,' one witness, who was among the men attacked that day, told The National. 'Settlers come just running straight at us and they outnumbered us by a lot.' He said as many as 100 settlers, many holding rocks, encircled his group. Such a sight is familiar on social media, which is rife with footage of similar violence. The group feared the settlers were concealing firearms. 'We looked up on top of us, it's raining rocks,' said the witness, who described hearing bullets fly past their ears. 'It was just hell. The best way to explain it was hell.' The witness, a friend of Mr Musallet's who asked not to be identified for fear of Israeli reprisal, said the group ran. Mr Al Shalabi was the fastest. He looked back now and then to warn that the settlers were in pursuit, but after a while, the group lost sight of him. 'We thought he lasted a few hours like us, but no,' the witness said. 'I remember hearing one gunshot and I'm pretty sure that was whenever he was killed.' The group, now a couple of men down, continued to run across the mountain as settlers pelted them with rocks, the witness said. One of the young men was hit in the legs and groin. After a long stretch of running, the witness said he himself collapsed from exhaustion. Now sheltered underneath an olive tree, still in afternoon daylight, he faced Mr Musallet for what would be the last time. The witness said he encouraged Mr Musallet and the others to continue towards their village. 'I keep regretting saying that, because maybe, maybe my friend would have been saved if he stayed with me.' The last words he would hear from Mr Musallet were in Arabic: 'Strengthen your heart.' 'Till now, I can't figure out if that was to me or to himself, or for me to send that message to his father or for his mother,' he said. 'I honestly do not know, because he wasn't looking at me when he was saying that.' The witness later learnt one of the friends remained with Mr Musallet, who by then had already been severely beaten, and tried to carry him to safety. But soon unable to physically support him any longer, that friend made the decision to leave and seek help for Mr Musallet, the witness said. They were able to call an ambulance but, according to Mr Musallet's family, settlers blocked it from reaching him. Eventually, Mr Musallet's younger brother led a charge from the village to reach him on foot. 'Sayf was able to take his last breath in front of his brother, and then he passed away right in front of his younger brother. Imagine that,' the witness said. The Israeli military told The National that "a joint investigation was opened by the Israel Police and the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division", but did not respond specifically to allegations by the family and witnesses. Village life disrupted The Friday afternoon post-prayer rendezvous at the Batin is a regular ritual during the young men's summers in Al Mazraa Al Sharkiya. That's village life epitomised, says Reem Qarout, a cousin of Mr Musallet's. A Palestinian-American from California, she said she has spent the past few summers with family in the West Bank. She describes it in one word: warmth. 'It's just a constant sense that everyone is there for each other,' she said. 'You need someone, and it takes one phone call and they will be there.' In the summertime, she said, the village is flooded with visitors from the US, like herself and the Musallets. 'We just go to people's houses, and you'll find everyone sitting in beautiful backyards, courtyards, all drinking tea, laughing. It's just this beautiful energy.' But the last few days of this summer's trip, she said from her home in southern California, were unlike anything she had experienced there before. 'Everyone was absolutely heart-broken, shattered, no one had any energy,' she said. 'I hope people don't think, 'Oh, they're used to this, this happens on the daily for them'. With every single person this happens to – every single young man, young lady, every single elder – it is just as devastating.' Mr Musallet is remembered as a 'pure, kind-hearted, religious' young man who never missed a prayer and cared deeply for the shabab he'd spend most of his time with on those summer visits back at his family home. 'Sayfollah was the type that, you know, whenever he came into the room, that's it. Your day will change for the good,' his friend, the eyewitness, said. 'He was a good son, a good brother, a good friend. He was the best of the best for everything.' This summer, Mr Musallet had a mission he'd made clear to his parents: he'd hoped to come back with a fiancee. 'He always bugged his dad, and his dad kept on telling him, 'Inshallah, just give it some time.' And that time was finally this summer,' the same friend said. 'I'm not even going to say every day – every 10 minutes I would get a call, or he would just pull up to my house and we would have a conversation.' There has been a surge in settler violence in the West Bank since October 2023. Israeli settlements there are illegal under international law, which recognises the Palestinian Authority's full jurisdiction over the territories. But Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, with Palestinian areas thinning out steadily since. 'We go to Haifa, we go to Yaffa, we go to Jerusalem,' Ms Qarout said. 'And you do find settlers there, but they're not running up to you to kill you. It's just in the West Bank, they're absolutely vicious.' For some, like Ms Qarout, being a Palestinian-American brings mixed feelings. 'It's very unfortunate that, because of a little blue booklet, we have more privilege,' she said, referring to her US passport. 'Sayfollah's getting more attention because he's American, but there are so many Palestinians who have been killed who we'll never know about.' Home in the Sunshine State Born in Port Charlotte, Florida, Mr Musallet had come to know the peninsula's Gulf coast intimately. It's where a significant portion of the estimated 200,000 Arab-Americans who live in Florida have settled over decades, many of whom still have active roots in the West Bank. A cluster of families in Tampa call the West Bank home, whether their kin is in Sinjil, Turmus Aya, or Ramallah. In fact, that cluster of villages just north-west of Ramallah is known for its Palestinian-American population. A knack for sweets runs in the family. Ms Muhammad, who sells Palestinian sweets at her own business, Knafeh Queens, made famous by Instagram, had a spot carved out for her at her cousin's ice cream shop. 'A lot of shops sell knafeh. But the way he presented it … I would joke, 'Oh, my God, you're presenting it better than how I would. You can't do better than me!'' Since his death, she's used her following to raise awareness of violence in the occupied West Bank and demand justice for Mr Musallet. 'It's just heart-breaking to know that someone who went just to vacation and see his family and to spend time on his land couldn't even do that,' Ms Muhammad said. 'His life was cut short. He had such big dreams.' Beyond the walls of Ice Screamin', the Palestinian population in Tampa exists at odds with state and local politics. Shortly after the Hamas attack on southern Israel and the start of Israel's war in Gaza, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned Palestinian student groups from two state college campuses and said the US should not accept any Palestinian refugees. The same month, he chartered a private plane to bring back 270 Americans from Israel. Florida Senator Rick Scott recently signed legislation to 'protect Israel in the UN', his website says. It would cut off 'US funding to any UN agency that expels, suspends, downgrades, or otherwise restricts the participation of Israel.' And last month, Israeli drone maker Xtend opened an assembly plant in Tampa, where it intends to finalise production of 3,000 strike and surveillance quadcopter systems a month. 'At the [factory] opening, the mayor of Tampa was there, and just had this big smile,' said Lama Alhasan, a Palestinian-American community organiser with the Tampa Bay Area Dream Defenders, a branch of a wider activist group. 'We know that these are the things that attack Palestinians. And it's right here in our backyard.' That backyard is a small world. Ms Alhasan said she realised after the fact that she had encountered members of the Musallet family at various community events. 'I want to highlight the refusal to even acknowledge Sayfollah by the local officials here, and it obviously has to do with him being Palestinian,' she said. 'What happened to Sayfollah Musallet is not just something that happened 3,000 miles away.' Mohamad Khatib had the same idea. He's a member of the branch of the Democratic Party in Pasco County, next to Tampa, who submitted a motion to the party's executive committee to recognise Sayfollah Musallet and condemn violence in the West Bank. He told The National he thought he could 'capitalise on the party's motivation' to bring back an Arab-American voting bloc that had fractured under the Biden administration over its almost unfettered support for Israel. The motion failed. 'The Democrats are not used to taking bold positions,' Mr Khatib said. 'They pushed back, saying that international policies should be held not by the local committee, but the party in general.' 'Not the same' From the Tampa Bay Area and beyond, the Musallet family has called for an independent, US-led investigation into the attack and the perpetrators. The US Department of State has the task of responding to incidents affecting Americans abroad. All complaints – from lost or stolen passports to violent crime or natural disasters – affecting US citizens are directed to the State Department. Four days after Mr Musallet's killing, Mr Huckabee, the US ambassador, said the attack was a 'terrorist act' and called for an independent investigation. The announcement came as a surprise to many, given Mr Huckabee's strident support for Israel that includes referring to the West Bank by its Biblical name, Judea and Samaria. The Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment from The National. The State Department acknowledged the death of an American citizen in the West Bank the day after the attack. Five days later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was 'gathering more information'. The standard response, according to James Zogby, founding president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute and a contributor to The National, goes further. 'Number one is a formal meeting with the family,' he told The National. 'Number two is a very strong statement of condemnation and a demand for an inquiry into what happened, and I would not at this point leave it to the Israelis to investigate, as was the case with Shireen [Abu Akleh]', the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier while working in the West Bank in 2022. Former president Joe Biden's administration had imposed economic sanctions against some settlers and groups to try to dissuade them from committing violence against Palestinians. The Trump administration scrapped these. 'There's no administration that's done any better,' Mr Zogby said. 'The victim is Palestinian, the perpetrator is Israeli, the US government is enabling them to do it and Palestinian lives are just not viewed as the same.' This is a grievance echoed across the Palestinian community, American or not. The death of Mr Al Shalabi, who was not American, is receiving even less attention. Mr Musallet's friend who witnessed the attack said when the settlers approached, he had flashed them his US passport, which he said he always carries in the West Bank. 'I speak in English, I say I'm American,' he said. 'They do not care.' That's no discouragement for Mr Musallet's surviving relatives. 'People say, why go [to the West Bank] if it's like that?' Ms Muhammad recounts. 'We will not give up, even if every single one of us has to die for our country and for our people." As for her cousin: 'All we want is justice for him. We will fight and speak out till the end.'
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I wore a glucose tracker to monitor my holiday weight gain. Here's what happened
If you're anything like me, then the whole point of a week away on holiday is that you can eat and drink as much as you want, guilt-free. But how many of us can properly switch off? Too often, phantom calorie counts float next to the delicious treats listed on restaurant menus or presented in the windows of patisseries. Inevitably, there is panic, as the jeans worn on the flight to somewhere sunny refuse to button on the return home. Add to this a long string of hangovers and the general sluggishness that follows a week of heavy dinners, and you can find yourself more drained by a trip away than you were before it. Yet the positive effects that come with a week of R&R aren't to be underestimated. Holidays can be good for the health of our muscles, hearts, brains and blood sugar alike. So, earlier this year, I went off to Greece armed with a glucose tracker and the determination to keep a food diary but still enjoy myself, to see how much damage a week of ice cream, souvlaki and wine can really do to your health. The glucose tracker in my arm was there to tell me about how all of these carbs could 'spike' my blood sugar, leading to potential consequences for my health later down the line. Going to a Mediterranean country wasn't cheating. Yes, there's plenty of fresh vegetables and your food is more likely cooked in olive oil than butter, making it better for your heart and your skin. But there's also deep fried feta, chips inside of massive pita wraps, huge trays of baklava, and many different kinds of spirits to contend with. I went to Athens and then an island, with two friends and my boyfriend, who, thanks to spending a lot of time in the gym, usually eats about 4,000 calories a day. Foodwise I pretty much kept up with him for the whole trip away. For breakfast on our first day I had a huge bowl of creamy full-fat Greek yoghurt, topped with tahini, banana, honey and nuts. Lunch was a halloumi souvlaki, stuffed with chips and some kind of delicious yellow sauce. I split a box of baklava as a snack with one of my friends and then for dinner, I had a huge bowl of orzo with mushrooms, a side of (more) chips, and dessert, a platter of Greek treats split between the four of us. In true first-night-away style we got through five litres of wine. In our defence, it was 11 euros a jug. (Then I went back to our AirBnB and ate four croissants meant for the morning to soak it up). I might have earned some of that with a walk up the acropolis (thankfully, we hadn't planned it for the morning afterwards) but the rest of the holiday was spent lazing about. We all took it a bit easier on the booze but made up for it in food. Most mornings started with Greek yoghurt, but the nights ended with huge dinners, snacks afterwards, and a dessert like loukoumades (donuts covered in hard sugar) to finish. At home I try not to snack too much (a rule of keeping your blood sugar in check) but while I was away I ate anything I stumbled across that looked half-tasty. All in all, I totally pigged out and I drank more than I do in an average month. What would this blip in my usual moderate lifestyle mean for my health in the long run? Lauren's diet: at home vs abroad How bad is it really to gain a few pounds on holiday? I'm not here to tell you to starve on holiday. As personal trainer Dalton Wong helpfully puts it, 'losing holiday weight is easy, but you'll never get back the time that you spend away'. Yet the truth is that a sudden jump in weight can be jarring. When I got on the scale after my week in Greece, I weighed a full half a stone more than I had done when I left. I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me. Did all the cheese and pita bread I ate really do that much damage? Probably not, Wong says. 'That jump won't just be fat but also water retention, caused by eating a lot of salty food, and probably a bit of fat depending on how much you've eaten,' he explains. If you're someone who does a lot of strength training, 'you might even put on a bit of lean muscle mass, because you're giving your muscles the good rest and nutrients that they need to actually grow'. As Wong often reassures his clients, you would have to eat a truly enormous amount of food to put on half a stone of fat in a week. A single pound of fat gained requires 'about 500 extra calories every day on top of the amount you need to maintain your weight,' he explains. As such, the reality is that a week of overindulgence likely won't make you gain more than two or three pounds at most, even if, like me, you've ended up reaching to the back of your wardrobe for an extra pair of trousers. I think I ate at least 4,000 calories a day. To maintain my weight I need about 2,000, roughly what I eat when I'm at home. It's not all as simple as calories in, calories out, either, however. 'Your body has a set point that it really wants to stay at,' says nutritionist Jenna Hope. Once you return from holiday, your body works hard to bring your weight back down to its usual levels, a process that can be masked by water weight and constipation. 'A week or two, or even three, outside of your norm might not actually cause weight gain at all, because you aren't causing any long-term changes to your metabolic activity,' so long as you go back to your normal habits. For this reason, Wong advises that you 'avoid weighing yourself for four weeks after you get home,' he says. 'Anything you see differently in the scales then might be actual fat, but until then, what you're seeing likely isn't real weight gain.' Sure enough, after a week back at home I was only three pounds heavier than I was when I landed in Athens; after a month, I was back to my usual weight. Given the power of your set point, shifting the weight can be as simple as 'going for an extra walk after lunch,' says Wong. If you really are concerned about putting on weight on holiday, 'either eat or drink your calories,' he advises. 'Have the extra cocktail or the slice of cake, not both. You'll likely be satisfied with one and feel a bit healthier afterwards.' What happens on the inside? The scales don't tell the full story, however. Studies that examine what a week of overindulgence does to your body only present bad news. One Oxford University study reveals that three weeks of eating badly is enough to raise your risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Their participants were fed a diet high in sat-fats (crisps, cheese, chocolate and pizza) for 24 days, and while their weight didn't budge, their cholesterol levels spiked by 10 per cent, and the fat in their liver increased by a fifth. A summer trip can also give you an 'obese brain', another recent paper from the University of Tubingen in Germany found (clearly, holiday-spoiling is a flourishing academic niche). Just five days of eating a poor diet is enough to cause changes to our brains that outlive 'the timeframe of the consumption', reports Professor Stephanie Kullmann. After eating an extra 1,000 calories a day for five days, 'the brain and behaviour response resemble that of a person with obesity and changes in the brain seem to occur prior to weight gain.' What can also change quickly is our gut microbiome. 'A week or two weeks of eating differently and not getting enough fibre is long enough to see some changes in the makeup of your gut,' says Hope. The happiness of your gut is a core to good energy levels, proper digestion, immune function and even keeping you in a good mood. Spending time away in a totally different food environment is part of why we can come back from holiday feeling more sluggish and constipated than ever before. From the food log before and after my holiday, and while I was away, it's clear that I was eating more than I usually would for a few weeks on either side. I'd have an extra pint of beer or glass of wine on a Wednesday and I'd often veer towards something heavy in fat and salt and therefore attractive to my 'obese brain' for dinner post-holiday. I'm sure that my gut was not impressed. 'If you go away multiple times a year, it can be really hard to reset and not slide into bad habits,' Hope says. Fortunately, this is easily avoided. 'Preparing your breakfasts and lunches for the week that you're back home can be really helpful, as it removes the element of spontaneous choice and helps you make better decisions,' says Hope. 'It can be really helpful to order a grocery shop to arrive on the day that you're back.' To make it even easier for yourself, 'try having a healthy breakfast on the days that you're away, rather than diving into the hotel buffet and having everything you can see,' she adds. Having one healthy meal a day makes it much easier to get back to normal once you're home, and if it's high in protein, you won't instantly reach for a snack as soon as you leave your hotel. (And if you're in the land of thick, creamy Greek yoghurt, like I was, it won't feel like a sacrifice.) Will a holiday raise your blood sugar? Blood sugar monitors are increasingly being worn by people who aren't diabetic. The way they work is that you stick them into your arm (there's a small needle, but you can't feel it once it's in), and then you can monitor the amount of sugar that's in your blood after you've eaten from an app on your phone. Ups and downs are normal, but dramatic spikes after meals or prolonged periods of super-high blood sugar can indicate insulin resistance. This is a sign that your body is struggling to handle the amount of sugar you're feeding it, and is a precursor for type 2 diabetes. Discovering the foods that 'spike' you can help you prevent this in the long term, and this can also help you to avoid the sluggishness and fatigue caused by the crashes that follow. It was interesting to see that a typical day in Greece eating a lot of carby and sugary foods made my blood sugar soar. But I can't say it made me behave any differently. I did get a few weird looks from other tourists and it does ruin the bikini photos. The really useful bit came when I looked at my results after landing in Britain. I wore my patch, from Lingo by Abbott before, during, and after my holiday. In the week that I came home, my average blood sugar fell to being 95 per cent lower than it had been while I was away. At first I was shocked. Clearly my body had gone into panic mode because of how much I'd eaten. The stats sound dramatic on paper but in both cases, my average blood sugar remained in a 'healthy' range overall, only briefly rising or falling to unhealthy levels. Such a return to normal is a good sign: 'this shows that you're in good metabolic health and that your body is responding with insulin in a normal way,' says Sophie Bertrand, Abbott's nutritionist. Your blood sugar levels are a result of homeostasis, the complex bodily process that keeps us functioning as normal. It's hard to disrupt this process in a serious way by overeating for a week, Bertrand says. If you're in your twenties and have a BMI that marks you as healthy, like me, then you can eat whatever you like for a short while and be fine in this regard, but this process works less well as you age. Seeing its effects was helpful. 'Someone who's older might find that they have more problems bringing their blood sugar down to normal,' says Bertrand. Over time, this is an issue that can raise your chances of developing insulin resistance, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. About 40 per cent of us in Britain are insulin resistant. With this in mind I'll probably start approaching holidays a bit differently as I age. But regardless of your health, there are ways to get back to normal more quickly regardless of your age. Again, a protein-rich breakfast is king: 'this will help to avoid big fluctuations in your blood sugar throughout the day,' says Bertrand. 'Your sleep is also really important in keeping your blood sugar levels stable. Take the opportunity to grab a few more hours each night than you might at home.' Regardless of what you're eating or how much you're sleeping, a quick walk after dinner can work well 'to balance out your blood sugar' too. Besides, the chance to let loose can be good for us. Regularly going on holiday can lower your chances of dying from heart disease in the long run, and can also bring improvements to your blood sugar and 'good' cholesterol levels. As Bertrand puts it, 'a week of treats is much better than a routine filled with less healthy food or binges that follow restricting yourself too severely'. Do you need to worry about your step count? All of this ignores a fact that's fundamental to the concept of holidays: a week or more of relaxation does us provable good. Stress – both the physical and mental kind – can wreak havoc on our health. If you're the kind of person who exercises a lot, a week spent abstaining from lifting heavy weights or sprinting on the treadmill, presents a much-needed break for your joints and muscles. As a result, 'some of the weight you put on while you're on holiday might well be lean muscle mass,' says Wong. That said, keeping your step count up can actually offset the potential damage done to your health by eating outside of the norm. 'Going for a walk before or after dinner is a good way to help bring your blood sugar back down to a healthy range,' says Bertrand. And what's more, you'll probably find it easier to get them in while you're away than you do at home. I certainly did: my average steps per day are 12,000 as per my health tracker, but I got in 15,000 a day in Athens, and it didn't occur to me that I was exercising. Do I regret letting loose on holiday? Not at all. As Jenna Hope says, the really crucial thing for your health is how quickly you go back to normal after your holidays, and making sure that you don't live with your 'holiday brain' between them. Next time I go away, I'll be sure to plan some healthy meals for the week that I get back, and I'll try to find ways to keep my step count up while I'm away too, to counter the effects of eating badly. I'm not sure that I'd take a glucose tracker with me again, but it's certainly helpful to know that beer spikes me more than wine, and that baklava does less damage than chips. Best of all is that, having looked at the changes to my body, I now know that with some thought, I can keep enjoying holidays the way I want for the rest of my life. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Opa! Greek Festival to add sales after power outage
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — If you didn't get your fill of baklava because of the power outage on the last day of Greek Festival, don't despair. Festival organizers plan to have three days of specialty food sales at Holy Trinity Cathedral to try to recoup the revenue that was lost when the festival ended three hours early on Sunday, May 25. Thousands of Entergy customers in Greater New Orleans without power Because the outage was not announced in advance, the first sign that something was wrong came when cash registers at the entrance gates stopped working around 5 p.m. At the same time, the main food hall inside the cathedral went dark as servers hurried to fill to-go plates of moussaka and dolmades, and the musicians noticed their amplifiers conked out on stage. Suddenly, ice and cold drinks were in short supply on one of the hottest afternoons of May. New T-shirt pokes fun at inmate escape in New Orleans Festival organizer Alexandra Megilligan told WGNO that an estimated 2,500 people either left the festival when the power went out or did not come in. Megilligan also said the outage resulted in an estimated 60% loss of expected sales during that three-hour period To try to recoup some of the lost revenue, the festival will hold three days of food sales this week at the Cathedral. Anyone who'd like to savor the taste of Greece just a little longer will be able to buy some of the pastries and other food items, like imported olives, cheeses and wine, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. 'We may extend the sale a little bit longer in the afternoon, ' said Megilligan, 'If we still have people trickling in.' Opa!Opa! Greek Festival to add sales after power outage IMS opens ticket renewal for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Loyola baseball's historic run ends but the Pack's leadership has elevated the program Players enjoying new Jefferson Parish pickleball courts this Memorial Day Eight inmates captured, two still at large following Orleans Parish jailbreak Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
News.com.au
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Sooshi Mango's Joe Salanitri says yasou to in-laws' Mount Waverley home
The baklava's been baked, the ouzo's been poured and now Sooshi Mango's Joe Salanitri is saying yasou to his in-laws' Mt Waverley home of 45 years. And it's been revealed how wild fusion parties between his own Italian family and his Greek partner's helped inspire the wildly popular ethnic sketch comedy group Sooshi Mango. The four-bedroom house at 7 Midway St, owned by Chris and Mary Ginis since 1980, has been regularly visited by Salanitri since the late 1990s — when he fell for their daughter Georgina. 'Hectic' bidding war leaves sellers speechless It has hit the market with a $1.73m-$1.79m price guide and will go under the hammer this Saturday, with both Joe and his Sooshi Mango co-star and brother Carlo expected to attend. The pair, as well as co-star Andrew Manfre, have become household names with their over-the-top portrayals of Mediterranean mums, dads and uncles, drawing on their upbringing in Melbourne's migrant suburbs. The Ginis family home has long been at the centre of big Greek celebrations, and Joe has been part of it for more than two decades, having married the couple's daughter Georgina. 'We've raised three daughters in this house,' Ms Ginis said. 'We've hosted some incredible parties, it became the go-to place for all the big family celebrations. Easter, Christmas, christenings, 21sts, engagements, you name it, we've had it. 'There were anywhere from 20 to 40 people for lunch, and sometimes up to 100 for dinner.' Joe's first visit to the home in the late '90s made a lasting impression. 'He's always been a gorgeous young man. A real gem. He's a great guy from a beautiful family — we were very impressed,' Ms Ginis said. His father in law Chris recalled the moment he first met his son-in-law, 'First thought? Bloody hell, where'd you find him,' he said. Joe's parents, Vince and Antonia, also became regulars at Ginis family functions, where they would often explore the common ground of their two cultures with a guitar and some laughter. 'Vince was a natural entertainer,' Mr Ginis said. 'He'd pull out the guitar and sing with the boys, tell stories, get everyone laughing.' Ray White Judd White Group director Andrew Dimashki, said the home had drawn more than 90 groups and attracted eight confirmed bidders ahead of Saturday's auction — but it's no longer the classic yiayia's house you might expect. The home was extensively renovated in the late 2000s. Mr Dimashki said key aspects now include travertine floors, a Miele-equipped kitchen with integrated fridge and dual ovens, and two designer bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling tiling and heated towel rails. The layout also features a formal lounge room and dining spaces, a bright meals and family room with recessed speakers, a lockable cellar, and a covered outdoor area flowing to landscaped gardens and a built-in barbecue zone. 'The kitchen's the big drawcard, but it's the warmth and feel of the home that people really connect with,' Mr Dimashki said. 'It's elegant, but it's still got heart.' Mr Ginis said he and his wife were headed to Camberwell in Melbourne's inner east to enjoy a more flexible lifestyle, but hoped the next owners would carry on the home's tradition of hospitality. 'It's got such a great feel to it. Sunshine streams in, and there's just an energy about it. We've always kept it open to everyone, and I think that's part of its soul,' he said. 'Whoever buys this home will inherit the ghost of happiness.'
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
More delight for Turkish delicatessen as Britain goes nuts for pistachio
The latest twist in the dizzying ascent of the pistachio to the top of the confectionery charts is the rise of the baklava – a pastry that often comes with a pistachio filling. Earlier this year Britons could not get enough Dubai chocolate, a bar with a layer of the ultra-fashionable nut (which is fibre-filled and is also said to have aphrodisiac qualities). Now pistachio treats such as baklava and Turkish delight are winning a new following at the British arm of the Turkish luxury delicatessen business Hafiz Mustafa 1864. The company, which started out in Istanbul in the 19th century, follows ancient recipes at its recently established kitchen in Enfield, North London. The baklava is made of a mix of phyllo dough, crushed pistachios, butter, and a lemon syrup. Traditionally, Turkish delight also contains pistachios. Twice-daily deliveries are made to the chain's cafe and shop opposite Harrods in Knightsbridge – the first expansion outside the company's Turkish heartland, where it has 20 cafes. The company plans to open another cafe and store in London – opposite Selfridges in Oxford Street – and may expand outside the capital.
