General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
CARDIFF, Wales — Far from battlefields and Russian invaders, the Ukrainian footballers exempted from military service are trying to complete the mission to lead their country to the World Cup.
When they prepare to face Wales on Sunday in a playoff final, they will have a little extra inspiration in their Cardiff locker room from a yellow and blue flag sent by soldiers on the frontlines in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, signed with messages.
It was there inside Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Wednesday when Scotland was beaten in the playoff semifinals. Since then, the players have continued to exchange messages with friends who have been defending their homeland in a war that has passed 100 days.
“We all hope that very soon Ukraine will be liberated and will return to being an independent country,” Ukraine midfielder Oleksandr Karavayev said through a translator in the Welsh capital.
“This is a great positive stimulus and brings positive emotions because everyone believes and sees how the whole world is united around us.”
The Dynamo Kyiv player has family still in the southern city of Kherson, which was captured early in the war by Russia.
“They cannot watch the match because there is no connection and internet,” Karavayev said. “But they communicate by messages and they read the news.”
Keeping Ukraine high in the headlines can be partly achieved by the men qualifying for a first World Cup since 2006. But it might take time for their compatriots on the frontlines to discover the result in Wales.
“It is a really hard situation in Ukraine and not everyone has the chance to watch football,” coach Oleksandr Petrakov said through a translator.
“I don’t communicate with any soldiers but the team writes to soldiers and even received a flag from the war which they promised to hang in the dressing room.”
From there they will step out on the field to face a Wales team trying to return to the FIFA showpiece after an even longer wait, having last appeared in the finals in 1958. Wales is expected to be carried, as usual, by its highly partial and emotional fans.
“Sport is sport and we don’t expect presents or an unfair win,” Karavayev said. “We know how hard it is and this is the most important game in our lives. But we wish to win and we will do everything possible to do that.”
There is much sympathy for Ukraine from Wales captain Gareth Bales, but also a ruthless sporting determination to qualify.
So would Bale apologize to Ukraine for snatching away its own World Cup dream?
“As horrible as it sounds, no,” Bale responded.
“It is a game of football and it is a competition that we want to get to as well. Everyone in the world feels for Ukraine but for this game, it’s a game of football. It is sport, it unites everybody. We understand what it will do for Ukraine but we want to get to the World Cup. It is not coming from a horrible place, but it is coming from our country, our hearts. We want to deliver for our own fans.”
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst.
ATHENS - The tragedy of the Tempi train collision is a much greater issue than an opportunity for parties to table a motion of censure against the government, but the opposition parties used it anyway "to turn society's pain into a tool to strike at the government and me personally," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday night in parliament.
ATHENS - PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis, speaking at the Hellenic Parliament on Thursday, emphasized that there is "an established belief among the Greek people" that the government "operates as a well-oiled machine of corruption, cover-up, and propaganda.
ATHENS — Greece’s center-right government survived a motion of no-confidence late Thursday that was brought by opposition parties over its handling of the country’s deadliest rail disaster a year ago.
ASTORIA – Greek Minister of the Interior Niki Kerameus offered an informative presentation on postal voting in the upcoming European Union elections for Greek citizens in a well-attended event held at the St.