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.
A mandate from Cyprus' government that masks must be worn outdoors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 has so many interpretations that it's uncertain when and where it has to be done, critics said.
The announcement by Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou on Thursday – making the use of masks obligatory in all outdoor areas except when exercising – has led to widespread confusion, The Cyprus Mail said.
While police said they will enforce the law, the ministry said there's room for discretion.
“If a couple from the same household are walking in a park and there is no one nearby for 3-4 meters then they don’t have to wear a mask,” Margarita Kyriacou, Ministry spokeswoman, told the paper.
“But if they are taking a walk in Ledra street in Nicosia they do have to wear a mask because there are lots of people there,” she said, referring to the capital city's busiest street that leads up to the Green Line dividing Cyprus from the northern third occupied by Turkey since an unlawful 1974 invasion.
Police spokesman Christos Andreou said that the decree mandates masks be worn in all outside areas and officers won't make exceptions .“It says outdoor areas, it doesn’t even specify public areas,” Andreou said, although he added that police would use their judgment in some cases.
Kyriacou told the paper that the police have been instructed to be flexible where possible as people are asking a plethora of questions, such as whether they have to wear a mask while walking their dog around a neighborhood.
“If it’s crowded, they have to wear a mask, otherwise if they’re taking a walk in the park or along the beachfront and they are alone – it’s not crowded – they don’t have to wear the mask,” Kyriacou said.
Adding to the uncertainty is that while masks are required in public gathering places such as restaurants, they can't be worn while eating even though people are sitting next to each other.
Apparently, masks don't have to be worn at a dining table but must if a person gets up to use the bathroom, greet someone at another table – violating the safe social distance – or entering or leaving the restaurant.
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.