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.
ABUJA — Germany returned 20 historic bronze sculptures to Nigeria as part of efforts to address its “dark colonial past,” the German foreign minister said Tuesday.
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister returned the prized cultural artifacts to Nigerian officials in a ceremony in the capital Abuja. The sculptures, known as Benin bronzes, were looted from the West African country when it was under colonial rule.
“It was wrong to steal these bronzes. It was wrong to keep these bronzes and it is long overdue to return these bronzes to their home,” she said at the event.
Cast in brass and bronze with ancient designs, the sculptures were used in rituals to honor the Benin people’s ancestors and rulers.
More than 5,000 ancient artifacts are estimated to have been stolen from Nigeria by England, when it was the country’s colonizer, said Nigerian authorities.
Most of the treasures were stolen from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin — now part of southern Nigeria — and some ended up in the custody of other foreign governments including Germany.
Nigerian authorities have in recent years intensified efforts to get the looted artifacts to be returned. Earlier this year Germany pledged to repatriate more than 1,000 of them in the coming years.
Nigeria is Germany’s second-largest trade partner in Africa and by returning the items it hopes to start a new chapter for future bilateral relations, said Baerbock.
“We see this as a first step. Many bronzes have been looted and stolen, so many will come back,” said Baerbock.
“This step is also important for us because we are dealing with our dark colonial past,” she said.
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said the nation felt “deep gratitude” to Germany for returning the artifacts. Beyond their aesthetic value they have cultural and spiritual importance to the Nigerian people, he said. He called on England and other countries in possession of other artifacts to return them on moral grounds.
Activists say there needs to be more accountability that goes beyond the return of the items, such as compensation for the losses incurred by African countries throughout years of looting.
“We are only focusing on the physical objects. What about the digital properties of these works? Who owns those properties? And what is coming with these works?” said Victor Ehikhamenor a Nigerian artist and advocate for reparation efforts.
“What other restitution and payments do they have to make for holding these works for a long time and making money from it?” he said.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S.
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture presents a captivating evening with acclaimed singer-songwriter Alkinoos Ioannidis, who will perform at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Saturday, April 27, 7:30 PM, in a solo concert.
ATHENS - The "OLYMPOS - Global Spiritual Center" Association presents on Saturday, April 6, at 6:00 pm, at the "Antonis Tritsis" Amphitheatre of the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, 50, Acadimias Street, the truly ingenious funding proposal for the construction of Heptapolis in the wider area of Delphi, entitled "World Green Taxation Fund".
ATHENS - Disregarding the recommendation of a prosecutor who said there wasn’t enough evidence, an Athens Mixed Jury Court found a 55-year-old man guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl but found her mother innocent of pornography.