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.
ATHENS – A Greek executive who was convicted of stealing millions of euros and was linked to a murder attempt on a lawyer was released from prison on the basis of a medical certificate that didn’t have the proper signatures and was incomplete, a report on the website documentonews.gr reported.
Aristidis Floros, 39, serving a 21-year-sentence for grand embezzlement and money laundering was leet out after 18 months after judicial officials ruled he was suffering from epileptic seizures and psychiatric problems, the business newspaper Naftemporiki said.
But now that is being challenged by the report but there were no indications he would be returned to jail.
Health reasons are a common cause for celebrity prisoners to be released, including former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos who said he heart problems but was spotted swimming at a beach.
Floros established and led a now defunct retail electricity supplier, Energa, which Greek regulatory authorities and prosecutors say bilked consumers and the state out of tens of millions of euros. The court agreed with prosecutors, handing down the sentence and a fine of 1.5 million euros ($1.74 million). There was no indication where the money went and if he’d have access to it with his release.
Besides the Energa-related convictions, Floros was convicted of moral complicity in the assassination attempt against attorney Giorgos Antonopoulos.
The criminal code allows for the release of prisoners with over 67 percent disability if they have served a fifth of their sentence although he hadn’t served near that and no explanation was given for the exemption.
A document published on the site claimed the head of Evangelismos hospital Panagiota Goulaki-Mitsaki stated that the doctor who ruled on Floros’ alleged health problems was not listed in the national health system (ESY) throughout her tenure at the hospital and no authority to sign the certificate.
The same report claimed that the certificate lacked the signature of the responsible Laboratory of Sleep Study or the Professor of Intensive Care Clinic but there was no explanation why Floros was let out if the certificate was incomplete.
The medical results were not accompanied by treatment proposals, which are necessary in similar cases, the report said.
The poll leading major opposition New Democracy earlier called the release “despicable” and said the government must explain why “one (convict) after another is leaving prison,” referring to those previously released after saying they, too, were ill.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
CLOSTER, NJ – The well-attended Greek Independence Day Celebration in Closter, NJ, took place on March 25, beginning with the Flag Raising Ceremony at Ruckman Park in Closter.
FAIRVIEW, NJ – The Greek Cypriots of New Jersey under the auspices of the Federation of Cypriot American Organizations, the Consulate General of the Republic of Cyprus in New York and Consul General of Cyprus Michalis Firillas will commemorate the 69th Anniversary of the EOKA Liberation Struggle of Cyprus from British Colonial Rule 1955-1959, with a memorial service at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 101 Anderson Avenue in Fairview, NJ, on Sunday, March 31.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Thursday in New York City that also stars Barack Obama and Bill Clinton is raising a whopping $25 million, setting a record for the biggest haul for a political event, his campaign said.
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Michelangelo’s David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504.
ATHENS — Police in Greece clashed late Wednesday with Communist-backed demonstrators who tried to prevent a concert by U.