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 – An expert committee appointed by the Greek government said the long-delayed 8-billion euro ($9.43 billion) development of the old Hellenikon International Airport site should begin immediately despite fierce resistance within the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA.
The project slated for the site was supposed to become the largest urban park in Europe before Greece’s crushing economic crisis led to proposals for high-end commercial development, including luxury homes, offices, yacht docking and a casino among other lucrative ideas.
While Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is eagerly wooing foreign investors, hardcore elements in his party don’t want any foreign business in Greece based on their far-left philosophies and want Hellenikon stopped in its tracks.
The delays have created a kind of chilling effect among foreign investors fearful of being blocked as well, along with an avalanche of tax hikes imposed by Tsipras as he keeps reneging on anti-austerity promises.
Tsipras also is pushing privatizations he said he would bar, conceding to the country’s international creditors who want state assets sold off as fast as possible after frequent foot-dragging by governments during a more than 7 ½-year long economic crisis.
The recommendation by the government’s own panel said the project should start based on a development plan submitted by Greece’s Lamda Development, which is a partnership with China’s Fosun and an Abu Dhabi company.
That contradicts objections from SYRIZA ministers who said the plan wasn’t ready and should be revised as more roadblocks keep being put up by government agencies despite Tsipras’ promises he wants to fast-track big deals.
The panel said the development should proceed “without further delays and indecisiveness over the plan,” referring to SYRIZA and its junior coalition partner, the pro-austerity, marginal, jingoistic Independent Greeks (ANEL), the business newspaper Naftemporiki reported.
The recommendation noted that the plan could be improved, particularly concerning traffic management in areas around the project on Athens’ coast, revisions to the seaport scheme and better public access to a far smaller park.
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.
ALBANY – New York State Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, Senator Andrew Gounardes, and Senator James Skoufis honored Greek Independence at the State Capitol on March 26, welcoming His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, who offered an invocation before the Senate.
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".