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 – Despite being unable to find any evidence linking 10 rival politicians of the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA government to accusations they took bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, anti-corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki’s term was extended for another two years.
Eight members of the Supreme Court’s Supreme Judicial Council voted in favor of the renewal of her term with three against, media reports said, with six backing a two-year term and two preferring only one.
Among those backing her were Supreme Court chief Vassilis Peppas and the court’s chief prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou. Her supporters noted her work into the alleged bribery scandal that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said was “the biggest scandal since the establishment of the Greek State,” before it collapsed with nine politicians cleared.
The government, in free fall with elections coming this year, tried to tie its opponents to claims they helped Novartis fix prices although it was based on hearsay testimony from secret whistleblowers and a company investigation found it didn’t happen.
Despite Touloupaki backing away from her own case, her supporters on the court said she should stay to keep investigating a case largely shelved, said the business newspaper Naftemporiki, and with some of the targets suing to clear their names.
Touloupaki answered questions for some two hours, the paper said, including over the deposition of the whistleblowers, who reportedly told her they heard the politicians took bribes but didn’t specify from whom and couldn’t remember incidents or dates but months later provided more details not revealed so far.
The lengthy chase file fingered former prime ministers, finance ministers and health ministers who held office before 2015 but not any members of the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA, including one who held a ministerial position before becoming a minister for the current government..
Only an official request for the lifting of immunity against former health minister Andreas Loverdos was sent to Parliament so he can testify before prosecutors due to “indications” of wrongdoing without any proof. He said his implication was a “vile plot” hatched by “a gang of criminals,” in the government.
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".