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.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people as friends and family members of a Turkish-American activist killed by an Israeli soldier honored her in a funeral.
The airstrikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including three women and four children, and another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis with Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Civil Defense said Saturday. They followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a United Nations school sheltering displaced on Wednesday.
A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio drew down and the World Health Organization said about 559,000 under the age of 10 have recovered from their first dose, seven out of every eight children the campaign aimed to vaccinate. The second doses are expected to begin later this month as part of an effort in which the WHO said parties had already agreed to.
“As we prepare for the next round in four weeks, we’re hopeful these pauses will hold, because this campaign has clearly shown the world what’s possible when peace is given a chance,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in Gaza and the West Bank, said in a statement on Saturday.
In Turkey, activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old from Seattle who held U.S. and Turkish citizenships, was laid to rest in her hometown in the town of Didim on the Aegean Sea.
The Israeli military has said that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 6. Turkey announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death. An Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting said she was killed after a demonstration against Israeli settlements.
“We are not going to leave our daughter’s blood on the ground and we demand responsibility and accountability for this murder,” Numan Kurtulus, the speaker of Turkey’s parliament, told mourners.
Eygi’s body had been earlier brought from a hospital to her family home and Didim’s Central Mosque. Thousands of people bid her farewell in the town’s streets, which were lined with Turkish flags.
Her death was condemned by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the United States, Egypt and Qatar push for a cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of making new and unacceptable demands.
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.
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By WAFAA SHURAFA and ANDREW WILKS Associated Press
Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Rabat, Morocco and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Opposition supporters in Albania protested again Monday, demanding that the government be replaced by a technocratic caretaker Cabinet before next year’s parliamentary election.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Fearful Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region Tuesday ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton, as crews worked furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from the last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Europe’s top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them, and more than two dozen other people, aboard a boat at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.
NEW YORK – On the occasion of the New York Greek Film Expo 2024, the Consulate General of Greece in New York and the Hellenic Film Society USA (HFS), presented a fascinating discussion with award-winning Greek actor, writer, and this year’s New York Greek Film Expo host Thanos Tokakis.