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.
GENEVA — A Greek Orthodox parishioner who was recently caught on video scuffling with a Lyon priest who was shot outside his church and hospitalized over the weekend says local police raided his home on Monday.
The parishioner, Jean-Michel Dhimoila, said police collected documents at his home and took him in for questioning, though not as a suspect. He was later released.
Dhimoila called an Associated Press reporter from a police station in southern Lyon after being taken to a police station about the Saturday shooting of Rev. Nikolaos Kakavelakis with a hunting rifle as he left a door at his church, prompting a manhunt after the assailant who fled the scene.
The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital in critical condition after being shot twice in the abdomen, a police official said.
The shooting came amid tensions within the local Greek Orthodox community. It also raised concerns in a country that has been on edge two days after a knife attack by an Islamic extremist in the southern city of Nice left three people dead — prompting government officials to call for enhanced security at religious sites across the country.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Anti-terrorism prosecutors aren't investigating the case, and the Lyon prosecutor opened an attempted murder investigation.
Kakavelakis had finished his tenure about a month ago, and had been scheduled to return soon to Greece after his time working at the Lyon church, community leaders have said.
Dhimoila confirmed he had been involved in a scuffle caught on video two years ago in which he was seen being expelled from a church door, then trying to reenter as the priest kicked at him and slammed the door shut.
From a police station in southern Lyon, Dhimoila said he had "no idea" who was behind the shooting, but knew a lot about the Greek Orthodox community in Lyon.
Dhimoila said police who entered his home at around 8 a.m. on Monday scooped up the documentation he had assembled about Kakavelakis.
On Sunday, police released an initial suspect and widened a search for the gunman who critically wounded the priest as he closed the door to his official residence at the church.
Dhimoila, who lived as a former monk for eight years, has run a blog whose title in French translates as "Friends of the Hellenic community of Lyon."
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it.
ATHENS, Greece — A far-right Greek lawmaker has been charged with criminal assault for allegedly punching a colleague on the sidelines of a parliamentary debate Wednesday.
BROOKLYN, NY – From Greece to Miami to Brooklyn, Meraki Greek Bistro is now open in Williamsburg at 252 Grand Street.
SANTORINI – The prestigious sports event of Santorini, Santorini Experience, which highlights one of the top tourist destinations in the world through sports activities, will be held for the 7th year from October 3-6.
ATHENS – The distinguished Greek-American scientist Nikos Kyrpides, biologist, researcher, head of the Prokaryotic Genomics Program at the Joint Genome Institute of the U.