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 50-year-old Greek painter/decorator was read a 6-year suspended prison sentence on Friday for stealing three artworks from the National Gallery in Athens ten years ago.
Having remained elusive for years but eventually arrested in 2021, the man had then confessed he was the perpetrator of the theft of Picasso’s ‘Head of a Woman’ (1934), Piet Mondrian’s ‘Stammer Mill with Summer House’ (1905), and of a 17th century drawing of a religious theme attributed to Guglielmo Caccia (Moncalvo). Picasso had donated his painting to Greece in 1949 for its resistance during the country’s occupation by Nazi German forces. The man did return the two paintings, but had said that Moncalvo’s drawing had been destroyed.
In his testimony, the man claimed that he stole the three works out of love for art, and that he didn’t expect it would be so easy to steal them, citing insufficient security measures at the gallery. He also clarified that during his attempt to steal a third master painting he was cut, and used Moncalvo’s drawing to wipe the blood.
However, art collector Stelios Garipis told the court that Moncalvo’s drawing had been traced in Florence, Italy, where it had been put up for sale but was never sold. It was, however, verified as the authentic drawing by experts, he added. It is unclear from the report if it was ever returned to Athens.
Picasso’s painting had been valued at 2 million euros, Mondrian’s at 200,000 euros, and Moncalvo’s drawing at 1,000 euros, the National Gallery’s Director of Collections Eftichia Agathonikou told the court. Unfortunately, she said, the works suffered damages that cannot be seen with the naked eye except upon close inspection, referring to changes in the consistency of colors.
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 (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst.
NICOSIA - A meeting between the ministers of energy for Cyprus and Israel - George Papanastasiou and Eli Cohen - led to an agreement that the countries would make an underwater electric cable link a top priority, linking them to Europe.
LONDON (AP) — The British Museum on Thursday appointed National Portrait Gallery chief Nicholas Cullinan as its new director, as the 265-year-old institution grapples with the apparent theft of hundreds of artifacts and growing international scrutiny of its collection.
ATHENS - The European Union needs to get involved in the case of the two-year jail sentence given ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri who was elected Mayor of the seaside town of Himare and said the trial was a farce to get him and protect Prime Minister Edi Rama’s business friends.
Brace yourself for what could be another scorching summer in Greece as scientists are anxious that a warm winter - the warmest January recorded - and climate change will continue to bring weather anomalies.