Greek Adoptees to Meet in Louisville for Third Annual Reunion

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Greek Adoptees to Meet in Louisville for Third Annual Reunion
Greek adoptees
Greek-born adoptees gather for the first-ever reunion in front of the Parthenon replica in Nashville, USA in 2022. Credit: Eftychia Project

After the amazing success of the first two Annual Greek Adoptee Reunions in Nashville, TN in August 2022 and in their homeland of Greece in October 2023, Greek-born adoptees are poised to converge on Louisville, KY for the Third Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion, June 20-22, 2024.

Greek adoptees and their family members from across the nation will attend the annual gathering, hosted by the Eftychia Project, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and support, free of charge, to Greek adoptees searching for their roots and Greek families searching for their children lost to adoption.

The organization was founded in 2019 by Linda Carol Trotter, a Greek-born adoptee and activist for Greek adoptee birth and identity rights.

“We are so excited for this event,” says Linda Carol, the President of the Eftychia Project.

“Our first two Reunions were resounding successes, and we are excited to be back in the USA for our third. We chose Louisville because it is centrally located in the eastern US and within a day’s drive of 2/3 of the US population, plus there are so many fun activities to do there.

“The response so far has been overwhelming, and we can’t wait for this opportunity for a special time of fun, fellowship and bonding as we build connection and community in a loving and supporting environment. The camaraderie at these Reunions is truly priceless.”

Greek adoptees
Greek adoptees visited the Parthenon in 2023 during their second reunion. Credit: The Eftychia Project

Thousands of Greek children were sent from Greece for adoption abroad, mainly to the United States, through often questionable means, in Cold War decades of the 1950’s and the 1960’s. While some adoptees were fortunate to have good parents, the lack of oversight by either the Greek or American governments often resulted in others being placed with unsuitable or abusive parents.

Now mature adults, “The ‘Orphans’ from Greece”, as the award-winning documentary from ViceTV describes them, are finding their voices and demanding their birth and identity rights in ever-growing numbers.

Program of the third Greek adoptee reunion

Unlike the two previous Reunions, this one will not have a conference or speakers. Rather, it will be an opportunity for Greek adoptees to meet one another, share their lived experiences and just have fun together. Adoptees are invited to bring their spouse/partner/children/travel buddy along as well.

The host hotel is the Cambria Hotel – Whiskey Row in downtown Louisville, within walking distance to the riverfront, restaurants and many attractions.

The Reunion begins on Thursday evening, June 20 with a Welcome Reception/Cocktail Party in the Backstretch Ballroom, with food, drinks, Greek music & dancing, goody bags and a program guide for all participants.

On Friday, June 21, group activities include a morning visit to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, and an evening ghost tour of Old Louisville, one of the largest Victorian districts and one of the most haunted places in the US.

On Saturday, June 22, the adoptees will visit the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory and Museum in the morning.

“We are not alone”

“Having attended both of the previous two Reunions, these are wonderful opportunities to connect with others like ourselves,” says Dimitrios Christo, a Greek-born adoptee and the Secretary of the Eftychia Project.

“We find we are not alone. There’s an instant bond, especially for those who were only children. You walk away from these Reunions with not just friends but with brothers and sisters.”

Steven Graeter, the Parliamentarian of the organization and also a Greek-born adoptee who was reunited with his biological family through the Eftychia Project, agrees: “These Reunions are all about connection, and they give adoptees a sense of belonging to something or someone. But they also give adoptees the tools, resources and the help they need to aid them in their searches and to connect with their biological families in Greece.”

More information on the reunion of Greek adoptees can be found at the Eftychia Project website.

Helen of Troy Fresco Shows Pompeii’s Love for Ancient Greek Stories

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Helen of Troy Fresco Shows Pompeii’s Love for Ancient Greek Stories
Helen of Troy Fresco Pompeii
Credit: Pompeii Archaeological Park

The newly uncovered fresco of Helen of Troy and several other impressive artworks depicting scenes from Greek mythology in Pompeii shows that the city’s elite were eager for ancient Greek stories about women.

By Emily Hauser

Imagine seeing the face of Helen of Troy staring back at you, from within the ashes of a 2,000-year-old city. But these aren’t the burned walls of Troy. And these ashes aren’t the scars of a city burned down for the sake of “the face that launch’d a thousand ships”. This is Pompeii.

Helen is depicted in stunning detail (alongside Paris, the prince of Troy) in one of the paintings on the recently discovered fresco wall of the winter dining room of a Pompeian villa. Other paintings on the walls depict two more women from the Trojan war myth – Helen’s mother Leda and Cassandra the Trojan prophet.

When this ancient Roman town was blasted by the fatal eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79, it must have felt much like the all-out siege that the ancient epics, by poets like Homer, tell us battered Helen’s Troy. But this siege was brought about by the violent forces of nature, not war.

As ash poured down on Pompeii and super-heated explosions charged the streets, the victims of Vesuvius fell where they stood, captured in the pumice that pummelled them and their homes like sling-stones. People ran, leaving bread in ovens that would never get eaten and paint pots abandoned alongside half-decorated walls.

As the Roman lawyer and author Pliny the Younger writes in his eyewitness account of the disaster, in that night where “the darkness was darker and thicker” than any other, it was as if the whole world was ending.

Parts of the town that haven’t seen the light since that last darkness closed over the Pompeian sky are now being uncovered again. In a rescue mission to preempt potential collapse, parts of what’s known as region nine of Pompeii are being excavated for the first time.

Ash is getting scraped back, walls are rearing up into the sunlight out of the piles of rubble. And as the archaeologists dig, more of Pompeii’s secrets emerge, in astonishing condition, bright as the day they were buried.

The women of Troy

The painting of Helen is the latest in a series of remarkable discoveries, that also brought us the fresco of something that looks astonishingly like pizza.

Every clue that comes out of the rubble in Pompeii provides valuable information to ancient historians like me about the lost world Pompeii represents. They tell us about the way people lived, from the gorgeous frescoes all the way to the sewage trapped in the drainpipes (I spent a summer studying this and it is more fascinating than it sounds). But there is something particularly special about these mythical paintings.

It’s not just their unusual style, which shows the painters experimenting with new techniques and representing the latest artistic fashions. It’s the trio of women from Greek myth collected together in a way that makes us see the Trojan war myth anew – and puts the stories of women at the forefront.

And it’s an amazingly fitting time for this discovery. Over the past decade, a tidal wave of bestselling novels has hit the mainstream retelling the stories of the women of the Trojan war – from my own, For the Most Beautiful (2016) to The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (2018), A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (2019) and Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati (2023).

This moody, dark-walled dining room in a private villa was likely the residence of the Pompeian politician, Aulus Rustius Verus. It shows that, just like us, Pompeii’s elite were well versed in – and eager for – stories of the women of ancient Greek myth.

The role of the Helen of Troy Fresco in Pompeii

Triclinia (three couches set around a table, where guests would recline), set up in front of frescoes such as this, were the perfect place for Pompeians to gain new perspectives on old stories.

Every couch gave you a different point of view on the myth. Sit on one side, and you’d be faced with the image of Helen’s very first encounter with Paris. Is Paris’ outstretched arm an invitation or a threat? Is there a sense that Helen is lingering, uncertain, with that back foot scraping behind her?

Homer’s epics – the first to tell Helen’s story – are ambivalent about whether Helen was raped by Paris or went to Troy of her own accord. This painter seems to be exploiting that ambivalence.

You can just imagine the Pompeian literati quaffing glasses of expensive wine as they gazed at Helen’s face and debated the subject.

But this isn’t the only chapter in the tale. Sit elsewhere, and you’d have a stark reminder of a very different angle on the myth: the disturbing background to Helen’s birth, and the context to so many stories of women in the Greek myths. Just behind Helen is painted a graphic image of Leda, Helen’s mother, being attacked and raped by Zeus, in the form of a swan.

And then, last but not least: on the opposite wall is a depiction of Cassandra, the prophet of Troy. She was cursed by Apollo to tell the truth and never to be believed after she refused to have sex with him. No matter how many times she screams that Troy will fall, nobody listens. This is the price of ownership over your body as a woman in Greek myth – the loss of your voice.

From a rape, to an abduction, to a curse. These three women’s stories offer an overture of the Trojan myth. The start, with the birth of Helen, the cause, with Helen’s leaving for Troy and the end, with Cassandra’s predictions of Troy’s fall. United around this Pompeian dining room, they are a spectacle, a conversation starter – a fabulous (and fabulously well connected) tale.

But they’re also a warning. Troy fell. And so will Pompeii. As the grim skeletons discovered in the villa show, just like the Trojans, Verus and his guests didn’t listen to Cassandra either.

Emily Hauser is a Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Exeter

The article was published in The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons License.

Lord Byron: The Romantic Poet Who Died for Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Lord Byron: The Romantic Poet Who Died for Greece
Lord byron
Portrait of Lord Byron, one of the world’s greatest Philhellenes, by Phillips, 1813. Credit: Public Domain

George Gordon, or Lord Byron, one of the first and best-known philhellenes, actively participated in battles in Greece’s War of Independence, eventually losing his life in Missolonghi on April 19, 1824.

Born in 1788, Gordon, who had the title of Lord Byron, became the leading figure of British Romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century. He lived a full life in every aspect and died young for a cause he was passionate about, which turned him into greater romantic legend than he had been while a living poet.

Young, handsome, and aristocratic, Byron lived exuberantly and had innumerable romances and scandalous relationships although his acts of selfless heroism became part of a wider historic struggle.

For Greeks, Λόρδος Βύρωνας, as he is called, epitomized the concept of Philhellenism because he died at the age of 36 for the freedom of a homeland that was not even his own.

Byron was also a bitter opponent of Lord Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon sculptures, denouncing the “theft” in the poem “The Curse of Minerva.”

Early years in the life of Lord Byron

George Gordon, the 6th Lord Byron, was born on January 22, 1788 in London into an aristocratic family. At the age of ten, he inherited the English Barony of the Byron of Rochdale from his uncle, thereby becoming Lord Byron.

He was born with a problem in his right leg which left him with a life-long limp that affected his character and work. His life changed drastically when he became a peer of the realm.

In 1803, Byron fell in love with his cousin, Mary Chaworth. This unfulfilled love found creative expression in his first love poems. From 1805 until 1808, Byron attended  Cambridge University, with sexual scandals and excesses becoming a prominent part of his student years.

Horseback riding, boxing, and gambling were also added to his pastimes and addictions.

At the age of 21, Byron entered the House of Lords, and in the following year, he began his long journey to the Mediterranean, where he would write one of his most famous poems, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” which described the impressions of a young man traveling in unfamiliar lands.

During his tour of the Mediterranean in 1809, Byron visited Greece for the first time and immediately fell in love with the country. After meeting Ali Pasha, the Ottoman ruler at the time, the poet traveled throughout the country and visited all the monuments of Greek civilization.

At the same time, Byron fell in love with the daughter of the British consul, Theodoros Makris and dedicated his famous poem “Daughter of Athens,” written in 1809, to her.

He remained in Greece for another ten months, following various adventures such as swimming in the Straits of the Hellespont (better-known as the Dardanelles), imitating the feat of the ancient Greek hero Leander.

In 1811, while suffering from malaria, Byron decided to return to Britain. He lost his mother as well during that year, but the publication and success of “The Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” along with a series of new sex scandals and stormy romances, helped him overcome his grief.

His subsequent poetry collections brought in even more money for him, which he spent profusely on distractions and further sexual adventures with his debts accumulating accordingly once more.

As a way of escaping ephemeral relationships, he married Ana (Annabella) Isabella Milbank, a highly educated and cultivated woman, in January of 1815, and in December of that year, their daughter, Augusta Ada, was born.

The marriage did not last long, however, as in January of the following year, the union ended, with Anabella leaving Byron. The once-dissolute poet soon returned to a life of debauchery, epitomizing the quintessential “troubled romantic poet.”

Self exile, and selflessness, in Greece’s War of Independence

In April of 1816, in a particularly hostile atmosphere caused by his nonstop scandals, which forced him to avoid appearing in public, Byron left England, never to return. He traveled to Geneva, where he befriended the writer Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife, Mary, the writer of “Frankenstein.”

In Italy, Byron continued his erotic adventures, which were captured in his collection “Don Juan.” When in Italy, he actively supported the liberation movement which had broken out there.

Sometime during 1823, Byron received an invitation to actively support the Greek struggle for independence from Ottoman rule.

He spent a tremendous amount of his personal fortune to repair ships in the Greek fleet, and he even set up his own military squad composed of fighters from Souli.

After remaining for six months in Cephalonia, he decided to move to Morias in the Peloponnese, but he finally stayed in Missolonghi.

While there, he contacted Alexandros Mavrokordatos to whom he donated another large installment of his personal fortune for the furthering of the Greek Revolution.

Lord Byron simultaneously acted as a channel of communication between Greek fighters and British philhellenes in the creation of the first revolutionary loan, as a member of the London Philhellenic Committee.

Seeing the political controversies which had already erupted among the leaders of the Greek rebels, Byron called for the exclusive use of money for the liberation of the nation instead of being used for political purposes.

Lord Byron remembered as a great philhellene

Along with his concern for the military course of the Greek Revolution, the English aristocrat assumed the role of the bridge between the chieftains. He points out in one of his letters:

“As I come here to support not a faction, but a nation and to work with honest people rather than speculators or abusers (charges that are exchanged daily among the Greeks), it will take much effort to avoid and I understand that this will be very difficult, because I have already received invitations from more than one of the parties fighting, always on the grounds that they are the true representatives of the nation.”

In a letter to a trusted friend in September 1823, Byron further complained: “The Greeks seem to be at a greater danger among them, rather than from the enemy’s attacks.”
After attempting for so long to mediate the infighting among the leaders of the Greek Revolution, Byron suddenly fell ill in February of 1824.

The great Philhellene—perhaps the greatest there ever was—died on April 19, 1824 in Missolonghi at the incredibly young age of 36.

The lamentations after the great poet’s death came not only from among the Greek freedom fighters who saw him as hero of their own people but also from England, where the distinguished romantic poet was greatly mourned publicly.

Dionysios Solomos—Greece’s national poet, who also wrote the National Anthem—eventually composed a long ode to the memory of Lord Byron, who certainly was one of the greatest admirers the nation of Greece has ever had.

Israel Launches Missile Strike Against Iran

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Israel Launches Missile Strike Against Iran
Israel Iran
File photo. Credit: U.S. Indo-Pacific Command/Public Domain

Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, US officials say, a move that threatens to escalate regional conflict further. Iranian state media are citing unconfirmed reports of explosions in the central province of Isfahan.

Iranian news reports say that sites at Isfahan associated with Iran’s nuclear program were “completely secure” and the attack appeared to be limited in scope. An Iranian official said air defenses intercepted three drones.

The Israeli military has yet to confirm the attack.

A loud blast heard near the Iranian city of Isfahan was caused by “air defense firing at a suspicious object,” an Iranian senior military commander said, according to Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency.

There was no “damage or incident,” said senior military commander Second Brigadier General Mihandoust in Isfahan Province, according to Tasnim.

According to the World Nuclear Association, the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre includes a uranium conversion facility (UCF), which produces uranium hexafluoride.

Iran feeds uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges to produce enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons.

Next to the UCF is an enriched uranium oxide powder plant (EUPP), which converts uranium hexafluoride into uranium oxide, and a fuel fabrication plant that produces fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

Israel told by the US not to respond to Iran

Israel had for days weighed its response to Iran’s unprecedented weekend strikes, most of which were intercepted. Iran launched the attack in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria earlier this month.

The UN, EU, and USA have condemned Iran’s attack on Israel, as have several countries individually from Latin America to China as well as Greece.

Israel had told the US on Thursday it would retaliate against Iran in the coming days, but Washington “didn’t green light” it, a senior US official said.

Washington and other global powers had pressed Israel not to respond, or to ensure any further retaliation, was limited to prevent a broader conflagration after the latest surge in violence was sparked by the air strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 that was blamed on Israel.

The attack came hours after Iran’s foreign minister told CNN that if Israel takes any further military action against Iran, its response would be “immediate and at a maximum level.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned Israel before Friday’s strike that Tehran would deliver a “severe response” to any attack on its territory.

Iran told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the U.N. secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril.”

Related: Israel Versus Iran: Geopolitical Implications for Greece

Olympiacos Wins Shoot-Out in Istanbul to Advance to European Semis

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Olympiacos Wins Shoot-Out in Istanbul to Advance to European Semis
Olympiacos
Olympiacos players congratulate man-of-the-match goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis who made three saves in the penalty shoot-out. Credit: X/Olympiacos F.C.

Olympiacos won the penalty shoot-out against Turkish side Fenerbache to book a place in the semi-finals of a UEFA competition for the first time in their history.

After a thrilling encounter, the Greek soccer giants progressed to the last four of the UEFA Europa Conference League (ECL), the third tier of continental club football in Europe.

The Turkish side took the lead in the 11th minute through winger Irfan Kahveci to level the aggregate score to 3-3 (Olympiacos won 3-2 in Piraeus last week).

This was the final score after extra time, but then in stepped the young Olympiacos goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis making three saves in the penalty shoot-out.

The shoot-out victory means Olympiacos has qualified for the first time in club history to the semi-finals of a European competition, and the first time since 1996 that a Greek side has made it to the final four in a European club tournament.

Olympiacos will now face English Premier League outfit Aston Villa as they bid to qualify for the ECL Final, which will be played at AEK’s home of “Agia Sophia” Stadium in May.

Hundreds of Olympiacos supporters gathered at the Athens International airport on Friday morning to welcome the players and the coaching staff.

PAOK knocked out of Europe

Meanwhile in Thessaloniki PAOK lost 0-2 to Club Brugge (0-3 on aggregate), bowing out of the ECL as a result.

The Thessaloniki team was second-best to its visitors, just like it had been at the first leg, when the Belgians had won 1-0.

Bruges went ahead with Ferran Jutlga on the 33rd, and the Spaniard got to score a second just before half-time, practically taking the tie beyond PAOK.

Olympiacos and PAOK protagonists in Greek soccer

Olympiacos and PAOK are also contenders for the title in Greece’s Super League, along with AEK Athens and Panathinaikos.

The Thessaloniki club was established on 20 April 1926 by Greek refugees who fled to Thessaloniki from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), they play their home games at Toumba Stadium, a 29,000 seating capacity football ground.

PAOK is the only Greek team that has more wins than losses in their European record (89 wins, 65 draws and 76 defeats, as of 14 December 2023). It has won the top spot in the Greek Super League three times.

Olympiacos founded on 10 March 1925, is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 47 League titles, 28 Cups (18 Doubles) and 4 Super Cups, all records.

Τotalling 79 national trophies, Olympiacos is 9th in the world in total titles won by a football club.

 

Ancient Egyptian Pyramids and the Speed of Light Mystery

Matthew Norman
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Ancient Egyptian Pyramids and the Speed of Light Mystery
The ancient Egyptian pyramid of Giza's latitude lines up exactly with the speed of light.
The ancient Egyptian pyramid of Giza’s latitude lines up exactly with the speed of light. Credit: Harish Chouhan WordPress. CC BY 1.0

Some mysteries are likely never to be solved, indeed some are not meant to be. One of the most ‘popular’ mysteries known to us comes in the form of a coincidence, pertaining to the latitude of the ancient Egyptian Great Pyramid of Giza and its exact match with the speed of light.

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, and the latitude of the Great Pyramid of Giza is 29.9792458°N, but is this just a coincidence? An accident of history?

The first thing to state is that there are many other places on the globe that fall into the same latitude as the figure of the speed of light, so it may be a bit premature to conclude that the Pyramid of Giza has any special claim to this number.

Especially as the ancient Egyptians – even if they had worked out the speed of light thousands of years before its measurement by Danish astronomer Ole Roemer in 1676 – did not work in meters, primarily because meters were not defined until 1791.

As Snopes points out, ancient Egyptians used cubits, with the speed of light being around 571,033,253 cubits per second. So it seems that this ‘mystery’ is in fact just a coincidence unless it can reasonably be believed that the ancient Egyptians were working in meters and knew what the speed of light was thousands of years before it was discovered – which it can’t.

How were the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Other ‘mysteries’ surround the ancient Egyptians, such as how the pyramids were built, with some people positing that – given the momentous effort it must have taken to build them – there must have been an intervention by aliens. Many other hypotheses have been thrown around.

What we do know is that the construction techniques used to build these great structures developed over time, with later pyramids being built in a different way from the earlier ones.

Most of the construction hypotheses are based on the belief that huge stones were carved from quarries with copper chisels, and these blocks were then dragged and lifted into position. Disagreements chiefly concern the methods used to move and place the stones.

In addition to the many unresolved arguments about the construction techniques, there have been disagreements as to the kind of workforce used. The Greeks, many years after the event, believed that the pyramids were built by slave labor.

Archaeologists now believe that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by tens of thousands of skilled workers who camped near the pyramids and worked for a salary or as a form of tax payment (levy) until the construction was completed, pointing to workers’ cemeteries discovered in 1990.

For the Middle Kingdom pyramid of Amenemhat II, there is evidence from the annal stone of the king that foreigners from Canaan were employed.

Ukraine PM Warns of World War Three if Russia Wins

Matthew Norman
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Ukraine PM Warns of World War Three if Russia Wins
Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, warns of world war three should Russia defeat his country
Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, warns of a potential World War III should Russia defeat his country. Credit: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. CC BY 2.0/flickr

Ukraine’s Prime Minister has warned of a third world war if Ukraine is defeated by Russia, as he urged the US Congress to pass a long-stalled foreign aid bill.

Denys Shmyhal was cautiously optimistic that US lawmakers would pass the much-debated measure, which would see $61 billion given to Ukraine, as reported by the BBC.

The House of Representatives is set to vote on the aid this Saturday, with the proposal including funding for Israel as well as the Indo-Pacific.

Russia stated that any fresh US aid for Ukraine will make no difference on the battlefield, as the situation on the front line is looking “unfavorable” for Kyiv, according to the BBC.

Speaking to the news outlet in Washington DC yesterday, Wednesday, April 17th, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal said of the US security assistance, “We need this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today.”

Shmyhal added: “If we will not protect, Ukraine will fall. So the global system of security will be destroyed, and all the world will need to find a new system of security. Or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and at the end of the day, it could lead to the Third World War.”

Will Putin attack other European countries if Russia defeats Ukraine?

Ukraine has previously raised alarm bells about the consequences should it be defeated by Russia. Last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if Russia won the conflict, it could invade Poland next, triggering World War Three.

However, Kremlin officials have rejected these claims and labeled them scaremongering. Last month, President Vladimir Putin dismissed suggestions that Russia might one day attack Eastern Europe as “complete nonsense.”

Russia has never attacked a country in the NATO alliance, which includes Poland. NATO’s collective defense pact means that if one member country is attacked, then all other members will retaliate, as per Article 5 of the alliance.

In Wednesday’s interview with the BBC, Prime Minister Shmyhal was asked about a recent claim by Republican House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul that members of his own party were being “infected” by Russian propaganda.

Shmyhal said, “We should understand that disinformation and propaganda is influencing here in the United States…many people, in the European Union…many people, such as in Ukraine.”

Opposition from the right wing of the Republican party has blocked potential assistance to Ukraine for months with some being accused of supporting Russia.

A handful of lawmakers have raised objections to sending tens of billions of dollars in aid overseas without first passing funds for the US-Mexico border security. These conservatives have also reportedly dismissed any suggestions they could be Kremlin supporters, calling the allegations smears.

President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday that he would sign the package into law immediately once passed by Congress “to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends.”

Countries Predicted to Win Most Medals at the Paris Olympics

Abdul Moeed
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Countries Predicted to Win Most Medals at the Paris Olympics
2024 Paris Olympics
Data analysts have made predictions for which countries will secure the most medals ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Credit: Darthvadrouw / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

With the 2024 Paris Olympics set to commence in just a few months time. sports analysts and experts are already offering their predictions for which country’s athletes will win the most medals.

Among those making predictions are statistics experts from the company Gracenote, who are planning to provide new predictions every month. To make the predictions, the data analysts examine statistics from the last summer Games in Tokyo.

USA predicted to win 123 medals in Paris

According to the analysts, the United States will once again win the most medals at the Paris Olympics, attaining around 123 in total. China is predicted to come in second place for total medals with about 89. China is expected to win just four fewer gold medals than the United States. This would be the same amount as they were awarded in Tokyo three years ago.

Great Britain is also expected to do well. British athletes are projected to perform on a par with their previous outing at the Olympics, although they might not secure as many gold medals.

The host country – France – may benefit from the home-field advantage. They are expected to jump up to fourth place in the medal table and come in third for gold medals. This would place them right behind the United States and China, as reported by The Telegraph.

Australia is expected to secure the fifth spot with around 50 medals, marking their highest tally in twenty years since Athens 2004.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus banned from Olympics

Since February 2022, athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing internationally in most Olympic sports due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This makes it harder to predict how athletes selected to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes will perform in terms of winning medals. Since only individuals are allowed to compete as neutrals and not teams, the number of medals they win is likely to be limited.

Preparations for the Olympics have been severely affected for athletes from Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict. However, they are expected to win three gold medals and a total of 13 medals.

Athletes from Great Britain are expected to win a total of 66 medals, keeping up their status as a top competitor since they hosted the games in 2012. They’ve been successful by winning medals across a variety of sports, and it looks like this trend will continue in Paris.

However, they might not win as many gold medals this time. The prediction is 13 golds, which would be nine less than three years ago.

Elon Musk May Start Charging New Users of X

Matthew Norman
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Elon Musk May Start Charging New Users of X
Elon Musk considers introducing small fee for new X users.
Elon Musk considers introducing small fee for new X users. Credit: dmoberhaus. CC BY 2.0/flickr

Elon Musk has said in a post on X that he is considering implementing a “small fee” for new users if they want to post, bookmark, or like on the platform with the aim of tackling the issue of automatized accounts, or “bots.”

Posting on the social media platform, Musk said that “Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘are you a bot’ with ease,” without specifying any details about how much the fee would be or the date it may be implemented. But Musk did say the measure would last three months in a different post on X.

What would Elon Musk’s new charge mean for X users?

It will still be possible to access the platform without having to pay, but new users would be prevented from creating content by tweeting, liking, or bookmarking a post. A similar restriction began last October in New Zealand and the Philippines, where new unverified users were charged one US dollar per year to interact with posts.

At present, the only paid features for X are for premium subscribers, which give access to the monetization program, an ad-free version, access to the platform’s generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbot, and more reply visibility.

Elon Musk has for a long time voiced his concerns about bots on X, promising his customers he would tackle the problem when he finalized his takeover of the platform in late 2022. However, the problem with bots has worsened, according to experts, and is now powered by AI.

The platform has lost almost a quarter of its US users since November 2022, the firm Sensor Tower told NBC News last month, and the value of X also dropped with the company seeing a decline in advertising revenues.

The billionaire’s pay package at Tesla

On Wednesday, the billionaire entrepreneur’s electric car company Tesla asked its shareholders to once again approve its CEO’s record-breaking $56 billion pay that was set in 2018. A Delaware judge rejected the pay package in January, calling it excessive and saying the company’s board failed to justify it.

The compensation does not include a salary or cash bonus but sets rewards based on Tesla’s market value rising to as much as $650 billion over the next ten years. Tesla is now valued at over $500 billion, according to LSEG data.

Elon Musk’s pay was rejected by Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s court of chancery, who judged the compensation granted by the board to be “an unfathomable sum” that was unfair to shareholders.

The company’s request for a new vote is seemingly an attempt to raise support for Elon Musk’s pay package and serve as a public rejection of the court’s decision. The January ruling, which can be appealed, nullified the largest pay package in corporate America.

McCormick also oversaw Twitter’s (X’s) July 2022 lawsuit against Elon Musk when he tried to break his $44 billion contract to buy the social media platform. Musk’s compensation for 2023 was exactly zero dollars, the filing showed. The billionaire does not take a salary from the company and is compensated through stock options.

Leaders of Greece and Turkey to Meet in Ankara

Alexander Gale
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Leaders of Greece and Turkey to Meet in Ankara
Mitsotakis and Erdogan
The leaders of Greece and Turkey are scheduled to meet in the Turkish capital next month. Credit: Prime Minister’s Press Office

The leaders of Greece and Turkey are scheduled to meet on May 13th in Ankara. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced he would meet his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next month at the culmination of a two-day summit of the European Council in Brussels.

In recent years, the bilateral relationship between the two countries has been characterized by tensions over the geostrategically vital Aegean Sea. However, renewed efforts by leaders of Greece and Turkey to improve relations have given rise to a period of cautious rapprochement.

Nevertheless, several thorny issues threaten to derail efforts to improve bilateral relations. Just last week, Turkey contested the plan by Greece to establish a new marine park in the Aegean Sea saying that Athens does not have sovereignty over islands within the region.

Mitsotakis responds to Turkish stance on marine environmental parks

Mitsotakis dismissed Turkey’s stance against Greece’s plan for the new marine park as “completely unjustified.”

“Greece exercises its sovereign rights in the Aegean Sea on the basis of international law and the law of the sea and I am impressed by this completely unjustified reaction of Turkey to an initiative, which ultimately has an environmental characteristic,” the Greek Prime Minister said.

He expressed his belief that the rapprochement between Greece and Turkey had not necessarily altered Ankara’s stance on key issues that have strained relations in the past.

Within the framework of European Council discussions, Mitsotakis also commented on wider relations between the EU and Turkey, with added emphasis on how this impacts Cyprus.

“For the moment, I am satisfied with the conclusions we have reached, which recognize the fact that relations between the European Union and Turkey may progress, but always within the framework of the decisions taken by the European Council in recent years,” said the Greek PM.

“Finally, in full agreement with the Republic of Cyprus, I welcome the fact that there is an explicit reference linking the progress of EU-Turkey relations with the progress that can be made on the Cyprus issue,” he said. “With explicit references to the Security Council resolutions that define the only framework within which the Cyprus issue can be resolved. And, of course, on our part, we express our expectation that this new effort, which is being made under the new UN envoy, will finally be able to bear fruit.”

Meetings between leaders of Greece and Turkey

The scheduled meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan fits within a broader trend of renewed communication between both leaders.

Until February 2023, the pair had reportedly not spoken for months. However, earthquakes that devastated portions of Turkey that month prompted both leaders to resume communications.

In the months since, there has been a focus on reducing tensions in the Mediterranean and improving bilateral relations between the two countries.

In December last year, Mitsotakis and Erdogan met in Athens, where they signed a friendship declaration between Greece and Turkey.

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