All the Greek children attending the Albertville secondary school in the German town of Winnenden are safe and in good health, after a massacre carried out by an armed 17-year-old man, who entered the school and shot the pupils at random.

In a modest, but very moving ceremony, which took place at the Western Australia Government House, the WA Governor, Kenneth Komninos Michael - who has roots in Kastelorizo - honoured another Greek-Australian, who has been the lead psalmist at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Perth.

Dr. Panagiotis Manolas, the chief of Mount Sinai of Queens hospital's Surgery Unit, was recently honoured by the Asclepios Pan-Thessaly Association at the 104th evening vespers held at Towers on the Green in Floral Park.

In a report on Turkey, released yesterday, the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called on Ankara to reopen the Greek Orthodox seminary on the island of Halki, to return confiscated properties and to promptly execute all related rulings issued by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Hellenic Foundation for Culture (HFC) formally launched its activities in Tirana, Albania with a two-day cultural event dedicated to poet Constantine P. Cavafy and the Greek folklore tradition.