Jennifer Lopez has officially "withdrawn" from a concert in a European territory currently under military occupation, claiming she never would have agreed to perform had she known the "relevant circumstances" surrounding the intense political situation.

Lopez was scheduled to perform in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus,  an area that neither the United Nations nor the European Union recognize as anindependent sovereign state, because of the way it was illegally occupied by the Turkish military in 1974.

Chicago’s Greek community is famous for their dedication to their Greek heritage. Early June many factors and events made Chicago even more Greek than what it normally is. Greek owned Earth Friendly Products opened the largest green commercial facility in Illinois. The Blackhawks hockey team won the Stanley Cup with Greek-American Adam Burish being one of the champs. Greek America’s three day weekend kicked off with a welcoming reception, and a gathering to watch the Greek National Soccer team against South Korea. The National Innovative Conference took place at the Resolution Digital Studios and was followed by the long awaited 40 under 40 Awards Gala.

The Greek Gardens Exhibit opened Saturday at the Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne. The summer exhibit of ancient Greek culture and mythology features rocky terrain supporting familiar herbs like rosemary, lavender, and thyme as well as shrubs and trees like figs, oleander, and palms.

“We’ve tried to get a collection of Mediterranean plants which are found in Greece or plants that at least look Mediterranean,” said Andy Force, with the Botanical Conservatory. ”The garden is not a true Greek garden and some of the plants are not Mediterranean, but it gives a Mediterranean look and a Greek look to the garden and that’s what we tried to capture.”

Backtracking in the field of human rights, concentration of power, ethnic devision , inhumane prison treatment and 150.000 deceased voters in the Voter's list, are only some of the remarks listed in the report of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the FYROM.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the FYROM has noted backtracking in the field of human rights and concentration of power in its 2009 Annual Report on the situation of human rights in the country.

Hristo Ivanovski, Helsinki Committee board member, said at Friday's [ 2 July] press conference there has been a phenomenon since the 2008 early elections that poses a serious threat to elementary human rights.

"This phenomenon is related to the concentration of power, primarily in the ruling structure and its coalition partners," said Ivanovski, adding that consequences from such concentration of power could be seen in the judiciary, MoI [Interior Ministry], NGO sector, and media.

The Helsinki Committee also presented its remarks regarding the Voters' List, which according to their assessments includes about 150,000 deceased voters.

Pan-Macedonian Association's reply to Rahn's article "The irresponsible neighbor - Greek profligacy hits Bulgaria and Macedonia"

June 14, 2010

Dear Editor,

We do agree with Richard Rahn’s statement in his June 3, 2010 article in the Washington Times titled, The Irresponsible Neighbor: Greek Profligacy Hits Bulgaria and Macedonia: “Whether you are a homeowner or a country, it is better to have responsible rather than irresponsible neighbors”. However it is more important to have neighbors that do not steal their neighbors’ property, money, credit cards and social security numbers. With such articles as Mr. Rahn’s in the Washington Times, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (the FYROM) is encouraged to commit such crimes: usurp its neighbor’s history, identity and culture.

In a unanimous decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkey must return the former Greek Orphanage on Büyükada Island, the largest of the Princes’ Islands, back to Fener Greek Patriarchate. The court held that the Turkish government had to pay  EUR 6,000 for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 20,000 for costs and expenses.

This concludes the long legal case between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Turkish authorities. The case had begun in 1997 when Turkey tried to use various legal means to take the building away from the Patriarchate in order to upgrade the area without compensation.

PRESS RELEASE

On May 27-30 the Pan-Macedonian Association’s 64th Convention was successfully held in Chicago Illinois. Consul General in Chicago Anastasios Petrovas, former Foreign Undersecretary and now Secretary for Greeks Abroad of New Democracy Dr. Panagiotis Skandalakis, Mr. George Papastergiou Prefect of Pieria and President of the Greek Secretariat of the International Foundation of Alexander the Great, Greek-American Senator of the State of Rhodes Island Leonidas Raptakis, Secretary of World SAE Dr. Olga Sarantopoulos, Mr. Theodore Spyropoulos, Coordinator of SAE in North and South America and Mr. Christos Tomaras former SAE Coordinator of North and South America attended the Convention. They all greeted the delegates, stressing the important work of the Pan Association USA throughout the time.

Dr. Ted Galen Carpenter of CATO Institute, Dr. Chris Karatzios and Marcus A. Templar, experts in the Balkans and the problems arising from the region were the contributors of the convention’s academic panel.

The Greek Government has announced an initiative to make an inventory of the property owned by ethnic Greek minority members in Albania's southern border areas. The announcement was made by Dimitris Droutsas, alternate Greek foreign minister, during an interpellation in the Greek parliament as he responded to questions from deputies of LAOS party. As one can read in the official homepage of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Droustas explained that this project would be carried out in cooperation with the OSCE.  He added that the implementation of this initiative would not be easy due to the difficulties surrounding the unresolved property issue in Albania.

"In order to strengthen the position of the Greek national minority members and open up prospects for those who want to return [from Greece] we think it is very important to resolve the property problem in Albania. For this purpose the Greek Foreign Minister has joined funds with the OSCE to make the first comprehensive inventory of the property owned by the minority members in Albania's southern areas," said Droutsas.