The complaint alleges that Smith & Nephew subsidiaries used a distributor that created a “slush fund” to forward payments to doctors working at government hospitals in Greece in order to win business.

“Smith & Nephew’s subsidiaries chose a path of corruption rather than fair and honest competition,” said Kara Brockmeyer, chief of the SEC enforcement division’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit.

“The SEC will continue to hold companies liable as we investigate the medical device industry for this type of illegal behavior” added Mrs. Brockmeyer.

(Source: Martket Watch.com)

The Foundation is the initiative of Americans of Hellenic descent, who wish to address Greek needs regarding health and nutrition.

This February, representatives of the Foundation will be visiting Greece at their personal expense, to deliver packaged food supplies to families. The foods supplied represent the classic Mediterranean diet and will be purchased locally from Greek producers. Packaging and distribution will be performed by volunteers assisting the Foundation in its mission.

The recipients of the Hellenic-American community’s support, delivered through the Foundation, are identified through ongoing communication with persons and organizations presently engaged in charitable activities in Greece.

The Hellenic Relief Foundation Inc. is an independent entity and operates according to the laws of the State of New York. It is managed by a Board of Directors, who are members of the Hellenic-American community and do not represent the interests of any other organizations or institutions.

The work of the Foundation is the product of volunteer efforts, thus assuring that all contributions will be entirely devoted to its mission of relief.

The Board of Directors so far includes Dinos Avlonitis, Georgia Filiotis, Dr. Nicholas Mezitis , Stelios Taketzis, Demetris Tsatis Esq., Fotis Tsatis, Philip Vogiatzoglou, John Zervas, and Prokopis Zervas (additional members will be announced soon).

The Athens-based NGO aims at strengthening the relations, exchange of ideas and solidarity between the Constantinopolitan Greeks of the Diaspora and the ones still living in Istanbul. Moreover, it aims at supporting and promoting the human rights of the Greek populations in Istanbul, Gökçeada (Imvros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos), supporting the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fener, and addressing the problems of the Greek minorities residing on Turkish grounds.

According to ANAMPA, in its announcement, the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans committed to preserving and promoting the tradition of education, culture and philanthropy, with devotion to peace and respect to human dignity, as well as developing the right conditions to allow the Greeks of Istanbul to remain in their homeland.

Born in Brussels in 1985 to a Greek mother and a Japanese father, Mr. Inui won the 2008 European Young Concert Artists (YCA) Auditions in Leipzig at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdi. His music combines strength, energy, and virtuosity with sensitivity in his playing as an emerging international soloist and chamber musician. For this year he is expected to tour Belgium with his piano trio Carle Van Neste; and appear in concert in Germany, Belgium, and Holland.

Mr. Inui performs as a soloist with the Westmoreland (PA) and Bryan (TN) symphonies in the US, the Chamber Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, and plays the Beethoven Concerto on tour with the Braunschweiger Staatsorchester in Germany. As the 2011 Gina Bachauer Competition Prize Winner in Athens, Mr. Inui will appear in concerts in Greece and Spain.

He has also appeared in Japan at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Casals Hall, and in Europe as concerto soloist with prestigious orchestras including the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège in Belgium and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Thessaloniki, Greece. A favorite of pianist Martha Argerich, Mr. Inui has performed at her festivals in Buenos Aires and Llao Llao in Argentina.

Vassilis Varvaresos, from Thessaloniki (1983), is a favored performer with both audiences and the press. After one recital appearance, The Buffalo News reported that “Loud applause and shouts of praise filled the air”, and on another occasion The Washington Post called him “A young master on the rise, displaying enormous technical resources, commanding power and musicianship”.

He has toured extensively across the U.S. in recitals, while his performances in his native Greece include appearances in Megaro Hall in Athens and the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki. He has performed numerous times on Greek State Television, as well as on television in Belgrade and Sofia.

Mr. Varvaresos has represented Greece in a special “EuroConcert” at the Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki, at the Greek Embassy in Milan, and in a performance for the U.S. Ambassador to Greece.  He has also performed in Austria, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. He won the First Prize at the 1998 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions at the age of 14, the youngest pianist ever to win the Auditions.

The program at the Morgan Library and Museum will feature works by Schubert, Franck, Part, and Paganini.
Tickets cost $15, and can be obtained by calling YCA at (212) 307-6656 or by going online on www.yca.org/tickets.
Members of the Morgan Library & Museum can purchase their tickets for $10. All tickets include museum admission.

Young Concert Artists (YCA) was founded by Susan Wadsworth in 1961 as a professional non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and launching the careers of exceptional but unknown young musicians from all over the world.

The Greek Theatre held a number of sold-out concerts including performances by Adele, Florence + The Machine, Sugarland, Janet Jackson, Thievery Corporation, The Go-Go’s and Death Cab for Cutie.

The venue, located in Griffith Park, beat out Chastain Park in Atlanta, Ga., Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion in Gilford, N.H. and the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Calif.

The 5,801-seat venue offers excellent site lines in every seating area because of the small size. The acoustics are just about perfect as the 75-year-old theater, which is owned by the city of Los Angeles, has spent a lot of money on sound quality and concertgoers can hear the difference in quality.

The company’s general manager Rena Wasserman was nominated for facility executive of the year at the Pollstar Awards.

(Source:KABC-TV LOS ANGELES, CA)

Stocks fell on Wall Street on Monday as talks dragged on in Greece over a fresh austerity package that is required if the debt-ridden country is to get a crucial bailout package.

In afternoon trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index declined 0.2 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite index shed 0.2 percent.

The declines followed a big gain Friday on the heels of surprisingly good employment figures in the United States.

In Europe, the leaders of the parties backing Greece’s coalition government were holding a second day of emergency talks over austerity measures that creditors are demanding in return for more money.

Fears that a deal won’t emerge have reinforced concerns of a disorderly Greek debt default that could send shock waves through the global economy. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was to meet with negotiators from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund and then with the leaders of the three political parties backing his coalition.

The parties all publicly oppose steep cuts in private sector pay demanded by the euro zone and monetary fund, but their backing is needed for the government to reach a deal for the bailout, which must be approved by the Greek Parliament. The new 130 billion euro ($171 billion) bailout deal is vital for Greece to avoid bankruptcy next month, because it cannot cover a 14.5 billion euro bond repayment due March 20 without the rescue funds.

The bailout’s implementation also depends on Greece’s progress in separate talks with banks and other private bondholders to forgive 100 billion euros in Greek debt, in exchange for a cash payment and new bonds with more lenient repayment terms.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 0.2 percent, while the DAX in Germany was unchanged. The CAC 40 in France was 0.7 percent lower.

The euro, which was under pressure as investors awaited developments in Athens, shed losses through the day. The currency was trading 0.2 percent higher at $1.3133.

Oil prices tracked the broader market trends, with benchmark oil for March delivery down 66 cents at $97.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Earlier, Asian shares mostly traded higher as investors there had their first chance to respond to the advance generated by Friday’s upbeat jobs data.

The Nikkei 225 index in Japan rose 1.1 percent to its highest closing in more than three months, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2 percent. Benchmarks in Singapore and mainland China also rose.

(Sources: NYT, AP)

Tolis Aristeidou

Tolis Aristeidou of Greece will return to Los Angeles February 22-26
as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) Gold Stars’ Tour. The International Visitors Council of Los Angeles (IVCLA) arranged his initial visit to Los Angeles in 2009 as an IVLP participant, making connections that included meetings with Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy (JUiCE) and DVA Media + Marketing.

During his return visit to Los Angeles, Aristeidou will reunite with some of the connections that made an impact on his work back home, as well as meet with new professional resources in Los Angeles. In addition, he will visit local high schools to talk about his important work bringing hip-hop to underprivileged youth throughout Greece and the Balkans.

Aristeidou is the director and exclusive organizer of the Balkan Break Dance Competition “Battle of the Year – Balkans.” Aristeidou is well-connected to the youth community in Greece and urban street culture phenomena. He understands and connects to young people, often underserved and inner city groups,
through new and innovative ways. He organizes events to bring together young people from all over the Balkans, promoting mutual understanding and tolerance for other cultures. In his role as director, he is the main developer for break dance events and festivals in Greece and the Balkans. His office also organizes dance seminars, film screenings, dance-theater events, hip hop concerts, graffiti exhibits, and other events related to the hip hop culture.

The counterparts he met in the U.S. in 2009 have almost all become close contacts that he reaches out to for events and ideas. In particular, his meeting with the representative of Hip Hop International (the organizers of the largest and most prominent international Hip Hop dancing competition in the world) resulted in an immediate partnership between the two companies. Within a year after his return to Greece, Tolis organized the first Hip Hop International – Greece competition in Athens, with a record 25 dance groups participating and competing – this included groups from across Greece as well as Cyprus. With the support of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Tolis brought top American Hip Hop dancers Eddie Styles and King Saso to judge the competition. The top two groups went to Las Vegas last summer to represent Greece for the first time in the Hip Hop International competition. This came just six months after he brought top U.S. breakers Bboy Ronnie and Rockadile to judge a national Greek breakdance contest and lead a workshop that also promoted healthy, drug-free living. His IVLP program also connected him with some of the top Hip Hop impresarios in the U.S. leading to a constant stream of American talent being invited to participate in his events.

The Gold Stars’ Tour is for alumni of the IVLP who made an impact in their community or on the world as a result of their experience in the United States. Aristeidou has been selected as one of two gold star alumni among thousands of nominated individuals. Through this special initiative, IVLP gold star alumni are recognized for their excellence as citizen diplomats through IVLP-inspired initiatives abroad and for demonstrated leadership in their local communities.

About the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP)
The International Visitor Leadership Program is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program, connecting current and emerging foreign leaders with their American counterparts through short-term programs to build mutual understanding on foreign policy issues. Nearly 200,000 distinguished individuals have participated in the program, including 330 current and former Chiefs of State and Heads of Government, and thousands of leaders from the public and private sectors.

About the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles (IVCLA)
IVCLA has been working since 1980 to increase international understanding and communication in the Los Angeles area by arranging personal exchanges between emerging international leaders and the citizens of the Los Angeles region. IVCLA coordinates programs for participants in the U.S. Department of State sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program, as well as other publicly and privately sponsored international visitors. The programs provide the visitors with insight on how we live and work,
and local Citizen Diplomats with a better understanding about the rest of the world.

DNA analyses show that each millennia-old tablet is a mixture of more than 10 different plant extracts, from hibiscus to celery.

“Medicinal plants have been identified before, but not a compound medicine, so this is really something new,” says Alain Touwaide, director of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, which has the world’s largest digital database of medical manuscripts.

The pills, which researchers believe were diluted with vinegar or water to make them easier to ingest, were preserved inside tin boxes and were the size of coins.

“What is remarkable is that we have written evidence [from the ancient Greeks] of what plants were used for which disorders,” says Alisa Machalek, a science writer for the National Institute of Health, one of the world’s leading research centres.

“This research is interesting, especially for medical historians, because it confirms that what we eat affects our bodies.”

The shift toward synthetic chemical medicines occurred in the 20th Century, but according to Mark Blumenthal, the founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, there is renewed interest in the medicinal benefits of natural foods – including those found in the pills.

“The Secretary General has full confidence in his Special Adviser, Alexander Downer,” Nezirky added.

The House of Representatives decided to request that the UN chief urgently restore the impartiality and credibility of his special adviser. In a press conference during the Greentree meeting of UNSG with President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader, Downer spoke of an EU presidency to be assumed “by the Greek Cypriots,” causing criticism by Greek Cypriot parties which questioned his impartiality. Cyprus will assume the EU presidency, which rotates every six months, in July of this year.
(source: cna)

Described by The New York Times as a composer whose “music speaks simply, often combining Greek modes… with an attractive quality of ritual mystery,”  Constantinides has written over 250 compositions, several of which have been recorded for Centaur records and performed throughout the US, Europe and Asia by ensembles including the American Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra and China’s Shenzhen Symphony, among others.

Currently Boyd Professor at Louisiana State University – as well as head of Composition and Music Director of the Louisiana Sinfonietta – Constantinides brings along an array of superb faculty soloists from LSU, including pianist Michael Gurt, violinist Yova Milanova, saxophonist Griffin Campbell, percussionist Brett William Dietz, along with the LSU Percussion Group, Hamiruge.

Himself a violinist with the State Orchestra of Athens in Greece for over 10 years, as well as with the Indianapolis and Baton Rouge Symphonies, Constantinides premiered his Patterns for Violin and Piano (1989 and 2003), here performed by Yova Milanova along with the lyrical Sonata for Solo Violin No 1 (1968). Milanova is joined by Griffin Campbell on saxophone, and pianist Michael Gurt for Trio No. 3 (1998), based on a folk-like modal tune that highlights the Greek heritage of the composer.

Campbell also performs two solo works: the Zodiac-themed Celestial Musings for Alto Saxophone Alone (2010) and Transformations for Saxophone Alone (1990), inspired by events from the composer’s youth, heard here in its New York premiere. Campbell is joined by percussionist Brett William Dietz for the tone poem, Legend II for Alto Saxophone and Percussion (1988-1993).

Michael Gurt performs the charming Suite for a Young Man for Solo Piano (1980), which takes a journey through adolescence (“Proud and Solemn – First Kiss – Beginning Dancing”), illness (“Clusteritis”), and the elaborate and joyful “Cotillion”. Closing the varied program, the Hamiruge ensemble (Chris Hoefer, Daniel Heagney, Samuel Trevathan) performs the Percussion Quartet (2007), which combines twelve-tone in style and conception, colorful percussion effects, and Greek modal dance tunes.

Now in its 5th season, DCINY offers spectacular opportunities to emerging and established artists, bringing them to New York’s legendary venues. Recently, the Distinguished Concerts Artist Series has featured baritone Thomas Florio, composer David Templeton, and Diandian Wu, performing on piano and traditional Chinese instruments.

Tickets: www.carnegiehall.org or 212-247-7800 or in person at the Carnegie Hall Box Office.