A point of pride for Greece was touched by controversy Monday, as the prime minister was criticized by an opposition party for using a military helicopter during a trip to celebrate with Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, on being granted Greek citizenship.
In an Instagram post, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis shared a photograph showing him and his wife, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotaki, at a meeting with Hanks and Wilson, who were holding up their new Greek passports. "Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks are now proud Greek citizens," Mitsotakis wrote.
Greece offered citizenship to Hanks, Wilson, and their children, in recognition of their help in raising funds for the victims of a deadly wildfire near Athens in 2018. Wilson has Greek and Bulgarian ancestry.
Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said the prime minister and his wife had used a commercial flight on Saturday to travel to the island of Paros, and then traveled to Antiparos, where Hanks and Wilson have a holiday home. They then used a military helicopter for a trip to the ancient theater of Epidaurus to watch a performance of an ancient tragedy. The main left-wing opposition Syriza party accused the prime minister of using Greece's military helicopters like a "personal radio taxi." Petsas argued that Mitsotakis was performing his duties as prime minister.
Twitter boycott over anti-Semitic posts
Some Twitter users are staging a 48-hour boycott of the platform over its handling of a stream of anti-Semitic comments that were posted on British rapper Wiley's social media accounts. The boycott, under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate, followed complaints that Twitter was too slow to remove offensive material. Some offensive material was also posted on Instagram. Some of Wiley's posts were visible for more than 12 hours before being removed. London's Metropolitan Police are investigating. Twitter banned the 41-year-old artist, whose real name is Richard Cowie, for seven days after the posts. He was also dropped by his management company after he shared the comments, which called Jews "cowards'' and "snakes,'' among other things. He received an MBE for services to music in 2018.
Surgery: Prince Joachim, the youngest son of Queen Margrethe of Denmark, has undergone emergency surgery for a blood clot in his brain, the royal palace said. The 51-year-old prince had been on vacation in France when he was admitted to the hospital late Friday. The palace said he is in a stable condition.
Attacked: Actress Spencer Grammer says she was trying to calm a man when he slashed her in the arm and stabbed her friend in the back Friday outside a New York City restaurant. Grammer, 36, told US Weekly that she and her friend were "attempting to prevent the altercation from escalating" when they were attacked. The man then ran away.
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