Robyn Bedell Zalewa grew up and spent all her adult life in the United States, but is part of a little-known chapter of Greek history — the adoption of some 4,000 infants during the Cold War.Always knowing she came from Greece, she rediscovered her long-lost sister Sophia, who lives in the Athens area, and regained her Greek nationality two years ago.Connecticut-based Robyn goes by the name of Joanna when in Greece.There’s just one snag.Her sister Sophia only speaks Greek, so the siblings communicate through an online translator tool.”What hurts me the most is not being able to have a conversation with Sophia,” the 68-year-old told AFP.At the close of the Second World War and a brutal occupation by Nazi Germany, Greece was consumed by civil strife between royalists and communists that saw fighting continue until 1949.With thousands of Greek families plunged into disaster and poverty, an adoption movement gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw babies and children sent abroad for adoption, mainly in the United States.Gonda Van Steen, director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London, told AFP that Greece “was the main country of origin of children adopted in the US in the early 1950s”.”American childless couples were willing to pay any price for a healthy white newborn,” said Van Steen, who has conducted extensive research and authored a book on the subject.Greek-American Mary Cardaras campaigned for years so that children born in Greece, who are now in their sixties or seventies, could retrieve their birth nationality.”What followed (the first adoptions in Greece) was a tsunami of international adoptions,” she said, citing in particular China, Vietnam, Russia and especially South Korea, where at least 140,000 children were adopted by foreign parents between 1955 and 1999.- ‘A better life’ -In Greece, the biological mothers of adopted children were often impoverished widows, some of whom had been raped, or faced social stigmatisation for having a child out of wedlock.”They saw no other solution than to give the child away for him or her to have ‘a better life’,” Van Steen said.Greece simplified in May the process of obtaining birth documents to specifically enable individuals adopted until 1976 to regain Greek nationality.On the terrace of an Athens café, Bedell Zalewa proudly pulls her Greek passport and identity card from her handbag.Even though she had her adoption certificate — not all children did — she began the process well before new regulations were implemented and had to wait a long time before regaining Greek citizenship.”I always knew I had been adopted in Greece,” said the pensioner who was born in Messini, in the Peloponnese region, before being adopted in Texas.”What I’ve wanted my entire life is to find my family,” said Bedell Zalewa, her eyes welling up.Her story is one of a tenacious search for one’s roots.Bedell Zalewa found her brothers and sister and even met her biological mother before she passed away.As the youngest of five, she was apparently given up for adoption because her widowed mother was too poor to raise her.The ties she has forged in Greece encourage her to stay there whenever she can.Cardaras, the retired journalist who was adopted in the Chicago area and lived for a long time in California, also always knew that she was of Greek origin.She kept her Greek birth passport, which was originally revoked when she left the country as a baby.- Faces on the street -When she returned to her native country for the first time on a summer vacation in 1972, she remembers looking “at every woman’s face” on the street.”I wondered… if she was my mother,” she said.Everything felt familiar to her: “The smells, the atmosphere, I was completely at home.””But it was only when my (adoptive) parents died that I really began to question the first months and years of my life,” Cardaras said.Now settled in Athens, she is taking Greek classes and is making progress in understanding her native language.Better access to Greek nationality constitutes a deeply emotional breakthrough for adoptees with fragmented backgrounds.One of them recently shared their experience on social media.”At 12:47 PM Greek time, I received a message announcing that I am now reinstated as a Greek citizen! I am overwhelmed with emotion, thrilled, and on cloud nine!” Stephanie Pazoles wrote on Facebook.

US President Donald Trump will head to Scotland on Friday for a visit melding diplomacy and golf, a sport that is both his favorite pastime and of financial interest to his family.The 79-year-old billionaire will stay at two luxury seaside golf resorts owned by the Trump family’s holding company: at Turnberry in the west, and in the eastern port city of Aberdeen.Trump is set to meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip across the pond, although exact details are not yet confirmed, before an expected return on Tuesday.Starmer will hope to gauge Trump’s intentions for trade with the United Kingdom, which has so far managed to avoid the punishing tariffs unleashed by Trump on dozens of other economies around the globe.The United States and Britain announced a trade agreement in May, but Trump said earlier this month that he hopes to “refine the trade deal that we’ve made,” stoking concerns in London.Starmer, who is more of a football fan than golfer, has nevertheless managed to place himself in Trump’s good graces.During his visit to the White House, he charmed Trump with a letter from King Charles III, inviting him for a second state visit from September 17 to 19.The Scotland trip will also allow Trump to put some distance between himself and an ongoing controversy involving his ties with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and sex offender, and anger among his supporters over failures to release case files.In a sign of how sensitive the issue is, the White House excluded the Wall Street Journal from press pool traveling with Trump this weekend, following an article in the newspaper about a “bawdy” letter he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.- Unwelcome visitors -Trump has always proclaimed his love for Scotland, where his mother is from, though the feeling is not necessarily mutual.Protests are planned to take place Saturday in Aberdeen and Edinburgh in response to his visit, with a large police operation planned.In March, the Trump resort in Turnberry was vandalized, with the message “GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE” sprayed across the grass, a reaction to Trump’s suggestion of relocating Palestinians and turning the Gaza Strip into luxury real estate.The Trump Organization is also set to open a new golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, in the northeast of Scotland, sparking discontent among locals and environmentalists.The visit is yet another example of how Trump has blurred the line between his official duties as president and promoting the family business since returning to power in January.The US advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in May cited 21 Trump-branded development projects that would be carried out internationally during his second term.CREW also noted that the Trump Organization’s ethics guidelines published in January did not prohibit the business from launching projects abroad with private interests, in sharp contrast to a self-imposed moratorium of such deals during Trump’s first term in office.

Comic-Con kicks off Thursday in San Diego, California, with expectations running high among devoted fans keen to catch a glimpse of George Lucas at his first-ever appearance at the convention.Other expected highlights of the gathering — one of the world’s biggest celebrations of pop culture — include the world premiere of the prequel series “Alien: Earth.” Comic-Con began holding events in San Diego in 1970, as a low-key and rather niche huddle, but has now grown to an annual get-together that attracts 130,000 people eager to hear behind-the-scenes tidbits from Hollywood stars and directors unveiling their latest projects. This year’s edition will be marked by the presence of legendary filmmaker Lucas, who has never visited the convention before despite Comic-Con culture being deeply rooted in his “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises.In a session on Sunday set to be moderated by Queen Latifah, Lucas will discuss the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro and Oscar-winning artist Doug Chiang, who has shaped the iconic “Star Wars” universe for decades. The museum, scheduled to open in Los Angeles next year, will be dedicated to illustrated narratives and will house the Lucas archive. “Nearly five decades ago, Star Wars made one of its earliest public appearances at our convention, along with a booth featuring (comic book artist) Howard Chaykin’s now legendary Star Wars poster as a promotional item,” said David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer.”Now, to have Mr. Lucas… is a true full-circle moment. His lifelong dedication to visual storytelling and world-building resonates deeply with us and our community.”- Alien, Predator, and the End of the World -Marvel Studios will have a smaller presence at the convention this year, skipping its eagerly awaited annual presentation in Hall H. According to Variety, changes to the premiere of the new “Avengers” installment complicated logistics for the studio, whose cast is currently filming in Britain.Despite this notable absence, events at coveted Hall H still promise great excitement for fans of science fiction, a core genre of the convention. On Friday, it will host the world premiere of the pilot episode of the prequel “Alien: Earth,” directed by Noah Hawley and slated to hit streaming platforms in August. The series takes place a couple of years before the events depicted in Ridley Scott’s 1979 film “Alien,” offering an expansion of the venerated franchise. Another fan favorite that will have its moment in the spotlight is “Predator: Badlands,” with a panel Friday set to include director Dan Trachtenberg, who revitalized the brand with “Prey” (2022). Joining him will be stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who plays the predator Dek. The panel is expected to reveal more from the production, which centers the predator as prey, not hunter, for the first time. On Saturday, award-winning actor Ryan Gosling and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (behind the new “Spider-Verse” trilogy) will present their “Project Hail Mary,” which is due in theaters next year. The film, based on the book by Andy Weir (“The Martian”), follows Ryland Grace (Gosling), a former science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship to discover he’s on a mission to save the Earth.Another buzzed-about presentation is for the highly anticipated second season of “Peacemaker,” in which James Gunn (“Superman”) and his cast are expected to offer sneak peeks. But it won’t all be deadly serious — thousands of those in attendance will come dressed as princesses, warriors, aliens and other characters from the pantheon of pop culture.Comic-Con runs from Thursday to Sunday, July 27.