London Greek Radio

In December 2015 the parliament in Athens had introduced relevant legislation to allow same-sex marriages in Greece.

Nearly 200 of a 300 seated parliament voted in favour for this legislation despite opposition from some political parties and the Orthodox Church. Other European countries such as Britain, Cyprus and Spain had already passed this legislation before Greece.

At noon on Monday 25th January 2016 the first same-sex civil partnership certificate was signed by the Mayor of Athens, Giorgos Kaminis. This was a symbolic day as it was an important day for ‘human rights’. It is known that Mr.Kaminis signed five civil partnership certificates in total on Monday. This is a positive step forward.

“Today is an important day for human rights” announced the Mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis. He also uploaded a picture onto his Twitter account, signing the first civil partnership certificate.

Article written by Chantel Georgiou

Entrepreneur Alex Loizou, age 28 is the first Cypriot to make it onto Forbes 30 under 30 list. Alex is originally from Nicosia and his hard work over the last three years in London has paid off. It has earned him a place in the ‘Technology’ category in the famous Forbes magazine.

After finding out about the news, Alex Loizou took to Facebook and Twitter, writing “Awesome to be selected in the Forbes 30 under 30 consumer tech list! Trouva ftw!”

Alex is the co-founder of StreetHub now called Trouva, which is a marketplace that brings independent shops together on the same platform giving them the right technology to fight back against larger chains in the industry. StreetHub got going in 2013 by helping independent fashion retailers find online buyers and drive them to physical stores.

Alex, who graduated from the University of Cologne and the London School of Economics, spoke to Sigma Live English about what this means to him and he explains what Trouva is and the philosophy behind it all.

The main aim is to help urban places in cities such as London to have a platform in selling their unique items. He found that individual shops in London have no real technology to sell their products globally and people can only buy their unique products from the shop itself as they are not well versed with technology and marketing.

‘Trouva.com’ enables these small individual companies to sell globally through this website. Alex says that technology is something these shops need in order to branch out and gain more customers. The Trouva website therefore helps independent boutiques stand out and sell their unique products to more people. “We make boutique shopping simple,” the Trouva website proclaims. “Shop 150 of the UK’s best independent boutiques. All in one place. All online.”

Article written by Chantel Georgiou

A Cypriot Politician is widening his efforts to save the A level Modern Greek Exam by writing to all the Members of Parliament on the House of Commons Education Select Committee.

Stephen Alambritis is the Aradippou born Council leader at the London Borough of Merton and he has today written to Mr Neil Carmichael MP, the Chair of the Education Select Committee in Parliament.

In his letter to Mr Carmichael (copied to all ten cross party MP’s on the Select Committee) Cllr Alambritis reminded the Education Select Committee Chair of the recent inquiry into the work of Ofqual that his committee was undertaking.

Alambritis stressed the importance of languages in the workplace. He said children of Greek background taking A level language exams have to plan their schooling in advance and it was important to come to a decision on the Modern Greek A level language Exam which is currently in limbo.

Britain’s first ever Cypriot council leader is once more writing to the Chair of Ofqual, Amanda Spielman urging her to announce a permanent decision to help in saving the crucial language exam from abolition by examining authorities. Spielma has only committed to the exams until the Summer of 2019.

Commenting on efforts to save the A Level Cllr Alambritis said “ Members of Parliament on the influential Education Select Committee should be made aware of our plans to save the Greek exam. There are many Greek Community schools that help towards community cohesion in the UK. Working towards the Greek Exam helps our young children of Greek origin and others to develop a lifelong appreciation of the richness of Greek culture. Education Select Committee MP’s will also be aware of the critical importance of language qualifications in the search for work and how prized language skills are by employers both large and small”

Article written by LGR

The remains of six Greek soldiers who were killed in Cyprus during the period of 1963 and 1967 and the 1974 Turkish invasion and were missing since then, returned to Greece ον Τθεσδαυ after being identified with the DNA method.

In the Greek Ministry of Defence in Athens a special ceremony took place in the presence of the Ministers of Defence of Greece and Cyprus, Panos Kammenos and Christoforos Fokaides respectively, members of the Cypriot House Committee on Defence, members of the Greek political parties, as well as relatives and friends of the soldiers.

The Greek state, `with an inexcusable delay of many years` the Greek Minister said, honours today the six Greek soldiers with flags flying at half-mast.

The Cypriot Defence Minister said that “there is no worse time than this one, when a hero returns home dead, dead but immortal`.

`The 6 heroes we welcome today are now deleted from the list of the missing persons, and added to the list of heroes”, he went on to say.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the President of the Hellenic Parliament Nikos Voutsis.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. As a result of the invasion, 1,619 Greek Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield.

A Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) was established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives. According to CMP, the total number of identifications has reached 625, 476 of whom were Greek Cypriots and 149 Turkish Cypriots.

The CMP `s list includes a total of 77 Greek missing persons 73 of whom had gone missing since the 1974 Turkish invasion and 4 of them since the period 1963-`67. The remains of 14 of the 77 have already been identified through DNA testing.

Article written by CNA

There was a development in the unresolved case of a 17 year-old rape and murder in 1982, a man has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder, confirmed Metropolitan Police.

Yiannoula Yianni was found dead at the family house in Belsize Park, which immediately triggered a murder enquiry by the Met on Friday, 13th August 1982.

The 56-year old man, linked to an address in Golders Green, was detained on 12th January, for an unrelated matter. His detection seemed to have come about by matching him on the National DNA database.

The police recollecting the fateful day’s events of 1982, Yiannoula initially spent the morning with her mother, at about 12:30 they walked to nearby family shop where they brought lunch to Yiannoula’s father and brother.

Later, that afternoon 13:30 Yiannoulla had gone back home this time without her mother in order to fix dinner. Her parents returning home made a gruesome discovery only a couple of hours later, found Yiannoula’s body, at 15:00.

Yiannoulla was a pupil of the Quintin Kynaston School, in St John’s Wood, and was employed part-time in Finchley Road’s Woolworth’s branch.

This represents the biggest breakthrough in the case, with police reviewing the case from time to time, and more than 1,000 witness statements have been accounted for in the intervening years.

Det Insp Julie Willats, of the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “The Met never close unsolved murders and regardless of the passage of time cases can and will be reviewed, for any new opportunities to develop previously unknown lines of enquiry, and follow-up any fresh information which has become known to us.

“Yiannoulla’s family – who understandably are still devastated by the loss of their beloved daughter and sister more than three decades ago – have been fully informed of this new development.”

Article written by London Greek Radio

On Friday 19^th February, LGR Club Nights are hosting another epic Greek style party!!

Come along and PARTY LIKE THE GREEKS @ Club Azure in Enfield.

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This will be our very first party 0f 2016.

For the first time ever at an LGR event, DJ Avgoustinos will be on the decks, alongside regular DJ Andreas Demetriou.

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They will be mixing non-stop Greek & English hits, all night long. Fusing all the best Modern Laika, Greek Club, Greek Classics, English club anthems, RnB & Garage.

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Standard tickets for this event are £10.00 – Book yours and join us for our very first party of 2016!!

Address: 8-10 Silver St, Enfield EN1 3ED

For table bookings, please call Club Azure directly on: 020 8363 1150

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Click here to book your tickets now:

Sell tickets online: Skiddle Promotion Centre

 

Article written by London Greek Radio

The 6th January is known as the day of the “feast of Epiphany”. Epiphany comes from the Greek word Epiphaneia (Ἐπιφάνεια), meaning Manifestation.

This is the 12th day of Christmas also known as the end of the festive season. The feast of Epiphany, is a Christian feast that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as human in Jesus Christ.

This day marks two important events. It is the day that the three wise men followed the star to Bethlehem leading them to visit Jesus for the first time when he was revealed to the world. The three wise men were called Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar who brought Jesus gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold. It is also the day that marks the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist. Pope Francis is holding the annual mass today in Vatican City in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome to celebrate these two historical events.

Epiphany is mainly celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. It’s a big and important festival in Spain, where it’s also known as ‘The festival of the three Magic Kings’.

According to Greek Orthodox Church’s traditions, a priest will bless the waters by throwing a cross into it as worshippers try to retrieve it. In Prague, there is a traditional Three Kings swim to commemorate Epiphany Day at the Vltava River.

Article written by Chantel Georgiou

Since Cypriot singer Kyriacos Georgiou performed at our “End of Summer Party” in September 2015, he has not taken his foot off the accelerator. After visiting London, Kyri spent the intervening few weeks, and months, in Thessaloniki recording and releasing his latest hit.

The E-Single ‘Den Pao Apopse Spiti‘ is an up-beat and catchy Modern Laiko number, co-written by Giannis Iremias and Grigoris Vaxevanelis.

The 22-year-old singer then flew back to London to film the music video to his song featuring Athena Efstathiou, with London as their backdrop and Salih Karakis as the video director.

Fans of Kyriacos Georgiou are expecting exciting things in 2016; Kyri will be performing alongside Despina Vandi, Pantelis Pantelidis and Kostas Martakis, at the Pyli Axiou which is in Thessaloniki, until 9th January.

Kyri will then be travelling to America on the 18th January, going from Miami, to Orlando Florida for a Greek Party on the 31st January. He finally returns to Athens in February, initiating what will be Easter Season at Teatro.

If you have yet to check out the music video for ‘Den Pao Apopse Spiti‘ then stop everything and watch this:

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Police appealing for a man of Cypriot origin missing from Winchmore Hill, was last seen at 04:00 hours on Sunday, 3 January. Police have contacted LGR tonight, at about 9:45pm which means he is still missing and his whereabouts is uncertain.

Anaxagoras Hadjigeorghiou, 74, (date of birth is 29^th August 1941), is described as white, 6ft tall of slim build. He has grey hair and grey stubble; he may also be wearing glasses.

He has dementia and may be confused.

LGR was appealing for any news tonight live On-Air on 103.3FM to listeners, broadening that appeal to anybody who might be able to find this gentleman.

If you think you might have any information which might help find Mr Hadjigeorghiou is asked to contact officers at Enfield on 07748 780330 or via 101.

UPDATED… 5th January 2016

Police sources confirmed to LGR Anaxagoras was found safe and well at 4:30 this morning. He walked in to a shop and was recognised by his photograph…

Thank you for the overwhelming reaction to helping to find this gentleman and all of your shares and visits to lgr.co.uk.

Article written by London Greek Radio