Vyronas

Nikos Hardalias, the current deputy defense minister, will be running for the position of Attica regional governor in the upcoming local elections, supported by New Democracy. The announcement was made on Monday.

A large firefighting force was sent to tackle a blaze that broke out Wednesday in Vyronas on the slopes of Mount Hymettus, northeastern Athens.
Footage showed several houses being smothered in smoke as the fire, which was burning trees and brush, was fanned by strong winds.

Proposed changes to a bill aimed at overhauling the governance of Greece's local authorities, which are to be submitted to Parliament on Wednesday, foresee the segmentation of constituencies in the capital with the apparent goal of increasing the influence of leftist SYRIZA in those areas.

The Environment Ministry has banned any further construction activity on the slopes of Mount Hymettus in Attica until October 2018.

Greek authorities are on high alert due to high winds blowing Saturday across the country. In the prefecture of Laconia in the Peloponnese, firefighters have managed to contain most of the fire front but are still operating to extinguish smaller spots around the region. 130 firefighters and 51 vehicles started their operations at the break of dawn.