Kallithea

Two elderly women died in a fire that broke out in the basement of a care home for senior citizens on Aghion Apostolon Street in the Kallithea district of southern Athens shortly after 6 a.m. on Saturday.

According to reports, the two women were trapped in their room, which was located in the basement of the care home, and died due to smoke inhalation.

Italian choreographer and artistic director Renato Zanella directs the Greek National Opera Ballet in a children's version of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," with fairy-tale sets by Christof Cremer from the Vienna State Opera. Shows take place weekdays at 11 a.m., Saturdays at 6.30 p.m.

Acclaimed Greek director Nikos S. Petropoulos has always regarded Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" as a highly cinematic opera that could be seen as the precursor to the moving picture. In his production for the Greek National Opera, the setting is Rome in World War II, focusing on the element of violence and sadism.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) has moved its successful Park Your Cinema program - which over the summer saw packed screenings on the Great Lawn - indoors. For the holiday season, the SNFCC opera hall will be showing classic family films from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, as well as vintage Walt Disney cartoons.

Gumbo Ya Ya - a New Orleans swing band formed six years ago by American pianist and transplant to Greece John Higgins - has teamed up with jazzy, snazzy vocalist Shugahspank for a show at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) on Friday, January 5. Held at the Lighthouse venue, the show starts at 9 p.m. and admission is free of charge.

The Greek National Opera Ballet has teamed up with two distinguished performance artists - Swedish dancer and choreographer Pontus Lidberg, and British set and costume designer Patrick Kinmonth - for a brand-new production of the all-time classic "Sleeping Beauty," inspired by the four seasons.

Panteion University in Athens on Tuesday inaugurated the so-called "Iranian corner" at the institution's library. University rector Ismini Kriari and Iran's cultural attache Ali Muhammad Helmi presided over the opening. "It contains books that are about Iranian culture, history and contemporary political issues," said Kriari of the collection.

Thodoris Abazis has composed a new piece for the Greek National Opera's program for children that is based on the Russian fairy tale that inspired Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird." Aimed at 5- to 12-year-olds, "Prince Ivan and the Firebird" (in Greek) tells the story of a young prince trying to prove his worth to his father the tsar, while also learning a few valuable life lessons along

Greece's counter-terrorism unit on Tuesday launched a major operation in the Athens neighborhoods of Kallithea and Neos Cosmos as part of a crackdown on an organized crime group.

Some 20 members of an anti-establishment group gathered on Monday outside a tax office in Kallithea, southern Athens, and raised a banner in support of conscientious objectors.

According to police, a female member of the group briefly entered the office without incident before dispersing with the rest of the group.