Pavlos

The head of the Athens Court of Appeals, Constantinos Stamadianos, vowed measures on Wednesday to accelerate the trial of Greece's neo-fascist Golden Dawn party, which started three-and-a-half years ago.

Costas Bakoyannis, the regional governor of Central Greece, plans to officially announce his candidacy for Athens mayor on Monday, November 5.

Bakoyannis, 40, is the nephew of conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Acclaimed Greek artist Pavlos Samios presents a series of paintings he did in 1992 while in Paris, in which he explored the then-novel trend of ecology and eco-friendly living. Running through November 8 at the Stoart Gallery, "Lovers of the Earth" opens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9, and visiting hours are Mondays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Police were on Tuesday bracing for rallies commemorating Pavlos Fyssas, the 34-year-old rapper killed by a self-professed member of Golden Dawn five years ago in Keratsini, near Piraeus.

Rallies are planned for all over the country including one due to start at 5.30 p.m. at the spot of Fyssas's slaying and to culminate at the offices of Golden Dawn in Piraeus.

A few days ago, a photograph was published on some social media sites of Magda Fyssa sitting in a court room. She is the mother of the 34-year-old rapper Pavlos Fyssas who was killed by a member of the neofascist Golden Dawn party on September 18, 2013 in the western Athens district of Keratsini.

Anti-racism rallies were held in Athens and several other Greek cities on Saturday evening ahead of the fifth anniversary of the killing of a leftist rapper by a member of the neofascist Golden Dawn.

The rallies concluded without reports of the clashes between leftist demonstrators and members of right-wing groups that the police had feared.

German-born Greek rocker Pavlos Pavlidis and his band - Orestis Benekas on keyboards and Alekos Voulgarakis on electric guitar - unveils his latest project, while also playing older crowd-pleasing favorites, at Gazarte's roof stage on Wednesday, August 29. Tickets cost 12 euros in advance (www.gazarte.gr) and 14 euros at the door on the night.

Continuing an intensifying war of words, outspoken Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis lashed out at the national federation of Greek hospital workers (POEDIN) on Tuesday, accusing it of issuing a "barrage of lies" while the government works on upgrading the country's health service.

A first instance court in Athens has ordered Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis to pay 25,000 euros in compensation after finding him guilty of defaming the national federation of Greek hospital workers (POEDIN) and its president, Michalis Yannakos.

New Democracy vowed Tuesday to abolish the "despicable" "Paraskevopoulos law," which led to the release Tuesday, for a third time, of convicted November 17 hitman Dimitris Koufodinas on a two-day furlough.