Greece

 Events before Kareli’s death traced; jail guards to face magistrate on Tuesday

Eight guards from Nigrita Prison in northern Greece charged in connection with the deadly torture of an Albanian inmate were on Saturday given until Tuesday to prepare their defense.

The Greek government may soon have to increase the country’s retirement age and slash pensions further, according to an updated copy of its bailout terms seen by Sunday’s Kathimerini.

Workers at Greece’s national railway service are planning rolling 24-hour strikes during the Easter holiday, from Good Friday to the Monday after, in demand of a new collective labor agreement between staff and management.

The workers are also taking issue with the planned privatization of railway operator Trainose.

A 48-year-old Albanian man who escaped from a prison in the neighboring country where he was serving a 20-year sentence for murdering his cousin nearly two decades ago, was apprehended by police in the western Greek port city of Patra on Saturday.

The fugitive, who was not named, had been at large since 1997.

Police in Central Macedonia on Saturday said that they have a arrested a 63-year-old man in the town of Giannitsa over unpaid debts to the state in excess of 1.1 million euros.

By Demetris Nellas

The European Union will continue to work with Russia and Ukraine to reduce tensions between the two countries but will keep sanctions as an option, the EU foreign policy chief said Saturday.

PASOK’s role as the junior partner in Greece’s coalition government led by the New Democracy conservatives is extremely crucial to ensuring political stability.

Bulgarians are increasingly breaking family gathering traditions and booking trips for the Easter holidays.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale shook southern Greece on Friday night.

The quake was registered at 11:08 pm local time, with an epicenter 25km east of the island Hydra and 78km south of the capital Athens, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. There are no initial reports of damages or injuries.

A moderate tremor rattled the island of Hydra in Greece's Saronic Gulf on Friday night.

The earthquake struck at 11.08 p.m. and was felt in Athens. Hydra is 85 kilometers southwest of the capital's main port, Piraeus.