Latvia

With pressure growing on state coffers as cash reserves run low without any immediate prospect for the release of rescue loans, the government on Monday signed a legal degree obliging state bodies, with the exception of pension funds, to transfer their reserves to the Bank of Greece for the state?s use.

By Paul Tugwell & Rebecca Christie

Greece and its creditors remained at loggerheads with time running out to unlock aid in exchange for economic reforms and avert a default.

A wooden sailboat carrying dozens of immigrants ran aground on April 20 off the coast of the Greek island of Rhodes and at least three people, including a child, have drowned, the Greek coast guard said.

It is unclear how or why a boat carrying migrants ran ashore.

By Rebecca Christie

Greece needs to show euro-area nations what it could deliver by mid-May to unlock new aid payments and avoid default, the European commissioner in charge of euro matters said.

By Paul Tugwell

Greece said it won?t renege on election pledges to end austerity measures, even as creditors pressed for a compromise to free financing and avert a worsening crisis.

Greece needs to urgently do much more to present an acceptable plan to gain further EU financing, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi says.

With the clock ticking on Greek negotiations with the European Union for the release of another 7.2 billion euros bailout funds, Draghi said Greece's framework for bailout financing going ahead is still lacking.

Brussels Group will get back down to business on Saturday at around 3 pm (Athens time), in a meeting that will take place in Paris, France for “technical reasons,” as announced by the Greek Ministry of Finance.

The aim of the meeting is to prepare for the next Eurogroup to be held on Friday, April 24 in Riga, Latvia.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said on Saturday that the declining interest of Russian tourists towards Bulgaria could be compensated by visitors from the rest of Europe.

Russia and Ukraine represented an important, but not the sole market for Bulgarian tourism, Angelkova added in an interview for private bTV station.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has said his party could form a coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) after the June 7 elections, on the condition that they embrace an independent media and judiciary.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova announced on Thursday that the interest of Russian tourists towards the Bulgarian Black Sea coast has increased in the past days.

According to Angelkova, there has been a 40 % growth in the number of Russians, who have signed up for a summer holiday in Bulgaria, Darik radio reports.