Greece

State employees are to stage on Wednesday a new nationwide strike in Greece.

They are demanding that the government in Athens abandon plans for fresh mass layoffs within the state sector which are a condition of the international bailout program, Dnevnik.bg has reported.

After reaching an agreement with the troika on Tuesday, the Greek government now has to prepare legislation for the reforms it agreed with its lenders in the hope that the disbursement of at least 10 billion euros in loans will be approved at an informal Eurogroup meeting due to take place in Athens on April 1.

Greece’s main museums and archaeological sites will remain open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., during the summer, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras confirmed on Tuesday.

Tourists will be able to visit Greece’s most famous heritage sites seven days a week starting in April, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said today.

Two children, a girl and a boy, and three women were among seven migrants who drowned off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos in the early hours of Tuesday when the plastic boat that was carrying them from Turkey to Greece took on water, the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency has confirmed.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Tuesday insisted that no new austerity measures will be required as part of a deal reached earlier in the day between the Greek government and troika inspectors following seven months of tough negotiations.

"Today a long period of tribulations has ended, and a new beginning is being made," Samaras said.

A moderate quake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale rattled Cephalonia on Tuesday morning as the Ionian Sea island continues efforts to recover from a large tremor in January that caused significant damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure.

By Antonis Galanopoulos, Marcus Bensasson & Nikos Chrysoloras

Greece will probably sell bonds for the first time in four years before May as the nation seeks to rebuild its finances following an international bailout, Infrastructure Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said.

With European and local authority elections looming, the political exchanges between co-ruling New Democracy and the main leftist opposition SYRIZA have intensified even as a new party casting itself as anti-establishment appears to be drawing support from both parties, according to opinion polls.

Greece has scored poorly in the European Justice scorecard, which measures the efficiency, quality and independence of justice and was published on Monday.

According to the report, which used 2012 data, found that the Greek justice system’s performance had worsened.