By Anthee Carassava Millions of Greeks walked off their jobs Wednesday in a show of defiance against a pension overhaul. The national strike - the third since December - capped nearly a month of labor unrest that has brought power blackouts, heaps of uncollected garbage and transport disruption.

Unions in Greece conducted a general strike Wednesday to send a message to the government, which votes on a critical pension reform bill Thursday. Thousands were expected to take part in the 24-hour general strike, the BBC reported.

Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres, The prime ministers of Romania and the Hellenic Republic, Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Kostas Karamanlis, attended the signing ceremony of the agreement on cooperation in the energy field on Thursday [7 February] in Bucharest.

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, died at his Athens home Monday of liver cancer at the age of 69. The archbishop was diagnosed with cancer seven months ago and in recent days had refused hospital treatment, a New York Times correspondent reported.

SOFIA. Jan 18 (Interfax) - The Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has hailed the signing of an agreement between stakeholders in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project. "With satisfaction I hail the signing of the agreement between stakeholders in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project.