State Minister Nikos Pappas in an interview with thepressproject. gr. late on Thursday expressed his optimism over a mutually beneficial agreement with the partners.

Discussions at the Brussels Group are continuing and there is not ultimatum about when its work much be concluded, European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici's spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt said on Friday.

Four illicit antiquities dealers were arrested on Thursday night in Lassithi, after a Police operation.

Nineteen Russian tourists were struck by lightning during a tour of the archeological grounds of Knossos.