Greece braced for fresh anti-austerity strike

Much of Greece is expected to grind to a halt today, with the country's trade unions staging another 24-hour general strike against planned austerity measures. Organisers are hoping that up 100,000 people will join the protests. There are fears of renewed violence after a strike in Athens two weeks ago led to the deaths of three people. Many Greeks are angered by spending cuts and tax and pension-age rises planned in return for a 110bn euro (£95bn) bail-out. The measures aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%. The strike officially began at midnight on Wednesday local time.