The earthquake was recorded at 3.15am today and was felt in regions of the Peloponnese and central Greece. No damages were recorded.

Seismologist Vasilis Karakostas stated to MPA that the new tremor is an aftershock of the strong earthquake recorded in the region early last month measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.

Specifically, three individuals, retired Navy officer Antonis Naxakis and two women associates of Ocalan will be on trial accused of insulting the country's international peace, while seven more people will be tried accused of direct complicity to commit

the capital offence.

Among the 12 are author Voula Damianakou and her daughter Eleni Vasilopoulou who are accused of complicity in Ocalan's illegal stay in the country.

Tomorrow, the Court of Appeals Prosecutor will call 330 witnesses to testify in court. Meanwhile, the plenary session of the Court of Appeals will meet to select the judges who will preside over the trial of the terrorist organization members.

The highest unemployment percentage was recorded in Spain (11.8% from 11.7% in October) and Greece follows in the second place (9.6% in the second trimester of 2002). The lowest percentage was recorded in Luxembourg at 2.6%.

In Germany, the unemployment index in November reached 8.4% compared to 8.3% in October and in France remained unchanged at 8.8%.

Unemployment in the male population on a twelve-month basis was at 7.4% from 6.8% a year ago, while among women it was at 9.8% from 9.6%. Unemployment for those under the age of 25 was at 16.2% in the Euro-zone and at 15.1% in the Europe of the "15".

On January 10, Mr. Prodi will meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, while government ministers will hold meeting at Zappion Building in Athens with the responsible European Commissioners.

The rise, according to the European statistics agency, Eurostat, is the result of the improvement in the business climate.

Specifically, the index recording the European businessmen confidence in the prospects of the economy rose to -9, the highest level in a period of a year, compared to -11 in November.

The consumer climate index dropped to -16 in December compared to -14 in the previous month. This change was attributed to the increased concerns over the imminent war in the Gulf.

In the Europe of the "15", the economic climate index dropped to 98.8 points in December compared to 99 points in November.

Referring to the facilities offered so far to the Americans, he said that they were offered within the framework of contractual obligations stemming form the Greek-US bilateral agreements.

The Greek government spokesman stated that the government does not want a war in Iraq and has made many efforts for a peaceful solution to be reached. He said that the international community should handle the issue with special care because the war is n ot always a solution.

Of the stocks trading today, 261 recorded losses and 53 had gains, while the value of 65 stocks remained unchanged.

Mrs. Puvak will have meetings in Athens with deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Yiannitsis on issues of bilateral cooperation during the Greek EU Presidency.

The Greek government has expressed its support to Romania's EU accession efforts, setting 2007 as a likely target year, as it was announced within the framework of the Copenhagen Summit meeting in December.

Regarding the Annan Plan, the Greek government spokesman reiterated that the plan is a precondition in the search for a solution to the Cyprus problem. This opportunity should not be missed, the negotiations should continue, stated Mr. Protopapas while c ommenting on yesterday's statement by Turkish election winner Mr. Erdogan on Greece's contribution to Turkey's European course he characterized it as "positive".

Based on the news report, strong remarks will be made concerning public debt and deficit, while there will be questions on the growth rate. The European Commission will note that a negative deviation from the target set will result to a deficit increase as the budget does not predict any surplus.

The introduction concerning the 2002-2006 program will be made by responsible European Commissioner Mr. Pedro Solbes. The program will be submitted to the EU Economic and Fiscal Committee and will be examined on January 15.

The Greek program is expected to be placed on the ECOFIN table on January 21 when the final decision will be made by all "15" member-states.

The meeting was held in the presence of the ESP delegation members, Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, Labor Minister Dimitris Reppas, Minister of Environment, Land Planning and Public Works Vaso Papandreou and Minister of Education Petros Efthimiou .

The government ministers presented the priorities of the Greek EU Presidency and discussed measures aimed at strengthening development and employment and the competitiveness of the European economy. It was pointed out that the Greek EU Presidency seeks t o strengthen the small-medium sized businesses and social groups such as women, and longtime unemployed.