to the west and die down.

The aftershock affected the entire city of Thessaloniki and caused some worries as many Thessaloniki residents spent the night afraid of aftershocks, since the main earthquake took place at 23:15.

According to the statements of seismologist Anastasia Kyratzi tou the Macedonian Press Agency, this morning's quake was the strongest of the aftershocks and she underlined that in these cases aftershocks are to be expected and should not cause concern.

He pointed out that since the year 2000 unemployment dropped by 2.2 percentage points and is currently at 8.9%, while employment reached 58% of the active population. The government implements active employment policies and since the year 2000, people we re offered a total of 324,000 employment opportunities, 394,000 jobless people were offered special training and 467,000 people were able to upgrade their job training.

New programs concerning 154,000 people will be launched in November, while special measures will be implemented for specific population groups. A total of 25,000 part-time positions will be available in the public sector in the following months, while em ployers will be offered incentives to hire unemployed women with children.

The government's goals are to bring unemployment down to 6% by the year 2008, for women down to 8% while, at the same time, increase employment on an annual basis by 1.5% (2% for women).

The government has a strategy on employment, stated the Prime Minister and stressed that the increase in the employment rate is associated with the preservation of the high growth rates. Unemployment in Greece follows a steady downward course whereas in the rest European Union it has an upward tendency.

Of the stocks trading today, 145 recorded gains and 128 had losses, while the value of 108 stocks remained unchanged.

The goal of the conference is to promote the historical and cultural profile of the two cities, while presenting personalities who strengthened the ties between the cities of Alexandria and Thessaloniki through the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

During his seven-day visit to Greece, the Patriarch of Alexandria will also attend the celebrations held by the Association of Greeks from Egypt on the occasion of the anniversary of its establishment.

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas underlined the government's satisfaction for the fact that the report recognizes that in a difficult time for Europe, when low growth rates are being predicted even an increase in unemployment in some Europe an states, Greece will continue to have high growth rates and create more job positions.

However, Mr. Christodoulakis added that there is disagreement between the speculations made by the government and those made by the European Commission in the calculation of deficit. According to the Finance Minister, the European Commission calculations

are not based on correct and precise figures, as there is an underestimation of revenues and an overestimation of spending.

In conclusion, the government spokesman stated that the Greek government believes that the issue will be resolved before the budget is submitted. He also said that the European Commission recognizes the government's speculation that growth rate in 2004 w ill be at 4% and reminded the criticism the government had received earlier regarding that speculation.

In all instances, the 18 Turkish fighter jets were identified and intercepted by Greek fighter planes. As it was made known, four of the Turkish jets, identified and intercepted by Greek fighter jets, were armed.

It is an epidemic caused by the Norovirus, which is usually reported on cruise ships.

Mr. Stefanis stated that the ship left Southampton, England on October 20 with 1,900 British passengers and 837 crewmembers.

The outbreak of the epidemic was reported on Friday, October 24 and it is regarded as a typical Norovirus epidemic. It is believed that the epidemic started from a family of passengers and according to the ship's captain there are 430 patients on board t he cruise ship.

Mr. Stefanis stated that the patients are isolated in their cabins, while there is no self-service in the dinning room and the cruise ship was disinfected since October 20.

In a meeting held at the Prespa Town Hall today the representatives of the Firefighting Departments of the three countries considered forest firefighting plans, the existing needs and the prospects for cooperation.

The meeting was organized by the Society for the Protection of Prespes in cooperation with the Municipality of Prespes, PPNEA (Albania) and the Municipality of Resen (FYROM), financed by the Greek Foreign Ministry International Development Cooperation Ag ency.