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THEFT Two ministries accused of abuse Meta pays to close the scandal Page 3

EDITORIAL Italy... near and far By Agim BACI Italy is near to us and... so far away. For several years, with great care, we have been turning upside down the part that connects us to the neighboring state. All this under the watchful eye of the uniforms and those dressed in the garb of power, which we gave them (read: they took from us) during the elections. And following the abracadabra-style reactions (meaning: when they catch us out), the Albanian government yesterday responded legally to the illegal acts of those who violated Albania’s border authority night and day. There is nothing wrong with improving laws. But it seems the Albanian government had been missing a major fact as a pretext to go after the speedboats that cut through the sea night and day, taking all sorts of people to Italy—Albanians and Asians, with and without drugs... It seems the government needed two Italian policemen to drown, three Kurds to be thrown into the sea by Albanian speedboat operators, and their arrest, before Meta would summon his staff to prepare a law that would punish every speedboat operator. These steps by Prime Minister Meta look even worse when members of the Albanian legislature explain that laws to stop this kind of trafficking already exist, but have remained only on the old papers of the new secretaries at the prime ministerial headquarters. ... The Italian Prime Minister managed to withstand pressure from his country’s opposition not to cancel his visit to Tirana, but it seems he has no intention of withdrawing any threat to punish the Albanian government at today’s meeting with Meta. Amato has canceled a speech before MPs, showing these latter that their vote in favor of the law has been lost amid the desire to be the first with a diplomatic passport.

A young man has drowned in Tirana’s lake Since yesterday, the waters of the Artificial Lake have once again held another body. Without even counting the bodies of those who have drowned during the summer months, dozens of police officers have been moving around Tirana’s Artificial Lake since Wednesday. After a signal that someone had drowned in the lake, dozens of police officers were urgently dispatched toward the lake’s hills. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, when the body of an unidentified person was seen on the eastern shore of the lake. After receiving this report, divers and police forces immediately set out for the scene. The information was given to the Police by an elderly man.

The Italian Prime Minister cancels his speech in Parliament Page 2

Taxpayers at the mercy of the “tax collectors” Page 11

The Treasury/Charges changed against the arrested officer Page 9

Two police officers who forged documents arrested in Tirana The Tirana Police Directorate has been shaken from within. Two high-profile arrests, whose “victims” were two employees of this Directorate, have brought back the many accusations by citizens that major corruption is involved in issuing international passports and that the main figures behind it are Police employees themselves. A female counterterrorism officer and a person who is not very high-ranking in the capital’s Police were handcuffed yesterday morning on the premises of the Police Directorate, accused of being involved in passport corruption. Page 5

Elections/The Republicans set up their electoral headquarters Yesterday, at the PRSH headquarters, under the leadership of chairman Fatmir Mediu and with the participation of the other members of the Presidency, the Central Electoral Headquarters met. After giving a general overview of the political situation in the country, the PRSH chairman emphasized that the pre-election political situation in our country is extremely tense as a result of misguided policies. Page 4

Alarm Black widow spider, 60 poisoned people at risk of death Page 12