Gjinushi: We have reached an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office Page 3

Pages 12,13

She shuts herself in a room to study She was only 16 years old Police: “She was shot in the head; we have seized the weapon” She shuts herself in a room to study Killed with her father’s pistol She was only 16 years old Police: “She was shot in the head; we have seized the weapon” Page 8

EDITORIAL An examination Albania failed When the 1 October elections began to be mentioned on the agenda of the international community’s attention as the “last test” for Albania and its integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures, few thought that the phrase was outside the range of the Europeans’ usual advisory formulas. Now that Brussels has delivered another slap to the Albanian Government, many have begun to doubt the long string of statements made by those who govern this country. In truth, almost everything is like this; it then turns out that the failure has been much deeper than the opposition claims was evident in the much-discussed local election process, and that it began much earlier than 1 October 2000. Corruption, smuggling, internal tensions, power without an opposition and an opposition without a state, lack of consensus and even this latter covered by ... have put a country like Albania far behind a country that has just emerged from a harsh and unparalleled dictatorship and whose future course is uncertain. Worse still, they have put us behind a country that was until yesterday highly problematic, like Macedonia, and behind another whose wounds from the bloodiest war in the Balkans since the Second World War have still not properly healed, like Bosnia. So, Albania has lost Much earlier than October 1, an opposition without a state, lack of consensus—and consensus itself stifled by the intolerance of a majority that is becoming ever more arrogant—repeated evidence in the economy, law and order... It seems these are not few; on the contrary, there are far more than would be needed to…

EU says “No” to Nano until all conditions are met The European Union closes its doors to Albania, as long as the latter has not fulfilled the well-known conditions for the democratic standardization of the country's institutions. The Albanian delegation at the Brussels meeting is expected to return home today “empty-handed,” for the first time at the EU’s seventh session, where Nano also delivered a speech strongly highlighting the achievements of the Socialist government. Thus, on the second day of the Brussels meeting, Albania was once again at the center of discussions, following the reading of the status report by the leader of the majority, Fatos Nano. Page 2 … European. Now, from Brussels, I see the next slap for string of statements made by those who run this country. In fact, almost the entire Albanian delegation, even its most opposition-minded members, are said to have rushed to convince the Europeans that the October 1 elections were “a success,” “peaceful,” “free” and “fair.” Even if it is…

Justice chiefs reveal the “secrets” of the judiciary “The absence of a law on the Prosecutor’s Office has not harmed in any way the exercise of its functions, much less its investigations.” This is what Chief Prosecutor Rakipi stated yesterday during a joint press conference with Minister of Justice Arben Imami. The conference, which lasted only 20 minutes, resulted in several statements that were both persuasive and paradoxical, from the two senior heads of the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office. Page 7

Meeting between the PR chairman and the US ambassador The chairman of the Republican Party, Fatmir Mediu, explains the manipulations in the October 1 elections at the official premises of the American Embassy in the Albanian capital. Thus, at a meeting Mediu held two days ago with the American Ambassador in Tirana, Xhozef Limprecht, and the embassy’s Political Secretary, Thomas Yagerdi, the discussion focused specifically on the local elections in the autumn. Page 4

Disease in Europe, fear in Albania Mad Cow, suspicions in the market Veterinarians alarmed by the meat Page 9

Family story Page 19