Second case discovered Minister Shehu: “He is a blood donor” TIRANA — (c. bo.) — There are now two cases of AIDS in Albania. Experts at the testing laboratory have discovered another blood donor from Tirana who is seropositive. “He is a married young man — confirms Health Minister Tritan Shehu — but he has not yet been informed that he is seropositive; great care is needed to spare him a shock. As far as we know, this man was in Greece in March: he may have contracted the virus there.” Being seropositive, of course, does not mean being ill. It means only that the body has come into contact with the AIDS virus. “Our tests so far have been limited to blood donors,” the Minister adds, “and unfortunately not all of them have been tested: for now we can test only 60 percent. From September, thanks to the equipment arriving from the World Health Organization, our tests will cover 100 percent of donors.” As stated previously, this is the second seropositive case discovered in Albania. The first one — discovered a month ago — was also a blood donor. “After the first weeks in a state of shock,” Minister Shehu explains, “the person has recovered. Today he seems calmer; doctors are keeping him under strict observation and conducting various examinations to prevent the germ from infecting other people.” The main problem with AIDS remains its pandemic spread. In this regard, the Ministry of Health is committing many of its resources. Very soon — following television programs devoted to this issue — something new will be presented: anti-AIDS advertising. Television commercials that, instead of advertising ice cream or beer drinks, teach people what they should do so they do not die. Alongside AIDS, there is alarm and concern in Tirana over the drinking-water problem. One neighborhood in the capital — but not the only one — has been receiving cloudy water since the 17th of this month, following the connection of clean-water pipes with sewage pipes. “My nine-month-old daughter, as well as my neighbors’ children,” Genc Kurani, a resident of Neighborhood 41, “4 Dëshmorët” Street, denounces to the newspaper, “are at risk. Cases of vomiting and diarrhea have begun to appear on a large scale.” And, for the first time, Hygiene and Water specialists have actually been on site, proposing that water be delivered to residents by tanker. The Ministry of Health is also on alert and has already set its Public Health Directorate employees to work. “Reports of this kind have come in from many areas of Tirana,” officials at the Ministry of Health say. “The problem exists partly because the pipes and systems are extremely worn out. In such cases, the best measure is to shut off the water.” Nevertheless, a child in this area has already been hospitalized. Residents have begun boiling the water they use for drinking, although this does not guarantee protection from disease. Aishe Peshkopi, 52, a resident of this neighborhood, has just been admitted to Tirana’s Infectious Diseases Hospital. Work on Tirana’s water supply system

TIRANA — Illegal fishing with dynamite in Tirana’s reservoirs is now under investigation by the Police. An operation by Police Serious Crimes officers at the Farka reservoir led to the seizure of 21 kilograms of fish caught with dynamite by three people. Only Sabi Hoxhmi, 14, from Sauk, was detained, while the other two are wanted. According to the teenager Hosmi — who was found with a quantity of dynamite fuse — two people who regularly went fishing had accompanied him in this activity. After searches of the homes, electric detonators for dynamite were also found.

DURRES — Operation Pelicano costs 20 billion lire a month. This extremely large figure was announced yesterday by Defense Minister Fabri. The amount stated is now four times the figure known until now. During the most recent press conference, the commander of Operation Pellicano, General Tobia, reported that the mission costs 10 billion lire a month. The operation arrived in Albania on 18 September 1991.

One injured TIRANA — (Ed.La.) — An unusual accident in Vorë, near Tirana. A freight train, traveling along the Durrës–Tirana railway line, struck a TIR truck with Macedonian license plates. The driver, Gëzim Shtaka, 23, from Lezha, is in serious condition at Tirana Military Hospital. After the incident, the Police detained the railway crossing attendant, Muharrem Picari, 53. “It was four in the morning,” says Ndue Pjetruasha, 33, also a passenger in the “Wolkswagen” that collided with the train. “The barrier at the crossing was not lowered, as it was on other occasions when it warned that a train was coming.” Pjetruasha, who miraculously escaped, says that although the locomotive was not traveling at high speed, it managed to push the car for 17 meters. “When we saw the train, it was already too late,” he says. “The locomotive had snatched away the front of the car.” The investigation into the accident is continuing.

BRINDISI — In the fishing boat’s refrigerated hold, police… Fishing boat carrying clandestine migrants on board detained in Brindisi ANGELO SCONOSCIUTO BRINDISI — In the fishing boat’s refrigerated hold, port police found 34 clandestine Albanian migrants, some of whom said they had paid to come to Italy. Four sailors from Monopoli were consequently arrested by agents of the sea “Squadra” and officers of the judicial police unit on charges of violating the provisions of the Martelli law. Among those arrested were the commander of the crew of the fishing boat “Omega I,” which was registered with the Bari Maritime Command. They were 28-year-old Francesco Russo, commander and owner of the vessel, and three crew members: 25-year-olds Francesco Forfuntato and Cosimo Russo, and 18-year-old Damiano Monia. All, except Francesco Russo, apparently were not registered in the Monopoli seafarers’ register. The operation, in which Port Authority officers also took part, began on Wednesday night into Thursday. Shortly before dawn, another fisherman from Monopoli had spotted the fishing boat “Omega I” at the port of Brindisi, and the information had already been passed to investigators. Police officers boarded the boat at the quay and began searching it. When the refrigerator compartment was opened, it was found to be dark and without any fish cargo. Hidden inside, behind a grate, were the 34 Albanian clandestine migrants, who were found in good health. “The police did not believe this version, and so, after informing the duty magistrate, Deputy Prosecutor Cosimo Bottacci, they handcuffed the four sailors from Monopoli on charges of violating the provisions of Article 3 of the Martelli law and of facilitating paid clandestine entry into Italy. The fishing boat was also seized. (Text section continued in the column): The 34 Albanian clandestine migrants detained in the fishing boat’s refrigerator had paid to come to Italy. The refrigerator hatch revealed that the migrants were inside the dark, enclosed compartment. Yesterday in Albania ALBANIAN CHESS CHAMPION DERVISHI MISSES THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP — Having won the Albanian championship? being held in Slovakia, Erald Dervishi, the 14-year-old from Durrës who a few days ago was proclaimed European champion for his marathon, was unable to repeat another success. “Our athletes,” said coach Fatos Muço, International Master, “were unable to perform as they should at this time because of the problems of the federation and the Chess Federation, which delayed the paperwork until the last 24 hours before departure.” SERREQI: “WE WILL DIFFERENTIATE MONTENEGRO FROM SERBIA” — “The Albanian government is taking a position between Montenegro and Serbia in order to bring Albania into the region.” If Montenegro has taken a stand on its position regarding Kosovo, Sandžak and Vojvodina; has accepted international observers monitoring its borders and has accepted the Vance plan for resolving the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” “This is an important event for Albanian-Montenegrin relations. In Tirana, Foreign Minister Serriçe denies his role. Migorad Leqik.

Three Albanians involved in prostitution The news is extremely curious and dramatic at the same time. The Albanian migrants in Italy, Kosovo? 29 years old, Polizi, Kugo, 30 years old, were arrested by the Bari Carabinieri on suspicion of being accomplices in the crime of exploiting prostitution. The prostitution was being exploited by another Albanian, a 22-year-old girl, who was “sold” to Italians for 100,000 lire. So far, a dramatic story of emigration and exploitation. The curiosity grows when the Italian Carabinieri explain that Polizi Konstantin and Polizi had been the girl who brought them in for a day, for reasons that understandably have not been stated. “Distributing her name,” she had turned to the two migrants for “protection,” but the shadowy figures were not the ones forcing her into prostitution; rather, they were clients who did not pay her. Or rather, paid her with counterfeit money. The clients handed her counterfeit 10,000-, 50,000- and 100,000-lire notes, and when the Albanian girl was prostituting herself on the streets of Bari, it seems that she had once received a large amount of such banknotes. That gave her the idea of paying them back with her own money in order to protect herself. Here is the third part of the story. It could be called “the first event’s twin.” To get “protection,” to be “protected,” the two friends asked the girl to pay. Of course, she paid—and how? She paid her two accomplices with the same two counterfeit 100,000-lire notes with which she had been cheated by her clients the day before. The two did not realize it, but the Carabinieri uncovered it. And so, for Polizi Kugo, who was holding the counterfeit banknote, the prospect of being arrested for counterfeit money began to take shape. In addition, fraud. They ended up in prison; the girl returned to the pavement.

EDMOND HAJDERI The effects of hydrocarbon assimilation in different organisms vary, of course, according to their level of development, the type and quantity of hydrocarbons, the duration of their effects on the organisms, and so on. The sinking of the small tanker “Florida” off the coast of the U.S.A. caused 40 tons of oil to spill into the sea; it contained 41% aromatic hydrocarbons, which are highly toxic. Nevertheless, although the amount of hydrocarbons spilled was small compared with other accidents, the effects on marine fauna were so severe that it took more than five years for the previous benthic communities to become established again. The most harmful hydrocarbons are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can become concentrated at different levels of the food chain, thus posing a potential risk to people who eat fish and other marine organisms originating from polluted areas. Their concentration in marine organisms depends greatly on the organisms’ ability to accumulate and metabolize these compounds. They are deposited on the seabed mainly through sediment, so areas with a high lipid content can accumulate more of these substances and prove more dangerous than those with a lower lipid content. On the other hand, crustaceans and fish have the ability to metabolize and eliminate hydrocarbons; this is not observed in mollusks, which can accumulate hydrocarbons at concentrations several times higher than those found in other organisms. Since their elimination takes place slowly over time, this results in a chronic increase. For this reason, aquaculture facilities should be built far from areas that may be polluted by oil and its products. Tumors or precancerous conditions have been observed in benthic fish and bivalve mollusks that live for long periods at depth in areas polluted by hydrocarbons. One indicator that seafood has been polluted by petroleum by-products is its unpleasant smell. Although this is often used as a guide, it does not show the exact level of hydrocarbon concentration in these organisms. In humans, the carcinogenic risk appears to be minimal because intestinal absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is low. Epidemiological studies have not shown any evident link between gastrointestinal cancer and petroleum hydrocarbons accumulated in fish and mollusks. The incidence of this disease increases when the population’s diet is dominated by smoked fish, which becomes enriched with polycyclic hydrocarbons during smoking. It remains advisable to determine the extent to which seafood containing polycyclic hydrocarbons influences the development of tumors. 3. — End. (The two previous parts were published in the newspapers dated 3/7/93 and 17/7/93)