Elbasan, in hospitals not only workers but also citizens Blood poisoning alarm The "Metalurgical effect" reappears The old fear has returned to the scene, but now in a more massive form. Workers in the factories and plants of the Metallurgy and ferrochrome sector have been found with high doses of poison in their blood. The information was made known by the Toxicology laboratory of Elbasan On page 5

With love, with honesty CARLO BOLLINO TIRANA - I first came to Albania five years ago. It was July 1990 and, among others, I was arrested together with those who were coming to Vlorë interested in tourism. The regime, at that time, did not like "shazzerat" and therefore preferred that I not declare my profession at the border. However, the lady from the insurance agency, who had been placed in the group with me, discovered it, and shortly before leaving I was also "discovered" by a state journalist: I was ashamed, I admitted that I was a journalist, I asked for forgiveness and the first thing I understood was that in Albania you could not lie. A lie does not last long. Since then I have not lied. I know Albania well, with its ladies, its offices, its spirit, from the visa I received at the embassy in Rome, the regime’s first visa to enter Albania. At that time Tirana was a chaotic city, the people were preparing for the first free elections and Kavajës Street had become the heart of free Albania’s fate: it was the headquarters of the Democratic Party. There, in those days, we met only a few people who today are at the head of the country. In the months that followed, I remember two people, a man and a woman, swept up in a crowd of people: he would later become very famous, I have never seen the woman again. It was the night of 23 March 1992: both of them were weeping with joy. The famous man and the joyful woman were united by the same emotion. I wrote in my newspaper: "After many years of fratricidal hatred, Albania is living the end of national reconciliation." I am proud to have been a witness. At that time foreigners stood out clearly: people stopped us in the street, followed us, waved to us, greeted us with wet eyes raised high in a sign of congratulations, while in the cold "isia lug", the cold, in those months, I got to know the Albanian people. I believe that one lifetime is enough to truly get to know another people and I have spent the best part of my life in Albania to absorb the mysterious, secret, complex and simple essence of Albanian culture. About the things I have gained, I prefer not to speak, but I keep them like a precious treasure. Yet, tragically, I love Albania. I love it as many foreigners do who come and return: ten, a hundred, thousands of times. I love it and will love it, even though often — as happens to all lovers — I fear I have not been able to express it enough. I am writing these lines, making this long introduction, to tell you, my readers, that from today I will no longer be editor-in-chief of Gazeta Shqiptare. For some time, Bottesi has asked me to return to Italy to take up a new and important position at "La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno". I resisted this offer for so long believing — and perhaps still believing — that nothing can cause more dissatisfaction than editing a new newspaper in a friendly country and among friends. But today I have decided to accept it. Why now and not before? Perhaps because I believe my role has now been fulfilled. My aim from the very first day was to create a newspaper with European characteristics: I hired other Albanians with modern concepts, I preferred people with free ideas and opinions, I encouraged them to experience new European experiences; they learned a new way of working; I encouraged fresh ideas, with journalists used to writing honestly and with love. I think the standards of journalism must advance with professionalism and ethics. I believe the journalists of this newspaper will continue their mission with the same honesty. In Italy I will not forget anything I learned from Albanians five years ago. My people and my colleagues will remain close to me. I am convinced it will be a short phase and soon I will return to this beloved country. In the end I want to greet my dear readers and thank everyone who has helped me during these five years. I had to learn strange words at first, but nothing impressed me more than the position of their hearts, which always remains in my heart; I discovered human values and principles that in Italy, in Europe, no longer exist. I have left many friends, problems, pain, and at times deep misunderstandings, but none of these have dimmed my passion for your country. I understood that your words (who better than you can understand me?) mean being an emigrant and mean leaving your home and your loved ones to follow a dream. And I am now understanding, as an emigrant, what it means to abandon that dream and return home. My dream was to build a newspaper: I hand it over to the Albanian readers, in whose name it has always respected intelligence, truthfulness and civility. I have had the privilege, as a journalist, of seeing the newspaper born and guiding it; now I leave it to my colleagues, who carry out this work with love. Because I too love Gazeta Shqiptare it will survive.

An airplane explodes The wreckage of the plane On page 2

At 8:00 he was taken by the police Here is the landscape of the next day: the cemeteries regain their calm Nano a few moments before departure On page 3

Yesterday was the final PS meeting for the 24 electoral districts in the capital On page 3

The Ministry of Defence directs the moves Spy planes in Gjadër On page 5

TIRANA - In Turkey now without visas. Starting from 1 January all Albanians will only have to complete a simple formality at the border, without having to go first to the Turkish Embassy in Tirana. The decision was taken by the Turkish Government itself and was announced yesterday by the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The news will certainly be a pleasant surprise for the many Albanian traders who do business with Turkey.

Just a few days after the former Minister denied any involvement in the events of 2 April, the Chairman of the Order Committee submits the evidence On page 5

PD leader in Peqin Tritan Shehu On page 3

KRUJË On page 5

SHKODËR On page 5

Mysterious disappearance of the original cassette. Piracy or politics? On Tuesday, the screen showed the "double" on VHS TIRANA - "The Last Hunt" has fallen prey to something. The humorous film, also known as "Sillo", has disappeared from the archives of Albanian Television. The frantic searches by the institution’s employees, who on Tuesday, when the comedy film was supposed to be brought to the screen, had to replace the work with a copy of the film reproduced on VHS, broke out. The programming, from one attempt to another, was difficult. The film had been broadcast and everything seemed in order, although the sterile nuances, the sound and everything of the film were missing. Shot about two years earlier, the humorous television series featuring the bodyguard of the former number one leader of the Albanian state was, for a few weeks, part of the local offering and the foreign one. On Tuesday, on the fifth anniversary of the uprising of the Democratic Party, the program is described as having been scheduled. But in the Television archive, the searches have yielded no result. No document indicating the current whereabouts of the original cassette of "The Last Hunt". The film’s planned screening and its failure to arrive seem to stem from the suspected duplication of the second copy. So the staff that night decided to broadcast the VHS. The amateur transmission system, in an emergency, seems somewhat awkward, yet the work. The original’s "double", a copy of the film, was taken from the home of one of the Television employees and was put on air directly. While the "tragedy" of the wandering archive remains a mystery, at least the original cassette, it seems, belongs to the lost holdings of the television archive. There are two versions of the rumor; the one that seems most likely is the cassette’s destination on the black market for commercial tape piracy. But the disappearance of the film, after months of irony toward the former regime, may also have the motive of a political "crime". Everything is certain, the work, yesterday of the realized body, and the truth confirmed by TVSH, under the address and the arms of the kidnappers "Intellectuals". Sokol Balla Koço Devole

Divorce figures Tirana holds the record for couples separating On page 7

BERAT On page 7

On page 6

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