Last night in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s resolution TIRANË - The European Parliament and the OSCE have finally made their position clear: the elections in Albania must be repeated. Yesterday—perhaps coincidentally on the same day—the two powerful bodies spoke out in their respective ways. During a lengthy debate in Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament, the May 26 elections in Albania and the problems that followed were also discussed. Afterward, the group of left-wing MEPs called for the adoption of a resolution specifically demanding that the parliamentary elections in Albania be repeated. The right-wing members objected, but a vote was then held, with the result 100 to 70 in favor of the resolution condemning the Albanian elections. Yesterday afternoon in Vienna, Cotti, the current OSCE Chairman and Foreign Minister of the Swiss Confederation, also spoke about events in Albania. Cotti said that his organization would most likely call for the elections to be repeated throughout Albania, because of the violence and serious concerns regarding the verification of the May 26 vote. The Swiss official added, however, that the OSCE could not impose any sanctions on Albania if the latter did not accept the proposals put forward by his well-known organization. On page 3 Strasbourg above during the voting in the last elections

Debate in Parliament on the elections ROME - The issue of the Albanian parliamentary elections has reached the Italian Parliament. Yesterday, Italy’s official position was explained to the deputies by the Deputy Foreign Minister himself, Rino Serri. According to him, Italy is also aware of the violations and irregularities recorded on May 26, but prefers to reiterate its friendship toward official Albania, as long as the situation in the region requires the existing balance to be preserved. On page 3 Rome

TIRANE - “August 31 will be the final date for using the red passports.” This was also announced last Thursday by the Ministry of the Interior. “After this date,” it explained, “the only passport that will be valid, whether issued by the state or used as an identity document, will be the new burgundy-colored passport.” Thus, after a period of “coexistence” between the two passports—the new and the old—the ministry has definitively set the validity period of the former. Since March of last year—the month when the new passports were taken out of circulation—the deadline for using the existing ones has been extended several times by the Public Order authorities. Nevertheless, according to senior police officials... The use of both passports was intended to ease the heavy anticipated flow of applications at police stations, and this arrangement has lasted almost a year and a half. At the same time, assurances have been given that every measure has been taken to handle all applications from Albanians for new passports: passport-section employees are working full-time in two shifts, and the time required to issue them has been reduced from 15 to 10 days. The announcement distributed by the Ministry of the Interior clarified that anyone with foreign visas in an old-model passport may use those visas until the end of 1996, or earlier if the visa expires before then. Meanwhile, all citizens are being informed that the passport pages are of extended validity, and after the end of the year the visa must be transferred to the new passports. Police stations have issued the following number of passports to date: 400,000. The main feature of the “burgundy color” is a much higher level of security against forgery, and, naturally, a neater appearance...

TIRANE On page 7 VLORE Robbery VLORË Masked robbery in broad daylight On page 5 FIER Bread fraud: underweight On page 5

INTERNMENTS: THE VERDICT YESTERDAY INTERNMENTS THE VERDICT YESTERDAY Judges hand down three life sentences Asllani, Mura and Cani listen to the verdict Justice once again sentences former senior leaders for the internments. The two judges have sentenced three former leaders to life imprisonment: Foto Çami, Prokop Murra and Muho Asllani. On page 5

Gjirokastër, police and bomb-disposal experts surround the premises, but it was all a hoax Bomb alert at the Greek consulate A mysterious phone call warns from Athens GJIROKASTER - “A bomb has been planted in the consulate. It will explode at 2:30 p.m.” The mysterious phone call from Greece puts the entire city on alert. The Gji-

GJIROKASTER - “A bomb has been placed at the consulate. It will explode at 2:30 p.m.” GJIROKASTER - “A bomb has been placed at phone call from Greece put the whole city on alert. The Gjirokastër police station, along with special forces, surrounded and searched the entire area for hours, but fortunately the warning was false. The Greek consul told reporters that there was no need to panic. On page 5

From the world MOSCOW - “It seemed that everything would be postponed, but that did not happen with the second round of the presidential elections in Russia.” This was declared yesterday by an aide to Russian President Boris Jelcin, who said that a powerful coup had fortunately been averted. The coup announced by Jelcin’s aide was followed by Jelcin dismissing three senior officials. It appears that the country’s President has the situation under control, especially after his latest electoral move of appointing Lebed chairman of the country’s Security Council. Many analysts consider the alliance Jelcin formed with the runner-up immediately after the election results—the third-place candidate on Sunday—to be precisely the move that has brought the incumbent President closer to victory in the second round of elections, which will be held on Wednesday, July 3. On page 2

EURO ’96 Italy-Germany, USD 150,000 in bets Record figure in Tirana for Wednesday’s match TIRANA - “Football’s gift”. They gave away goals, but in the end the German “Fritz” won—or rather, those who had bet on Berti Vogts’s team. Although their team did not win, the bets were still in their favor. But the real winners were those who had stayed in the middle, that is, those who bet on a draw. Even though English bookmakers had listed a 0-0 result as the most likely, those who collected their winnings still won double. This is because the draw sent the betting figures soaring around the world. In Tirana, in the final hour, the picture changed for the Italy-Germany match. From bets on an Italian victory, “the Italians” shifted to betting on a draw, while the Germans were betting more heavily. The people in charge did not want to disclose how much more was bet, because one of the matches played in Tirana had already attracted a large pool of bets from the very first match. Naturally, if for every attempt people keep moving their bets around in order to cash in at the end, noting the match’s events, then even when they are paying out more, they still have bets on the match and on the Euro final. This was only for the excitement of not being in the second match. In Albania, where Germany’s victory was expected, the total amount of money wagered reached 150,000 dollars. From Albania to England. Thanks to a huge number of people placing bets on the match, the amount of money involved was considerable. Thus, for the first match alone, the Italy-Germany game, Albania to England. According to the statistics, the group had also produced the betting odds. Qualification for the semifinals was priced at 8:1; Spain at 4:1, France at 5:4, Holland at 2:1, Germany at 4:1, Croatia at 6:1, Portugal as even money, the Czech Republic at 13:5; against the Colombians, Shërerar at 13 and Klinsmann at 5:2.

“But we played well” Sacchi takes a beating. The entire press is against him: “Arrigo, you’d better resign.” But he has hit back: “I have a contract that binds me to the national team for another two years, and I intend to honor it.” German joy and “regret” over Italy’s elimination. Klinsmann: “I’m sorry, I’m truly very sorry, but we only did our duty.” On page 8

Asllani, Mura and Cani listen to the verdict

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