Currency traders: “The cause is the sky-high interest offered on deposits” The US dollar and other currencies are rapidly losing value against the Albanian currency Demand for lekë has risen in the market at a time when waves of foreign currency have flooded it The foundations’ higher interest rates have prompted people to exchange foreign currency for the local currency TIRANA - The “pyramid scheme” business has begun to show its effects on the currency markets as well. In just a few days, the pace at which the US dollar is losing value against the Albanian currency has accelerated. Yesterday, 1 USD cost only 102 lekë. Other currencies, too, have been unable to escape this depreciation, following the downward path of their “parent” currency. Currency traders say that one cause of this upheaval in the money markets is, among other things, the increase in interest rates on lekë deposits offered by foundations such as “Populli” and “Xhaferri”. Attracted by the extremely high interest rates they offer, thousands of citizens are rushing to exchange their foreign-currency reserves on the market for local currency, then deposit them for a very handsome return. The channels of the money markets were continuously awash with dollars yesterday, while the Albanian “lek” has become increasingly scarce and much sought after. Alongside depositors, some traders are also affected: part of their money is being absorbed by businesses offering these high returns. This appears to be another factor that has caused demand for foreign currency to fall. On page 11

Elections / Steering Committee meeting today TIRANA - The Socialists’ Steering Committee is expected to turn into an arena of fierce accusations and controversy today. “Let us continue and assess the facts of election manipulation” is the phrase that the SP Presidency has now chosen to guide today’s meeting of the General Steering Committee. In this way, it is seeking to “flush out” some members of the Socialist Party’s top forum. “Nano and the Presidency are responsible for our losing the local elections,” they have accused, led in their public statements by former party deputy chairman Meta and Luan Hajdaraga. On page 3

Search begins for the missing speedboat operator

A desperate appeal by witnesses at the trial GENOCIDE 5 TIRANA - The persecuted are asking their persecutors, in the courtroom, for the remains of their loved ones. “We do not want revenge, but if you have any compassion, tell us where you buried our fathers, so that at least we can give them a ...

TIRANA - The persecuted people from this district are asking their persecutors, in the courtroom, for the remains of their loved ones. TIRANA - The persecuted people from this district a grave” — yesterday, three witnesses from Korça in the trial of nine people accused of crimes against humanity asked Marash Kola, the former head of the Department of Internal Affairs in Korça, to tell them where their loved ones had been executed. At the trial, which resumed yesterday, it was requested that former heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zylfytar Ramizidi and Hekuran Isai, also come to testify. They were requested by the lawyer for former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Hysen Shahu, to testify about the position of the Sigurimi regarding proposals for political internment. On page 9 During the “Antigonea” trial

His car impounded TIRANA - The mystery surrounding the trail in the murder of Xhemal Shullazi, 48, from Tirana, who was shot on Monday just a few hundred meters from the center of the capital, has been cleared up. The name of the suspected perpetrator has been entered in the files of Police Station No. 3: he is Altin Demiri, 22, who is believed to have shot him for revenge. A wanted notice has now been issued for Demiri; since Monday he has been on the run, and it is suspected that he has not yet managed to leave Tirana. The police have managed to impound the vehicle Demiri used to flee after committing the crime—a Volkswagen with Durrës license plates. On page 9

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FROM AROUND THE WORLD On page 2

The owner complained that his car had been held without cause; a rare incident astonishes all of Kuçovë KUÇOVË - He burns his luxury car to protest an unjust action by the police. A young man from Kuçovë set fire to his new car—which he had bought for 40 thousand dollars—because it had been impounded at the police station. After the documents were checked and the young man insisted that everything was in accordance with the law, he decided to take the unusual step of setting the car on fire as soon as it regained the “freedom” of which it had been unjustly deprived for three days. The unusual incident happened yesterday afternoon in the central square of the town of Kuçovë. The police had impounded a CHEVROLET car, bought for 40 thousand dollars, on suspicion that it had been stolen. Its owner had insisted to the traffic police inspectors that the documents he had were entirely in order. But his “individuals” did not convince them, and they acted on their suspicions and “detained” the car at the police station. After the documents were checked, it turned out that everything was in order—the process took three days—and the car was given permission to return to “freedom.” But the insulted young man had prepared a bad fate for his CHEVROLET: he insisted on burning it in the square in front of the police station. But the police allowed him to do so, and the young man set the scene for the unusual protest a few hundred meters farther away. He doused the car with gasoline and, in front of a small crowd of onlookers, set it ablaze in Kuçovë’s central square.

TIRANA - Tirana - Partizani at 18:00. It is not a dream, but a reality. The two best-known football teams in Albania will inaugurate the lights at the “Qemal Stafa” National Stadium. For the first time in the history of Albanian football, fans will have the opportunity to watch a match under floodlights. It will be the most traditional derby in Albanian football, Tirana - Partizani, played under the artificial lights of the “Qemal Stafa” Stadium. A last-minute decision has moved the match from “Selman Stërmasi” to “Qemal Stafa” and scheduled it for 18:00. This is the first time a match in Albania will be played under artificial lights, and it is fortunate—and also an honour that both teams deserve—for the two best-known teams in our country to inaugurate these lights. In this way, the dream of many fans will also become a reality; they will surely turn out in large numbers today.

VLORË - A group of fishing boats and speedboats owned by people from Vlorë have begun searching in the country’s territorial waters, while the family has also appealed to the Italian authorities for help, asking them to do the same in their territorial waters. On page 9

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