Alarm at Sudja. The counters remain closed Press conference by the Monetary Fund mission on economic reform “We do not know the exact nature of the companies, so we hope transparency will be ensured soon” Anxiety outside Sudja’s office. News of its bankruptcy has left thousands of people mourning in the morning “1996 was a difficult year for Albania’s public finances. The deficit has widened and inflation is higher” TIRANË - “Pyramid schemes” became yesterday’s main news. While, on one floor of the Ministry of Finance, representatives of an IMF mission were telling journalists their views about the business that has “drawn in” Albanians, out on the street the “pyramid scheme” issue took on the tones of a drama. Hundreds of people stood for hours, hopeful and afraid, in front of the closed counters of “Sudja”, which for days have not been taking in or paying out a “breath”. And perhaps almost simultaneously, police forces carried out a lightning operation, disturbing [unclear] people and seizing 50 thousand dollars as remnants of the fatal escape of the president of the “Grunasi” company, which had exchanged millions of dollars with its clients. IMF representatives said yesterday that they do not know the true nature of the pyramid-scheme business, but if it is not a normal business, the risks are considerable. They are asking Parliament and the Commission that will be set up specifically for this purpose to urgently ensure the necessary transparency by establishing the relevant facts. Articles on page 7 Yesterday outside the counters of “Sudja” (Above). Yesterday at the press conference with the IMF (Photo: P. Iho)

Sudja: “Operations will resume in 13 days” On page 7

The Grunasi case: 7 people end up behind bars On page 7

Çeka and Gjinushi ready to sign a new grouping Çeka: “Kalakulla and Driza in our alliance” Amnesty for Nano PS silent; centrists split in two PS: “No comment” on Nano’s pardon. Liberal Democrats divided into two camps TIRANË - Albanian politics has brought the Nano issue to the fore. A request submitted to Berisha’s office for the pardon of the opposition leader appears to have sparked the first reactions from Albanian politicians. While the Socialists are making no comment, the leaders of the PSD and PAD have taken different sides. Gjinushi - TIRANË - Another Albanian political formation? “We are close to creating a ‘Pole of Freedom’,” Natan Çeka comments on the project idea he has with his counterpart Gjinushi. The PPD, as well as the Partia Lidhja Popullor, appear to be two of the other political forces that may join the “Pole of Freedom”. The idea put forward by the president of the Liberal Democrats seems to reflect the preferences of the co-leaders of the Pole of the Center to look, apparently, further to the right, in search of the most stable possible position in the Center. “Our alliances must be concentrated well to the right,” says Çeka, thus revealing the latest plan of the Albanian centrists. Çeka - TIRANË - Kalakulla and Driza in our alliance. On page 3 Gjinushi; Çeka

A man dies from

FOOD INSPECTORATE “Adulterated oil is sold on the market” TIRANA - A market test has revealed grotesque figures for the adulteration of vegetable oil and olive oil. The Food Control Inspectorate has found that 98 percent of the market consists of falsified products. Labels that do not match the contents of the bottles, mixtures of vegetable oil with soybean, rapeseed or cottonseed oil, high acidity in the vegetable oil, and the moisture percentage—all far outside the standard parameters. On page 5

TIRANA - “Journalists, like all other citizens, must respect and obey the law. The press is indeed free, but you cannot write whatever you want in a newspaper.” This is what Adnand Xhelili, Tirana’s chief prosecutor, said following reports published in the press about the opening of a criminal case against the director of the newspaper “Albania”, Ylli Rakipi. The case against Rakipi is the latest that the Albanian justice system has opened against a journalist. But, regarding this, Xhelili explained that “The opening of criminal proceedings against Rakipi has nothing to do with any political motive or with an infringement of press freedom in Albania.” There is a complaint against him, Xhelili said, signed by Azem Hajdari, just as one might be signed by an ordinary citizen, and we are conducting an investigation into it; before it is completed, it cannot be said who is right. The justice system respects a free press, but journalists must also respect and obey the laws of the state, since, as journalists, they have an additional opportunity to demonstrate this respect.” (me.k)i

KORÇË A man dies from the poliovirus On page 5

SHKODËR Lightning and floodwaters kill two people On page 5

FIER “Gun battle” between police officers On page 5

BERAT She abandons him: this baby is an idiot The husband forces his wife to take the fatal step BERAT - “I don’t want a stupid child in the house.” Otherwise, take the baby and bring it to your parents’ house.” The ultimatum, given four days ago by a citizen from Berat who had just become a father and had accidentally learned that his wife had given birth to a child with a congenital defect—called “buzean” or a born idiot—left the new mother apparently with no other option. She secretly left the maternity hospital, leaving the unfortunate baby in the hands of the doctors, who now shrug their shoulders about the child’s future. Citizen H. L., a resident of Starovë, a village just two kilometres from Berat, is the protagonist of this unusual story. On November 19, she gave birth normally to a boy, whom doctors initially found to have a heart defect. But while the doctors continued treating the baby, his mother suddenly left the maternity hospital. Someone had told her that her baby had been born with a mental illness, and her husband forced her to take the fatal step. But the doctors are still cautious about their prognosis. “The result from the laboratory in Tirana, which would confirm our suspicion, has not arrived yet,” says the director of the maternity hospital, first ward. According to Dr. Pipas, the child is as such and is developing normally like all the others, but they remain irresponsible. He says that perhaps the child was not one to be abandoned in a decisive departure from the village, and that she will certainly go to her parents. The midwife says that the woman left on Friday and left the baby at the hospital, saying they could take it wherever they wanted. “My husband won’t accept me at home with the baby,” the unfortunate woman had told the nurse, perhaps taking the fatal step with a mother’s pain. h. t.

The queue in front of the “Sude” counters (above). The queue at the press conference with the IMF (Photo: P. Iho)

“Sold in the market