Parliament convenes. Vranicki fails to reach consensus The OSCE mediator proposes 40 seats allocated proportionally: “Most of these should go to the small parties” Back-to-back meetings but no concrete result. Last night, a brawl in Parliament Vranicki does not return to Vienna and issues an ultimatum: “Be careful. Without consensus, we will review election monitoring” On page 3 The Fino proposal enters Parliament. Arbënori: “Please be generous with all the proposals. Consider them calmly, one by one” On page 4 TIRANA - No agreement between the parties, while this is the second time this week that the chief mediator from Vienna has attempted to resolve the dispute. Between the “Rogner,” Fino and Berisha, Franc Vranicki appears truly exhausted and frustrated, while he has told reporters that for now the only hope lies in the votes of PD MPs. Vranicki has managed to persuade the leaders of this party to bring Fino’s election law before Parliament as well. But yesterday was filled with difficult and often absurd hours. Meeting after meeting, Vranicki brings everyone together and then meets with them separately, while nothing changes up to 8:30 p.m. On pages 3–4

TIRANA - An armed clash outside “Ismail Qemali” High School. A quarrel among several young people, which began for reasons unknown, led them to draw their weapons and fire at one another. Bullets pierced the windows of a car and several nearby businesses; fortunately, there were no fatalities, only one person was slightly injured. The people who had been shot at then immediately fled, and around forty armed police officers wearing bulletproof vests arrived at the scene, blocking the entire road and the Lana River, where it was suspected that one of the shooters might be hiding. It was 11:10 when the first gunshots were heard. The police had just completed a search operation at a business in front of the television station, where they had been notified that a bomb had been placed, when another incident was reported over their radio. Right next to the high school’s perimeter wall, an “Audi” was parked on the pavement, and a bullet had pierced its front window, on the driver’s side. Three minutes after the incident—the eyewitnesses say it was one of the young men, and then someone fired a gun—large numbers of police arrived at the scene and, wearing balaclavas, began a thorough search of every recess along the Lana River. The banks and hiding places were searched by the police, who cordoned off around 400 metres of the river, after someone said that one of the people who had fired was hiding in one of the river’s recesses. While the police had blocked the road, the high school students left the school.

NANO “We want to protect the small parties” We proposed several key points to Vranicki On page 3

GODO “There was no agreement with Vranicki” PR defended the version of the government’s draft On page 3

SPORT Football: the championship is dead On page 7

15 people injured. Six in serious condition in Ioannina A crate of shells fell during transport. Explosion at the depot GJIROKASTËR - “We ran, and the flames were chasing us. There was no way to escape.” The harrowing testimony of a senior officer about what only luck prevented from becoming the Picari tragedy is chilling. He is himself one of at least 15 people seriously injured in the explosion at the military depots in the village of Picar, just 18 kilometres from Gjirokastër. “I still don’t know how I survived, but it was certainly a miracle,” he says, wrapped in bandages all over his body, badly burned by the flames. On page 2

VLORË “Alba” brings a hospital The Italian mission unloaded the equipment yesterday On page 2

POGRADEC Family massacre: 5 killed Shot by the husband at home On page 2

THE FIRST PRESIDENT FROM ABROAD Berisha from Dajti to the Presidency TIRANA - Who was Berisha in February 1991? What was his role as head of the revolt until he became head of state? We can speak in greater detail about this with someone who knew him closely and knew the turbulent days of 1991. One of them is Franz Cusicin, a witness, biographer and well-known journalist, who knows Berisha of that period particularly well and has been acquainted with him for several years. Cusicini recently published in a special magazine a book containing his recollections of meeting Berisha: “Everything happened in a café in the lobby of Hotel Dajti,” the Italian writes, looking further with the same interest at a man who would become Albania’s leading figure. The story of this event, which now seems to have come to an end, concludes with a testimony, a Hotel “Tirana,” and another image with the Ambassador of Dërisa. As this account draws to a close, we have the opportunity to believe also in the parts of their relationship. This is about his relationship with Berisha and the thoughts prompted by this photograph of him. On page 5

“History” loses Pollo TIRANA - Another veteran name in Albanian historiography closed his eyes forever yesterday in Tirana. Stefanaq Pollo, one of the best-known figures in Albanology, is no longer alive. His loss is a heavy blow to Albanian history. After the deaths of Buda, Pepo, Pulaha and others, this witness too has passed away. Pollo was one of those who founded the science of Albanian studies, through their work. He belonged to the category of people who devoted their entire adult lives and careers to it. He was one of the few historians who knew history so well. At the University of Tirana and later at the Academy of Sciences, where he headed the Institute of History for many years, Pollo was involved in almost every scholarly initiative undertaken, generation after generation, by old and young researchers. That is why his death has caused so much sorrow, not only among those who worked together with him, but also among the many students he taught throughout his career, and among aspiring historians who had the opportunity to read his works as they studied the history of their country. Pollo’s death also marks the loss of a great man in his field, and Albania still needed people like him. Albania is accompanied by the memory of his work, and by the condolences of all the Professor’s relatives.