DOCUMENT / How a strike in Vlora was secretly monitored The union under SHIK’s surveillance Berisha approves the new chairman proposed by Fino SHIK document on the Vlora strike The new chairman, 37-year-old Karkini, worked at the Kavaja Prosecutor’s Office and was proposed for the post of head of SHIK by the Republicans TIRANA - Not even the Teachers’ Unions had escaped SHIK surveillance. The documentation presented shows the information that the branch of the Secret Service in Vlora sent to its headquarters in Tirana regarding an economic strike launched by the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Albania. It contains all kinds of details: who organized the strike, how many teachers took part, how many were from village schools and how many from the city. It gives the total number of teachers, schools, kindergartens, and female educators. It also says how and where the strike was held, where people gathered, and how far they had dispersed after it ended. Meanwhile, yesterday, after many negotiations, the President of the Republic appointed the new head of the National Intelligence Service by decree. Arben Karkini—according to yesterday’s media reports—is the new head of this organization. A resident of Kavaja, 37-year-old Karkini completed his studies at the Faculty of Law in 1991–94 and worked as a prosecutor at the Kavaja Prosecutor’s Office. Yesterday he took over the reins of the most neutral sector at this time.

They remember it for the special forces Vlora, a burst of gunfire hits Alba’s helicopter It was carrying a family Alba mission forces in the city of Vlora On page 5

FIER Police Commissioner seriously wounded On page 5

VLORA Giglio: “They also shot at us with an antiaircraft gun” On page 5

“Kola should receive the winnings” TRIANE - Relations between the publishers of “Klan” and Miss Kola, who has sued them for libel and…, grew tense yesterday.

Controversy over the dismissals: “They are illegal” The INSIG case goes to court Malaj: “Administrative move” TIRANA - The court battle began between Finance Minister Malaj and INSIG executives over the dismissals ordered by administrative decree. Dishanuk was summoned by Minister Malaj to resolve this labor dispute. The Government of Reconciliation should reach a “reconciliation” and the Ministry of Finance should withdraw its decision. Meanwhile, Malaj’s lawyer denounced the court’s decision to suspend… as being based on the law…

Elections: here are the strong pairings

Here, from the Miss pageant. TIRANA – has sued them for defamation and violation of her dignity, deteriorated yesterday. While the two journalists, Armand Shkullaku, editor-in-chief, and Andi Bushati, the author of the interview with Kola, were not in the courtroom, her lawyer requested that, if they refuse to appear before the judges, they impose even a custodial measure on them. Another accused person, who had been absent at the first hearing, was also present at yesterday’s hearing. Piro Nace, the photographer who took the picture of Kola wearing a thin garment, through which parts of her body are clearly visible. If that day he had pressed the camera shutter, ultimately capturing a rare beauty, he did not know that because of that shot he would be obliged to come to court, from where he would now leave more easily without being fined. Meanwhile, a request has also been made public in his case. “The latest income and ... – from the issue in which the photograph of Kola’s dispute was published”, Nevertheless, yesterday’s hearing was poorly attended and the proceedings were postponed to another day. The request concerning the refusal at the first trial hearing, sought by the magazine’s publishers, [the testimony?] seems to be continuing, and [it?] will not be forever on the backs of newspapers that have an open conflict with

TIRANA – The hearing began in court from their positions. Yesterday morning, the director of INSIG company, Qemal Disha, was in court, where, together with his lawyer, he presented his claims to the court concerning the Finance Ministry’s decision on transfers and dismissals at the head of the company. Meanwhile, Malaj’s lawyer also presented counterarguments, which, according to him, fully justify the Ministry’s decision. “No reasons have been given for the removal from office. The legal basis for this administrative order has not been specified. Disha was not Government of National Reconciliation has a limited and provisional mandate” – these were some of the arguments put forward by INSIG’s lawyer before Judge Luan Daci. The lawyer, observing that all of this was illegal, even showed a decision by former Finance Minister Genc Ruli, which stated that the director and supervisory board would remain in office until this state-owned company became a joint-stock company. After presenting his arguments, INSIG’s lawyer asked for the case to be concluded with a “settlement” and for the Finance Ministry to to suspend the minister’s order as legally grounded, although, he said, the Court of Appeal would resolve this. He began his defense by presenting the law on INSIG to the court. “It is a state-owned, non-budgetary enterprise and is under the Ministry of Finance,” he said. Consequently, according to lawyer Përmeti, Disha’s transfer and replacement were within the minister’s authority, since Disha was appointed to another position in the same Ministry. (me.ki)

BERAT A gang of robbers [held] the village teachers Held hostage for several hours On page 5

REPORTAGE The great adventure of the journey to the South Witnesses recount: “Here’s how we escaped the attack by teenage robbers” On page 6

VLORË Citizens in the Square: Otranto remembered “Enough with indifference” On page 5

“Playing” with a gun. Tragedy in a rural family / While playing in bed with an automatic rifle “Playing” with a gun. Tragedy in a rural family Berat, toddler kills his mother While playing in bed with an automatic rifle BERAT — Instead of toys, she gave the child a Kalashnikov, but this cost the young woman Tre…? Caje her life, 20 kilometers northeast of Berat, where an 18-month-old child took the life of his pregnant mother. She had laid the child down to put him to sleep in the marital bed, family members say. The little boy began to cry and wanted to play with a Kalashnikov. The woman, who had offered the child the gun on other occasions too, made a move that contributed to the tragedy, thinking that the gun was unloaded. Then she herself lay down on the bed and breastfed her son. According to family members, the child seems to have pressed the rifle’s trigger with his foot, and a bullet (the only one in the gun) was directed at his mother’s forehead, passing through her head and then ending up in the wall above the bed. No one else was at home at that moment. The victim’s husband was playing billiards in a nearby village. After hearing the gunshot, relatives and neighbors of the victim, who entered the bedroom, tried to help her. The woman was still bleeding, and they immediately took her to the hospital in Lushnjë. When they arrived, the doctors could do nothing; the woman had died on the way. Quite a few such cases have been recorded in Albania recently. Weapons, dangerous in anyone’s hands, have been fatal in children’s hands. A few months ago, another little boy from Durrës killed his 23-year-old mother with his policeman father’s gun, while only recently a child in Elbasan, playing “war,” did not hesitate to shoot his own mother with an automatic rifle inside the house. Berat Halli Tafa

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Tritan Shehu Fatos Nano On page 2

FOOTBALL The championship on its summer break On page 7