The police chief warns of a storm. The President also reacts Speedboats in handcuffs Reaction after the tragedy: A fence along the coast First arrests in the fight against the trafficking of undocumented migrants. Operations in Durrës and Kavajë TIRANA - Investigations into “Otranto 2” have begun. An urgent order from the leaders of the General Prosecutor’s Office prompted prosecutors in Durrës to set the investigative process in motion yesterday morning. Just a few hours after the hasty phone call, the police in Durrës and Kavajë launched the “clean-up” operation. Reliable sources said yesterday that several people suspected of trafficking undocumented migrants had been arrested and a number of speedboats impounded. The justice authorities along the central coast are on their feet. The latest tragedy has sounded the alarm, and the state’s mechanisms are operating at full capacity. While the tragedy of the people aboard the dinghy is being “dissected” minute by minute, prosecutors have also been instructed to investigate the trafficking of undocumented migrants in general. Perhaps before long, our prosecutors will travel to the neighboring country to investigate the part of the trafficking that takes place across the Adriatic. When did the dinghy set off? From which place? Who owned it, and how much had the victims paid for the journey that ended in tragedy? How did the failure occur, and who was responsible? On page 9 The grief of the survivors of Otranto (above). Nadia, 5 years old, victim of the tragedy

FOOTBALL Shkodra clashes with Durrës Begeja insults the crowd, followed by a chorus of insults, stones, pieces of concrete and rubber batons. Police drive the Shkodrans out of the stadium DURRËS - Scandal at the Durrës stadium. Fists, stones, rubber batons, clashes between the players and the two groups of supporters. The match is stopped for 25 minutes. Police and special units intervene. The Shkodran fans are then driven out of the stadium and sent back to their city. The other incidents were minor and occurred during the remaining minutes and at halftime; a few minutes before the end, a powerful explosion went off... On pages 10-11

Meidani’s associates explain the surprising statement But the opposition attacks: He betrayed us TIRANA - The Presidency is trying to soften Meidani’s statement. “It was a typically peripheral comment,” presidential adviser Preç Zogaj said yesterday. According to him, a democratic Serbia would mean greater opportunities for dialogue and for resolving the outstanding issues between Tirana and Belgrade. But Albania’s opposition does not think so. Yesterday, it united in strong criticism. This is further evidence, presumably following Crete, and shows that today’s government officials have adopted a position of capitulation toward Belgrade and its policies. For his part, Zogaj tried yesterday to clarify the true essence of Meidani’s statement, with which he has thus built another bridge of rapprochement between the two Balkan countries. Meidani Millosheviç On page 2

SHKODRA “Hani i Hotit” is like oxygen

The government officially appoints the inspectors

SHKODRA “Hani i Hotit is like oxygen for the city” SHKODRA - Hani i Hotit, the crossing connecting Shkodra with Montenegro, remains closed, depriving the northern city of a supply of oxygen so essential to its economy. According to sources among Shkodra’s highest authorities, the obstacle remains the Montenegrin side, which has been reluctant to open this crossing since the unrest in Albania in recent months. However, the reluctance is also due to internal problems in the country across the border, where political stability has still not been achieved. Meanwhile, Shkodra, being one of the cities with the least emigration, continues to see the reopening of the crossing as a possible “salvation” and a way out of the major economic difficulties affecting the entire city. On page 4

The government officially appoints the inspectors pyramid schemes: The foreigners arrive tomorrow TIRANA—The foreign administrators from the firm “Deloitte & Touch” are awaiting official appointment by the Government so they can begin work at the five borrowing firms. According to the chief coordinator of the transparency process, Farudin Arapi, the foreign administrators have agreed to cooperate with their Albanian counterparts. In addition, the association “For the exchange of money invested in pyramid schemes” wishes to participate through representatives in the transparency process. “We want creditors to have just as many representatives at the firms as the Government does,” says the association’s chairman, Mistre[t] Sahiti. On page 3

Public places at the mercy of jargon The roads of the South, without names Municipalities occupied with other problems GJIROKASTER—The names have disappeared from the roads of the South. Many streets in the towns and villages of Gjirokastër, Sarandë and Delvinë are missing signs bearing their names; indeed, there are quite a few roads whose names people have never even thought about. Numerous landmarks in southern towns have fallen into involuntary anonymity as a result of the authorities’ negligence. Meanwhile, foreign names have increasingly been appearing on the nameless roads of the South in recent times. This is happening in the minority rural areas of Sarandë, Delvinë and Gjirokastër, as well as in the respective towns, where the absence of street signs has meant that their former names—which may have existed but were forgotten through lack of use—are being replaced by the names on signs belonging to foreign companies, which commonly display their names in Greek or Italian. “The problem is that these names are entering everyday sociolinguistic usage and may raise many questions later on,” says Valfer Memishaj, a linguistics professor at “Eqrem Çabej” University in Gjirokastër. Meanwhile, a street could be named after a prominent national figure, but instead the foreign “popullatis” is allowed to flourish in everyday use as the street’s name: the name of the foreign company that has its offices or facilities on that street. Several years ago, it was decided that a group of researchers from the Academy of Sciences would conduct a survey to see what could be done to preserve Albanian names and the indigenous toponymy of streets and squares in various cultural districts, but nothing was done to implement this project. fa.pu

THE THRESHOLD OF WINTER On page 4

DEBATE IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM On page 3

SARANDA On page 12

The grief of the Otranto survivors (Above) Nadia, 5 years old, victim of the tragedy