PD is fighting the communist windmills Yesterday, the Presidency meeting: PS ready for elections Yesterday’s Presidency meeting lasted about 6 hours. According to the youngest socialist deputy chairman Meta, yesterday’s meeting once again concluded that “today more than ever, the Albanian electorate needs PS. The panic that was said to have taken hold of PS received a negative answer yesterday from the members of the PS Presidency themselves, who, “more united” than ever, declared that PS is ready for elections even after 45 days. They even did not forget to invite the President to decree these elections. It seems that the whole essence of the meeting was precisely the elections and the discussion of the new candidacies that will be decided soon. page 7

Papoulias calls on Albania to control the border Otherwise the Greek state will take unilateral measures Papoulias calls on Albania to control the border Greece: Stop to illegal migrants Otherwise the Greek state will take unilateral measures IOANNINA - Two of the most senior members of the Papandreou Cabinet, the Greek Foreign Minister Papoulias and the Minister of Public Order Valeragis, organized yesterday a meeting with the military and police forces deployed near the Greek-Albanian border. The agenda of this meeting, according to the Greek state television channel ET1, was to curb the flow of Albanian emigrants coming from Albania into Greece. The television channel also reported that the special anti-clandestine immigration units deployed five months ago near Grevena were ordered to increase their level of readiness. The meeting took place in the northernmost city of Greece, Ioannina, and in a sense is a continuation of a meeting held in Ioannina three months ago, when the two ministers, Valeragis and Papoulias (the latter being the deputy for the Ioannina district in the Greek Parliament), had asked the military authorities to strengthen border-guard duties against the influx of clandestine migrants. After yesterday’s meeting, at the press conference, the Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias stated: “We call on Albania to take strict measures to control its borders and to stop the influx of clandestine migrants; otherwise the Greek state will take unilateral measures.” Meanwhile, during the same control operation, the head of Greek diplomacy did not make it clear what these measures would be. ILIR BABARAMO

Center against the socialist victory Gjinushi: Either PSD in power, or we will enter the path of unstoppable crisis Center against the socialist victory “PS victory will bring political crisis” Gjinushi: Either PSD in power, or we will enter the path of unstoppable crisis page 3

A criminal case is opened for the incident “If my husband dies, I, the woman from Tropoja, will take the killer’s life,” says the injured man’s wife Injured Lefter Duka in the intensive care unit of the Vlora Hospital page 5

Customs were notified yesterday 1 billion dollars in economic damage caused by the embargo over these 3 years Customs were notified yesterday Albania lifts sanctions against the former Yugoslavia 1 billion dollars in economic damage caused by the embargo over these 3 years Albanian customs authorities instructed customs checkpoints yesterday to lift the economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia. Normal legal trade between the two states is expected to begin in a few days, customs officials said. Albanian customs in Shkodra, Kukës and Qafë Prushi, which are on the border with Serbia and Montenegro, yesterday received orders from the relevant authorities to stop enforcing the economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, as well as to allow the export and import of goods to Serbia and Montenegro. “Within a few days the customs stations for border crossings will be put into operation,” said Shkodra customs director Engjëll Çeka by telephone to Reuters. Two weeks ago, the UN Security Council lifted the economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, after the peace agreement reached in Dayton, Ohio, by the presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. At first Albania was against lifting the economic sanctions, because it demanded that they be linked to the solution of the Kosovo problem, from which Serbian President Slobodan Milošević removed the status of autonomous province in 1989. According to official estimates, the Albanian state has suffered an economic loss of 1 billion dollars from these sanctions, ever since the embargo was imposed three years ago. But the boom in illegal trade in the border areas continued even during the period when these sanctions were in force, bringing large profits from the smuggling of consumer goods, and especially oil, with Montenegro.

An Albanian emigrant was wounded in the leg during a Greek police operation near Thessaloniki, to find, arrest and expel ten Albanian emigrants. According to the police communiqué, 20-year-old Taulant Kodra responded to the police officers’ call to stop and one of them, in order to prevent his escape, drew his pistol and fired, wounding him. The Albanian citizen is being treated out of danger at Papani-kolau Hospital in Thessaloniki. The policeman was released on the prosecutor’s verbal order, after being detained immediately after the incident. However, the Thessaloniki police directorate has ordered an investigation into the circumstances in which the Albanian emigrant was wounded. BOB STOUN

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