Lavdosh Nurka and Elvis Zani clash at Pusi i Mezin[it?]. Nurka loses his life Police intervene. The perpetrator of the killing and the woman accompanying him are wounded Lavdosh Nurka and Elvis Zani clash at Pusi i Mezin[it?]. Nurka loses his life War in Vlora, the younger Zani kills 36-year-old man Police intervene. The perpetrator of the killing and the woman accompanying him are wounded page 7

By Frrok Çupi These days I am reading a book of “travels in Albania,” written by a foreign author. His name is Robert Carver; the title of the book is “The accused mountains,” which can be translated as “The Cursed Mountains,” but also as “The Disgusting Mountains[?]”. Although it has not yet been translated into Albanian, Albanians often find themselves confronted with this book when they are among foreigners. The other person stares at you, while you do not understand that the foreigner is trying to find in your face the features he has read about in Carver’s book. The book has travelled and been circulated so widely across Europe, unfortunately. You could say that this author has left no bad word in the world [?] without dedicating it to Albanians and Albania, which he apparently visited in recent years. In Albania, “they kill you,” “they rob you,” “they roast you”... Before entering Albania, somewhere near the border, an old woman who learned that the author of the book was going to travel to Albania “began to cry ‘Ohhh’ for the young man’s certain death as soon as he set foot in that country”... On one of the book’s 339 pages it says that Albanians “lie to you to get something, and then deceive you after they have lulled you into believing their lie.” “Cynicism is intelligence, while honesty is stupidity” for Albanians, he writes. As for women, he uses a different, harsh vocabulary. Tell a girl that you, the foreigner, will take her away to marry you, and “she runs. away to marry you, and ‘she is ready to wash your feet and dry them with her hair’”... It would be pointless to quote many more passages from this book, since it is the same from beginning to end: cynical, contemptuous and untrue. But a question comes to mind: How does author Carver cook up all this fantasy? It seems that he first set foot in Korçë. There he met an “intelligent man, who knew what the Beatles were, knew where Rome and London were, and also knew guitar and a foreign language...” This young man’s name, it turns out, was Gabriel. This Gabriel, a “pure-blooded Albanian,” says he accompanied the author of the book from end to end, and apparently produced “pearls” about Albanians. In Korçë, this Gabriel supposedly told the writer that “Albanians are used to living on one kilo of bread for two days per family; that is all they allow you.” There was even a bakery in Korçë called “The Bakery of Death,” a name given because people died every day while standing in line for bread,” as Gabriel tells it... When he gets to Pogradec, Gabriel tells a completely different story: “During the communist period nobody was allowed to eat fish. If you were caught eating a fish, you were sentenced to 15 years in prison.” (Continued on page 4)

Late-breaking news Yesterday in Peshkëpi, Vlora, a burst of automatic gunfire was directed at the Speaker of Parliament, Jozefina Topalli. The Democratic Party figure, who was in Selenci, Vlora, for an election campaign, was returning when she came face to face with several criminal politicians, who had blocked the road and were firing into the air. Then they opened the car door and, shouting, threatened that they would not allow the DP to enter that area again. The incident ended there. But this event was a warning of a fierce campaign.

Pages 16–17

Humor by Filip Çakuli — pages 30–31