40 days into the Bulqiza miners’ strike ON PAGE 5

The Finance Minister escorts trucks carrying contraband cigarettes to the Mirakë checkpoint ON PAGE 4

He had stopped two trucks carrying cigarettes belonging to a government official; he is suspended from work ON PAGE 4

The country is awash with violence, crime and gangs, says the latest warning from the State Department to American citizens still in Albania. Everything of interest is targeted by crime, it specifies. ON PAGE 3

USA respond to terrorist attacks Military strikes against terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan. President Bill Clinton announced that the White House had carried out a tenë [?] military intervention in these two countries, in retaliation for the attacks against the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. “Sol, I have ordered our armed forces to attack terrorist centers in Afghanistan and Sudan, because of the threats to our security,” Clinton declared in Martha’s Vineyard, foreign news agencies report. Clinton pointed out that these military strikes were directed against groups linked to the Saudi billionaire Oussama Ben Laden, who is sheltering in Afghanistan. “These groups played a key role in the attacks in Kenya and Tanzania,” the pres-[text cut off at the bottom edge] president added. Just a few days earlier, Islamic terrorists had carried out attacks against the American embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, where 257 people were killed and 5,000 others were wounded.

Serbian positions in Kosovo could be attacked by NATO. This was also confirmed yesterday by French President Zhak Shirak, who spoke by telephone with his Russian counterpart Jelcin about the risks of a military action in Kosovo. The French president, who insisted on Russia’s essential role in the circumstances at hand, expressed concern about the worsening situation on the ground in the province of Kosovo, particularly from a humanitarian perspective.

After the prime minister’s son was caught with drugs, the Greek Interpol expects to search Fatos Nano’s home ON PAGE 4

Albania, a wide-open gateway for terrorists after the Socialists came to power

The President of Kosovo should authorize the other parties to form a government PD: Rugova should work with Demacin Elections for Kosovo should not be based on the defeat and extermination of Albanians, Berisha said ON PAGE 3

The President and the Speaker of Parliament spent the whole week looking for Fatos Nano Albanian Kabila, Fatos Nano, had gone missing and was found only with difficulty after three days of frantic searches. The entire staff of the President of the Republic searched for Fatos for several days in a row. The President’s advisers, guards, secretaries, and other employees took part in this effort, but received no response from the Prime Minister’s Office about his whereabouts. According to sources at the Presidency, Mejdani needed to speak with the head of government but had been unable to do so from Monday until late yesterday. After failing to find his Prime Minister, he asked the Speaker of Parliament, Skënder Gjinushi, for help. The latter could not find him either and could not obtain any message revealing the whereabouts of the Kabila of Tirana, leaving the President at the mercy of his own modest investigative efforts. Someone thought he had gone to Greece, but the embassy in Athens confirmed that it knew nothing about the Albanian Prime Minister’s movements. Other state institutions were also mobilized to find him, while it was thought that he was on the island of Nikona together with his son. Such a disappearance without a trace by the country’s number one is quite strange, while there is a war in northern Albania and embassies in Tirana have begun to close. As for Kabila of Koni, it was said that he had gone to Lubumbashi after the rebels arrived near Kinshasa; Nano, at “Fideli,” was said to have gone to Nikobanshi. Alongside his disappearance for three days, TV news reports last night said that a representative of the EC had been received, although it has still not been established whether he was received in Athens or in Tirana.

The State Security Service is collaborating with the UDB, just as in 1991 The clique is reinstating its anti-clerical strategy The burning of Shkodër and the destruction of the Church are crimes that will not go unpunished, since the perpetrators and those who organized them are well known ON PAGE 3

Albania, a wide-open gateway for terrorists after the Socialists came to power to power When did the Egyptian terrorists arrive in Albania? The American news agency “AP” reported yesterday that Albania has extradited to Egypt five Egyptians who were wanted and convicted by the Egyptian judicial authorities as perpetrators of a series of terrorist acts. According to this news agency, the five Egyptian terrorists entered Albania in the second half of last year, before 97. The exact time the five Egyptian terrorists entered Albania, according to the American news agency, was November of last year. Thus, only five months after the current rulers came to power and only after the armed rebellion. The extradition to Egypt of four Egyptians described as terrorists by the Albanian authorities and foreign intelligence services had previously been reported, while yesterday, for the first time, this news agency confirmed that the last Egyptian, who was being held by the Albanian police authorities, had also been extradited from Albania. It was precisely the extradition of the last Egyptian that prompted controversy between the extremist organization “Xhihad” and the Albanian state authorities. During a protest outside the Albanian Diplomatic Mission in Great Britain, representatives of an extremist religious organization demanded that the last Egyptian arrested by the Albanian police authorities not be extradited. He had been sentenced to death in his own country, and according to the organization, extradition would violate international human rights instruments. One of the lines of investigation into the attacks in Kenya and Tanzania has also been the possibility that they were retaliation by the terrorist organization “Xhihad” for the extradition of four Egyptians from Albania to Egypt. It was this organization that claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack, after previously threatening to retaliate for this action.” The American news agency “AP” is the only one to have reported the extradition from Albania to Egypt of the last Egyptian held by the Albanian police. Albania became a base for terrorists from various countries only after the Socialists came to power. The latest reports by the prestigious American news agency on when the four highly wanted Egyptians arrived cast light on, and underline the importance of, the current rulers and the possible links that certain sectors of this government may have had with these individuals, who have now been extradited. The departure of the staff of the American Embassy may help unravel this mystery, as through this decision it sought to show the Albanian government that it no longer trusts it or the people in power. B. KASMI

Property, the Assembly Council and the Judiciary in the Government’s Draft The Constitution must set out provisions that recognize and genuinely guarantee the independence of judges. To achieve this, the entire section of this constitutional draft dealing with the courts, the prosecution service, the KLD, and the Constitutional Court must be revised. The politicians and those who have taken responsibility. By Qazim GJONAJ, Former President of the Tirana Court of First Instance ON PAGE 7

The Nano regime considers elected representatives of local government to be the opposition This year of socialist rule has been characterized, among other things, by the stripping of local government’s powers, and by physical, legal, and economic violence against it. This year of socialist rule has been characterized, among other things, by the year of stripping local government of its powers, and of physical, legal, and economic violence against it. During the communist uprising in March, municipalities, communes, and their leaders were continuously subjected to violence and terror by the Albanian communists who are now in power, government gangs now sheltered in the police, SHIK, the Prime Minister’s Office, and other departments. ON PAGE 2

KESH director Engjëll Çuçi is a member of the board of the 2K company. Consequently, Çuçi entrusted the funds for the refurbishment of the Fierza transformer to his boss at 2K, Kokëdhima. ON PAGE 2

Greek, Bulgarian, and Italian products are smuggled in Oil, flour, rice, sugar, and coffee—the goods that put Albanians’ lives at risk ON PAGE 5

A fighter jet moments before a mission at one of the US military bases

State Department: By November 13, no Americans in the land of crime and gangs