The country’s Union of Flour Producers is calling for a reduction in customs duty on imported wheat and an increase in customs duty on imported flour. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are not taking these demands into consideration The country’s flour mills are threatened with bankruptcy, while the state encourages farmers to plant cannabis sativa instead of wheat The Union of Flour Producers in the country is calling for a reduction in customs duty on imported wheat and an increase in customs duty on imported flour. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are not taking these demands into consideration

Pollo: The disastrous communist governance risks Albania’s suspension from the Council of Europe Greek police have mistreated Albanians; their passports have been torn up and their bank deposits in Greece have been frozen, said Leonard Demi, Secretary for Foreign Relations of the Democratic Party

The Albanian government has been reduced to something that exists only on paper. This is the normal fate of a government that comes to power abnormally, then governs abnormally, impoverishes people as quickly as it robs them, and deceives people with the same dedication with which it humiliates them. A government born from the muzzle of a gun could have no other fate than to be loathed. But it is not wanted even by the Democrats, who have long shown just how lovable such a government is; nor is it wanted by the Socialists, whose offspring it is. Our government is wanted neither by the West nor by the government officials themselves. For the latter, it is merchandise so heavily used that there is nothing left to get out of it. Albania’s “great democrats” are so wretched in their own home, which they wrecked, robbed, criminalized and despaired of, that for a long time the government will be seen as a broken vase which, if touched even a little, stinks and spills its guts. What should be done with this government, left standing at the door like an abandoned woman? Should it be stepped over, since it serves no purpose and only gathers poison, which will later burst and poison the whole body? The monstrous government was supposed to give birth to something for Albania. At least a little hope, a little peace. But it cannot even do that; at the very least, it should leave, leaving a place that is so important to Albanians. This government teaches us only how not to love it, how to see in it thieves, smugglers, fraudsters, people with vices, power-seekers, parasites, criminals, abusers, hooligans, dictators, madmen and the like. For months now, the government has become a “nanocracy,” as the Democrats call it, and a “shkre(d)hatocracy,” as the Socialists call it; “anti-national,” as the right-wingers call it, and “immoral,” as the Communists say. This government is so full of trouble that it is not wise to mention it too often, because you may end up in a fight with people. Everyone sees their own weakness in choosing leaders, and everyone suffers from some part of the government’s endless array of vices. No one wants to hear its name anymore and people feel insulted, trampled on, abused and humiliated by this state’s ministers. The word “government” has become an insult or a swear word that should not even be taught to children or mentioned in public, although television does just that. But it is different on screen. Everyone can tell it is not something of their own when the TV says it. Under such a government, people have become poorer, criminals have become more criminal, spying has replaced meat, Kalashnikovs have replaced a peaceful life, Sigurimi agents have replaced specialists, insurgents have replaced educated people, and the owners of Kalashnikovs have replaced the owners of books, and so on. Yet this government continues to live on like a malign thing, as if in its own garden. It has turned this country into manure so that it can look like a rooster. Albania is in trouble. The people born from its belly have been kicked from the front and the back. For nine months it was beautiful, its belly softer than ever. For three months as the opposition and nine months as the government, those who, in the name of one of the governments called Socialist, are now ministers, directors, advisers, thieves and murderers overturned it, turned it upside down, stripped it, killed it and abused it—thieves, murderers, thieves.

Here is one of the achievements of the Socialist government This figure was sent to international organizations, but was not made public here because it would have constituted one of the biggest scandals involving today’s rulers ON PAGE 2

Bezhani seeks prison for opposition journalists If the head of the Verification Commission has the courage to shed light on his own past, this would also help illuminate the dark parts of his relations with Gjinushi ON PAGE 3

PD does not support the legalization of another communist party ON PAGE 3

Union for Democracy presents new economic alternatives ON PAGE 3

Nano’s administration has enriched itself through dishonest means ON PAGE 2

The Elbasan–Gramsh road under the control of armed robbers Yesterday, journalists too were targeted in armed attacks by masked robbers on the Elbasan–Gramsh national road, at Cingare, the boundary separating Elbasan from the Gramsh district. At 19:30, a group of Elbasan journalists working for Albania’s national press outlets, as well as journalists from Elbasan’s local TV station “TV Dardan,” were returning from Gramsh, where they had been on assignment, when they came under a hail of gunfire from masked men on the national road. The journalists Besim Dybel of the newspaper “Koha Jonë,” Fratmir Terziu of the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike,” Saimir Boçi of “Dardan” TV, and the station’s camera operator were travelling in a car marked “SHTYPI - PRESS.” They were returning from Gramsh, where they had gone to verify the discovery of a weapons pit reported the previous day in the district. Several armed, masked individuals fired at the journalists’ car. Only the driver’s quick reactions and manoeuvring enabled the journalists and the other people in the car to escape death. The car travelled at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour, and this speed helped the journalists escape death. Caught in a hail of bullets from the masked men, the journalists sought shelter in the home of the village headman of Cingare, Sabi Zogu, whose house was only 1 kilometre from the place where they had been shot at by the masked men. The village headman then escorted the journalists to Elbasan, armed, saving them from danger. The masked men also terrorized another car in the same place, only a few minutes after they had shot at the journalists. A Fiat “Tipo” from Elbasan, which came along several minutes after the journalists’ car, suffered the same fate, but fortunately its passengers also escaped unharmed. The masked men reappeared in Cingare immediately after a programme on the local television station TV Dardan reported on police efforts to patrol this stretch of road, which has repeatedly been the scene of armed attacks and robberies targeting cars and people. Only a few days ago, armed masked men terrorized and robbed passengers travelling in a minibus on this stretch of the Elbasan–Gramsh road. The masked men’s reappearance, armed and targeting journalists, seems to be a signal from the gangs that they, not the police, are the masters of the national road. Journalists, especially those working in the districts, face great and varied pressures in their work and are exposed to numerous risks because of what they do.

From Meidani to the prime minister’s office: the VEFA board’s back-and-forth VEFA company creditors, as they have gathered [unclear in source] yesterday at 8:30 in front of the VEFA company headquarters. Since the hours were passing and no news was coming from the government, they decided to use their last resort: a request for a meeting with President Meidani, although they were sure that he, too, would not listen to us. ON PAGE 5

Albanian workers against the government ON PAGE 5

Braho implicated in the Shkallnuer incident ON PAGE 4

Dozens of Albanian speedboats flood the Italian coast ON PAGE 4