The President of the Socialist Youth International, Roger Hallbag: "It is absolutely clear that Fatos Nano is a political prisoner. Fatos Nano's being in prison is proof that shows Albania is still far from achieving the standards necessary to be an open democratic country" Read page 2

-The President of the Republic of Albania, Sali Berisha, departed for the USA The long-awaited departure of the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, for the USA is a notable event, an event in the political life of the country and in the international relations that Albania has created after the victory of democracy. We socialists welcomed it as soon as this visit was announced because it is an honor done to Albania. The United States of America is today the country with the strongest economic and military potential, with a developed democracy that is an example for all countries. Today they play a decisive role in all events and situations the world goes through. Albania, its cause, its independence, its progress, feels safer with a great and powerful ally such as the United States of America. The friendship of the Albanian people with America has deep roots, strengthened in common wars, especially against fascism in the Second World War. In America, some of the brightest figures in the history of our National Renaissance found refuge and worked and fought for the Albanian cause. Albanians in America have found there not only personal well-being and that of their families, but above all, unstinting support for the national question. Even today it is American policy, carried forward by the administration of President Clinton, that has raised its voice more strongly in defense of Albanian rights in Kosovo, warning the Serbian warmongers that any attempt to spread the conflict there will be punished. Albanian-American friendship is not partisan. It does not belong to the PDS, nor to its government, nor to Mr. Berisha as a person. The invitation is for the President of Albania, and within it lies the friendship of the American people and state for the Albanian people, whatever political beliefs they may have within the framework of established political pluralism and the irreversible democracy toward which we are moving. The visit of the President of the Republic to the United States has rightly raised hopes that concrete actions will be taken to unblock the political future of Kosovo, without the fair resolution of which there can be no fair and final solution to the entire crisis in the former Yugoslavia. We hope that the visit of the President of the Republic to the USA and his meeting with the highest American representatives, including Mr. Clinton, will help to bring greater American contribution to all political and socio-economic developments in Albania, to place the laws of modern democracy at the foundation of our entire life. It gladdens all Albanians, encourages them to hope for concrete results in strengthening friendship between the two countries, but especially in the help that will be given for a fair solution to the national question and for the "democratization" of the democracy we want to build.

-The debate of the PS deputy chairman, Servet Pëllumbi, in Parliament- Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen deputies, The 7th session of the People's Assembly ended with political tensions. We are beginning the 8th session in the atmosphere of a political tension, deliberate and flagrant. The common denominator is the growing pressure of political power. Even you, Mr. Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly, are not without "merits" in this regard. Why is this happening? - we ask the deputies. There is only one answer: Albanian democracy is being squeezed more and more each day in critical space. A totalitarian personal power is being installed. What happened on the morning of September 6 is something unprecedented. Familiar with this ugly and shameful event, we ask: where is the promised separation of powers, where is the proclaimed independence of the judicial power? What guarantees do citizens have, after the siege and violence against the Court of Cassation, that their rights and freedoms will be respected? What guarantees will democratic institutions have, after the diktat and violence exerted on them by the executive power, if Parliament does not do at least enough to change the order of the items included in the program, bringing first the Prime Minister Meksi's call for an urgent question session? In Parliament, in expedited sessions, we have examined many issues, draft laws forgotten or brought late, while today for such an important issue another arbitration is being imposed. Finally, I would add that I would not believe that the Minister of the Interior ordered that police siege. But we heard the truth from him himself today. This makes the situation even more worrying and our request even more urgent that the Prime Minister come to an emergency session. Otherwise it would not be surprising if one day a servile government, by order of the President, were to denounce and surround Parliament as well.

The place of the two escapees from the rooms of the Internal Affairs Branch in Shkodër, on the evening of yesterday, will be taken by 5 police officers. They are Pëllumb Pepa, Tafjl Hasanmuca, Mirash Lulashi, Ferid Peraj and Besnik Brahushi, five police officers from the Shkodër police unit, who since yesterday afternoon have ended up in the rooms of the Shkodër Branch of Internal Affairs, arrested. Read page 6

-Interview with Prof.Dr. Edmond Luçi Read pages 4-5

The new school year is beginning! What will happen to the children trapped by blood feud? Coming soon: Ernesto Sabato in Albania Virgil's "Aeneid" will come out in print Works by Mira Meksi, Shpresa Kapisyzi, etc. On pages 7, 8, 9, 10