Skopje - Last night at 21:45, unknown attackers opened fire from automatic weapons and threw a hand grenade at two Macedonian soldiers near the army barracks "Ilinden" in Skopje.

 

The soldiers T. R. born in 1979 in Dolni Podlog, Kochani and N.D. born in 1983 in Jakimovo, Vinica suffered minor injuries from the bomb blast. They received first aid in "Ilinden" medical unit, and then the Army transported them to the Military Hospital in Skopje for medical treatment. At the moment, they are still in the hospital for observation. One of them has right-leg injury, and the other has been hit in the chest and the abdomen, explained the Macedonian Army spokesperson, Colonel Blagoja Markovski.

 

According to Markovski, the soldiers were first verbally abused by persons who drove to the vicinity of the baracks in a black Volkswagen Passat [with foreign registration tables]. Those inside the Passat sweared at the soldiers in Albanian language. Then, from another vehicle, which moved about a hundred yards behind the first one, the attackers started shooting and threw the bomb.

 

The explosion damaged an Opel Cadet vehicle parked nearby.

 

The Police confirmed the incident, and found several shells from Kalashnikov automatic rifles at the [crime] scene.

 

Other incidents that happened last night include:

 

The police reported that yesterday afternoon a villager Arachinovo shot in the leg M.E. (28), a resident of Bukovich village, during a quarel in front of the Bukovich village headquarters of Ali Ahmeti's political party DUI. The wounded received treatment in Leskarci village private clinic.

In "Vrazhji Vir" location near the highway to Blace border crossing an unknown perpetrator set on fire a vehicle that contained a projectiles for hand rocket launcher, which subsequently exploded. During the investigation, the police uncovered three unexploded rockets. The antiterrorism unit destroyed them later.

OSCE confirmed that 20-30 persons entered Tetovo Tekje yesterday, but did not confirm the information circulating in the media that these persons were armed. The group left a bit later. Allegedly, this entry is a part of the negotiations between the [Sunni] Islamic Community of Macedonia and the Bektashi Islamic sect which both contest for the ownership of the object.

 

Three unknown persons, masked and dressed in black uniforms without markings, stopped and appropriated the "Mercedes," personal documents, 310 Euros, 2,800 Denars and other valuables from Ekrem B. (33) resident of Slatina village, and Agim P. (25) of Jazhince. The incident took place near Kamenjane village, on the road to Sedlarce.

 

Irina Gelevska greatly contributed to issuing of this report.

 

 

 

Macedonian Prime Minster Ljubco Georgievski will realize the first transaction of the National Payment Card (NPC) on Monday.

 

At the press conference held on Friday, director of the NPC Vladimir Mijalkov said that this new form of payment would be distributed on Monday to 87 persons, employed mainly in the NPC department, who will be able to collect their cash from 20 automated teller machines and 11 banks - members of the NPC. At this moment, only the Tetex-credit bank can perform this sort of transactions.

 

According to Mijalkov, the final user will not be obliged to pay provision and the machines will work in three shifts. The provision from the wholesalers will be collected in special manner.

 

At the press conference, Mijalkov promoted the first Macedonian debit card "PRIMA" and the first Macedonian credit card "POINT plus".

 

According to the plans, the NPC in the future will expand its network of post terminals, and by November it expects to fulfill the condition from the government - 100,000 persons who receive salaries from the budget to use the NPC, i.e. to receive their salaries through the NPC. Another condition is installing of 3,000-5,000 post terminals and 75 automated teller machines.

 

According to the plans, total of 6,000 post terminals are to be installed, which is the current number of purchased fiscal cash registers.

 

Mijalkov stressed that so far arrangements for use of the system were signed with 11 banks, and soon two more banks are also to sign the contracts.

 

"Six banks are interested for stock deposit in the NPC, and Stopanska Banka bank is already stockholder through its funds in the Fund hat end up in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Makedonska Banka bank, the Export Bank, Creidt Bank and Export-Import Bank also own stocks. The banks that buy stocks in the NPC will have discount of 30%, and if there is not sufficient number of interested banks, the stocks will be offered to third persons," he said.

 

This reform project, as he reported, comes from the reforms in the system of payment in the country, mainly from the transformation of the Bureau for payment turnover.

 

Mijalkov also referred to the main functions of the NPC - the processing of transactions, which includes verification of the data of the card holders, authorization of the transactions, registering of all transactions and changes in the bank account of the card holder.

 

The NPC also deals with printing and personalization of the cards, technical maintenance of the network infrastructure, maintenance of the registers, and distribution of the cards. Regarding the goals of the project, he reported that its main priority was to eliminate the gray economy through the economic mechanisms which reduce the quantity of cash that is in use.

 

"The NPC owners will not have to carry around large quantities of money, and they will be able to use the card everywhere. We also pay attention not to burden the users with new provisions, so this new manner of payment will be quite attractive," Mijalkov stated.

 

As he reported there are some new moments in the privatization of the NPC, because the founding capital worth 7,3 million is property of the state.

As he said, the tender for privatization of the NPC was aimed first of all toward the business banks that are active in the Republic of Macedonia.

 

The government carried out third emission of stocks in order to complete the capitalization of the system.

 

"The public call stated that the additional capitalization will be done only through foreign financial institutions or banks, or similar processing centers that have annual turnover of US $5 million and minimum of one million issued payment cards," the NPC director Vladimir Mijalkovski said.

 

 

 

Twenty-eight swimmers will compete at the 16th Ohrid Swimming Marathon, one of the biggest sport events in Macedonia, which will be held on Saturday.

 

"Klime Savin" track is 30-km long, with a starting point at St. Naum and ending at Ohrid port. The male swimmers that will take part in the marathon are:

 

Juri Kudinov from Russia, Petar Stoychev from Bulgaria, Igor Majcen, Nace Majcen and Jure Buzar from Slovenia, Gabriel Chaillou from Argentina, Pavel Srb, Rostislav Vitek and Martin Lucbauer from Czech Republic, Kristian Hansman and Cristoff Vandrac from Germany, Mohamed Sorou and Mohamed Elzanati from Egypt, Balac Celeni from Hungary and Jane Karajovanov, Ilija Stojanovski and Mihajlo Ristovski from Macedonia.

 

In the female competition, we will see: Olesija Salugmina from Russia, Ivanka Moralieva and Margarita Damova from Bulgaria, Iveta Hlavacova from Czech Republic, Marija Celeste Punet from Argentina, Katrin Lamers, Angela Maurer from Germany, Edith van Dijk from Netherlands, Heba Mamduh from Egypt and Teodora Raptis and Zdravka Stankovska from Macedonia.

 

Tomi Stefanovski will not participate due to the shoulder injury, but Teodora Raptis is in good shape and has achieved good results on the marathons in Canada and USA. With 33 points she is ranked eighth in the World Cup. Also 18-year old Zdravka Stankovska will swim for the Macedonian team.

 

Delegate of the International Organization for Marathon Swimming (FINA) is Valerius Belovas from Lithuania, technical delegate is Romanian Jona Draga, and the main judge is Sonja Dumbalovska - Delova from Macedonia.

 

Technical Secretary Atina Bojadzi, the legend of the Macedonian marathon swimming, reiterated that the world elite would arrive in Skopje, adding that she wishes Edith van Dijk to win the marathon for the third time in a row.

 

Dutch Edith van Dijk is the double European champion from Berlin and the fierce female competition also includes Angela Maurer and Britta Kamrau, who are on the top of FINA's list.

 

The start is at 11.00h Saturday morning near St. Naum, and the first swimmers are expected to arrive at the goal after five and half hours of swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos taken on August 10, at the ceremony of transfer of earthly remains of St.Clement to his church. Provided by Filip Stojanovski.

 

Please refer to Culture.in.Mk for more information about the ceremony and the location of Plaoshnik.

 

 

Istanbul, August 16 (BTA exclusive by Metin Karagullu) - A Bulgarian company is building housing in Adapazari for the victims of the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey. Glavbolgarstroy has been awarded the contract jointly with a Turkish company by the Turkish Government. Fifty per cent of the work on building 57 blocks totalling 518 flats has been completed so far.

 

The Bulgarian company has promised to deliver the project before the end of this year, i.e. one month ahead of schedule.

 

Turkey is still recovering from a disastrous earthquake that killed 23,781 people three years ago, on August 17, 1999. Nearly a third of the victims left homeless in the worst hit areas (Adapazari, Sakarya, Kocaeli, Yalova and Istanbul's Avcilar area) are still in need of housing, writes the "Zaman" newspaper.

 

In Adapazari, 24,000 dwelling units were destroyed by the quake and 6,300 new ones have been built. The comparable numbers in Kocaeli are nearly 35,000 and 15,834.

 

Tens of thousands of buildings in Yalova, Bolu and Duzce and in Aviclar have yet to be reinforced, and still pose a major risk of collapse.

 

The State has so far spent 4,800 million US dollars on housing construction.

 

The first "earthquake public park" has opened in Kadikoy, in Istanbul's Asian section. It provides tents and essentials for outdoor camping in the event of another earthquake.

 

Metropolitian Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna told a news conference that a ground exploration and earthquake research unit has been set up in the city, the first ever in Turkey and worldwide. An automatic system will be switching off electricity and gas supply in a matter of seconds if an earthquake strikes.

 

Despite the action taken so far, analyses show that the Istanbul megapolis is not ready to cope with another powerful earthquake.