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Vice-PM Nikolay Vassilev picks tobacco near the village of Beli Izvor. This is the so-called 'third-hand' tobacco, the vice PM praised himself. The farmers were amazed at his ignorance. They explained that the 'third-hand' tobacco is picked not earlier than October. Photo BTA
Border guard wounded; bomb hurled at ethnic Albanian home.
AP
SKOPJE, Macedonia - A Macedonian guard was wounded in a border clash and a hand grenade was hurled at an ethnic Albanian home in the first such violence in months to rock the capital, officials said Monday.
The motives and perpetrators behind both incidents remained unclear.
The border clash occurred Sunday when an unidentified armed group opened fire at Macedonian border guards, the Defense Ministry said. The shooting came from inside neighboring Albania's territory, near the border outpost of Belica, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
One border guard sustained a slight bullet wound to his arm, the ministry said.
Later Sunday, unknown assailants threw a hand grenade from a passing vehicle at an ethnic Albanian family home in Cair, an ethnically mixed district of Skopje, police said.
No one was injured and police reported minor damage to the house, where the grenade struck the adjoining garage.
It was the first such incident after months of calm in the capital city. Similar explosions occurred on a daily basis across this troubled Balkan country during last year's insurgency, launched by ethnic Albanian rebels seeking more rights for their minority, a third of the country's 2 million population.
The conflict ended with a Western-brokered peace agreement signed last August. The insurgents surrendered their weapons to NATO troops after parliament agreed to broaden rights for the ethnic Albanians.
Macedonia is due to hold general elections in mid-September.
First Group of OSCE Observers Arrives Today In Skopje.
Reality Macedonia
By Irina Gelevska
Skopje - The first group of 17 OSCE observers for the parliamentary elections in Macedonia arrived today at the Skopje's Airport. According the ODIHR Spokesman Mr. Eschenbacher, this group observers will form the HQ of the Monitoring Mission in Macedonia.
Their primary job will be observing the election campaign, the media reports and the work of the State Election Committee.
At the end of this week, a new group of some 30 OSCE observers will arrive in Skopje. These so-called long-term observers will stay in many towns of Western and Eastern Macedonia and they will leave the country two weeks after the elections.
A delegation of OSCE Office in Skopje have had a meeting today in the Macedonian Ministry of Interior about the following issues: protection of the international observers for the elections in the country and the election campaign including the first incident last Sunday, when a local office of the opposition SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) was hit by two bullets early in the morning.
The number of the international elections observers for Macedonia is around 800. About 800 soldiers from the Holland-led Task Force Fox in the country lead by Holland stand by for their emergency evacuation.
Most of the OSCE observers will come from USA and Canada because the member states will partly pay for the expenses of their observers, alongside the joint budget of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A smaller number of observers from Western and Eastern Europe, and the neighboring countries of Macedonia will also participate.
July 22 in History.
Standartnews
In 971 Russian troops led by Prince Svetoslav waged a battle with the Byzantine troops under the command of Emperor John Timisces at the town of Silistra.
In 1877 Russian troops liberated the town of Stara Zagora form the Turkish yoke. In 1878 Prince Dondukov sent a letter to the Russian Defense Minister to transfer the capital town of Bulgaria from Plovdiv to Sofia.
In 1903 the Republic of Krushevo headed by Nikola Karev was proclaimed.
Father Murdered His Kids.
Standartnews
A father slaughtered his two kids and then made a suicide. The accident took place at about 4.00 p.m. yesterday in the town of Yambol. Georgi Kamenarov (40) was divorcing his wife and took his 9-year-old daughter and his 4-year-old son for the weekend. He took the children to the flat of his brother. There he slaughtered them and then jumped out of the window from the 7th floor. When the police came to the scene one of the kids was dead. The other one died on the way to the hospital.
Two Levs as A Coin.
Standartnews
Coins of 2 levs to be put into circulation, the Central Bank considers. Its management has already decided to put into circulation coins of 1 lev from September 2 on, and the banknotes to gradually drop out of currency. The reason is in that the banknotes wear off earlier than the coins and the costs of their production are almost equal. At present, there are 32 million banknotes of 1 lev in circulation and each of them wears off in 3 months, employees from the bank elaborated.
N. Vassilev Lost His Sleep Because of Bulgartabac.
Standartnews
Nevena Mircheva
Vulcho Milchev
Tobacco Capital Partners may give up, the Vice-PM said.
Vice-PM Nikolay Vassilev lost his sleep over the final offers for Bulgartabac, he himself admitted before journalists. At night, he was drafting computer programs for calculating the points of the bidders. Yesterday, he visited the region of Kurdjali to calm down the tobaccoworkers and gathered tobacco together with them. "I'm afraid that Tobacco Capital Partners may not submit an offer but I haven't been given such information officially," Vassilev said, answering to a question of journalists if some of the bidders could give up the bidding because of the condition not to sell 3 factories till 2007. To Vassilev, in terms of mathematics, 0 to 4 offers could be expected and he himself hoped at least three offers to be made. Today, at 2.00 p.m. save for Vassilev himself, Director of the Privatization (AP) Agency Apostol Apostolov and Petko Nikolov, chairing the AP Supervisory Council, will also attend the opening of the offers. All journalists and representatives of the bidders were invited as well.
Sofianski: Close Down Vassilev's Ministry.
Standartnews
Elena Yaneva
The economic policy of the cabinet cries for urgent repair, think the free democrats.
The Ministry of Economy should be closed down because it cannon work efficiently. This is the opinion of "Free Democrats" Union about a one-year NMS rule, which Stefan Sofianski voiced yesterday. According to him, the ministry headed by Nikolay Vassilev has to be replaced with agencies for foreign trade, tourism, small and medium business. The economic policy of the government cries for urgent corrections, said Sofianski. To his mind, if no urgent measures are taken, the spreading poverty, lack of fresh investments and big privatization deals may provoke a crisis in the country. The free democrats think that another weak points of the NMS are lack of cadres and mass purges of good experts in the mid-level managerial echelon. The mayor of Sofia refused to assess the efficiency of ministers name by name. However, he pointed out that the cabinet successfully coped with foreign policy, national security and defense issues. The MRF is a good prop to the ruling majority and its ministers are performing well. "If the BSP starts acting as the key opposition force its ministers will have to leave the cabinet. Then the UDF would have joined in the governance", Sofianski said. To him, such castling could be made next summer, but the early elections are not to be expected. Sofianski himself will not run for mayor's office for another term, if UDF and NMS jointly nominate a worthy candidate for Sofia's mayor.
Pay No Heed to EU Claims for Kozloduy.
INTERVIEW Standartnews: Andre Maisseu
Beltcho Tsanev
To give up this scientific achievement is sheer madness, says Prof. Andre Maisseu.
Prof. Dr. Andre Maisseu is an engineer. He is 50 years old. Prof. Maisseu graduated from the university of Cannes and the National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology. He became a Doctor of Physics in 1971 and Doctor of Economics and Management, in 1976. Currently he is a professor in the university of Versailles and teaches in four US universities. Mr. Maisseu is the chairman of WONUC (World Council of Nuclear Workers).
- Mr. Maisseu, Greece has repeatedly raised voice against the N-plant in Kozloduy. You remember the referendum in Austria against reactors in Check and Slovak Republics. Why for decades people have been trying to instill fear of nuclear energy?
- The world is progressing due to the achievements of science and technology. The nuclear energy is one of them. It would have been madness to give up megatechnology like the N-plant in Kozloduy. It is maybe the one and only access Bulgaria has to high-tech of the 21st century. If you give up this nuclear plant what options will remain? To turn the country into a Euro Disneyland and lure in tourists?
- What will you recommend to us?
- Because Bulgaria is pressed into closing several units in Kozloduy, the country nowadays finds itself at one of the crucial turns of its history. If France today ranks among the highly developed countries it's due to the investments in nuclear energy, telecommunications, space and aircraft industry. To your country the decommission of reactors in Kozloduy would be tantamount to suicide. I cannot imagine what would we have done in France if someone told us to close our nuclear power plants. Most probably we would have made a revolution.
(Abr) |
