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PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVES MARJANOVIC AND MRKONJIC
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic received Tuesday Serbian Prime Minister and President of the Reconstruction Directorate Main Board Mirko Marjanovic and Directorate President Milutin Mrkonjic, who informed him on the successful finish of the first phase of the reconstruction of the country.
The works on the repair and construction of the damaged and destroyed houses and apartment buildings and traffic, electro-power, oil industry, telecommunications, energetic and other infrastructure facilities of the vital importance for the citizens of our country have been carried out with great success.
In the first phase of the reconstruction of the country 121 construction sites have been opened - 33 bridges, 7 railway infrastructure facilities - including 5 railway bridges and 753 housing units, 6 schools, 4 hospitals and 4 heating plants. Investment deals have been made with 83 domestic enterprises. About 200 producers with more than 140,000 workers are taking part in these works. By the beginning of November, 26 bridges and 5 railway bridges were repaired and thus enabled for the traffic, and more than 520 families will get accommodation in new houses and apartments.
President Milosevic emphasized that realized results proved the great sacrifice of the construction workers and the greatness of the patriotism of our citizens and their ability to carry out construction works on their own, which would serve as an example top the future generations.
With repair of all the vital traffic communications and facilities of the electro-power industry, oil industry, energetic, telecommunications, houses and apartments for the families that were left homeless during the aggression, our most important task since the end of the war has bee carried out, President Milosevic said. He assessed that Directorate for the reconstruction of the country, which was founded on April 4th, i.e. on the 10 day of aggression, undoubtedly had the key role and responsibility in the reconstruction.
Regarding the fact that in the first phase of the reconstruction all the priority facilities had been repaired by the end of November this year, before the winter, and that the first phase had been successfully completed before the deadline, President Milosevic decided to propose to the Federal Government that one day at the beginning of November be chosen as a Day of construction workers.
Expressing gratefulness to President Milosevic for his great support and satisfaction with achieved results, Mirko Marjanovic and Milutin Mrkonjic notified the president that a large team of experts continued without break the realization of the second phase of the reconstruction, with promise that it would also be completed according to plans.
MONTENEGRO INTRODUCES GERMAN MARK AS CURRENCY
The Montenegro Government Tuesday adopted a decision on the introduction of the German mark as a currency in the republic, Montenegro Finance Minister Miroslav Ivanisevic said Tuesday.
At a news conference held after the Montenegro Government session, he read the statement but declined to answer questions.
Minister Ivanisevic said the Montenegro Government had also taken a "decision on the taking over of some prerogatives of the National Bank of Yugoslavia."
SERBIAN PARLIAMENT ON RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT
The Serbian government on Tuesday sent to republican parliament a draft law on special rights and duties of the republican president.
The draft will be discussed at a parliament session on Tuesday, Nov 9.
The 20-article draft underscores the elementary duty of the president to perform office in keeping with the constitution and laws and to keep state secrets after the expiry of their mandate.
The president has the right to protection from slander, to personal security, the use of a residence and an official automobile. The president's salary will be 20 percent higher than the highest salary in state office, also if the elected person is a pensioner. The president's spouse will be able to freeze their job status during the term in office.
Under the draft, after the expiry of the mandate, the president will have life-long personal security, that of their family and place of residence. They will be able to keep administrative staff, the official automobile and a driver. Their pension will be 85 percent of the presidential salary, and, in the event of their death, the spouse is entitled to a pension amounting to 75 percent of the presidential salary.
The Law on work relations in state organs which had regulated these issues will become null and void if this draft law is adopted by parliament.
SERBIA ASSEMBLY WILL DISCUSS ELECTION OF NEW GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
The Serbia Assembly will open its first autumn session on Nov. 9 to discuss quite a few bills, including those calling for changes in or amendments to existing laws.
The central of the 12 agenda items will be the election of new Serbia government members.
The Assembly will discuss and vote on a package of proposals calling for changes in or amendments to tax laws, including the income, excise tax, and sales tax laws, and the law on the profits of enterprises.
The proposals call for a reduction of the taxes and the introduction of various facilities, but at the time, for stiffer conditions for the meeting of tax obligations.
The Serbia Assembly will also discuss a bill on local self-government, which regulates all matters concerning the election and functioning of the local self-government authorities in Serbia. The government has proposed a single-round majority system for the election of the local authorities.
It has underscored that the new law will be the most important legal act in Serbia next to the Constitution.
At the first autumn session, which is to last several days, the Serbia Assembly will also discuss a bill on special rights and duties of the Serbia president.
YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION LEAVES FOR MOSCOW TUESDAY
A delegation of the Yugoslav parliament will Tuesday leave for Moscow, where it will participate in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Russia and Belarus, the Yugoslav parliament Press Service said Monday.
The Yugoslav parliamentary delegation, which will attend the Parliamentary Assembly as an observer, will be headed by Chairman of the Chamber of Citizens' Foreign Relations Committee Ljubisa Ristic.
ARMED ETHNIC ALBANIANS ABDUCT SERB IN U.N.-SECURED KOSOVO-METOHIJA
A gang of armed ethnic Albanians abducted a Serb at the village of Dobrcane on the Gnjilane-Bujanovac road in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's U.N.-administered Kosovo-Metohija province early on Monday.
According to eyewitness accounts, the Serb, Cedomir Nikolic, aged 59, from the village of Koretiste, was ambushed as he was driving along the road, and the terrorists shot out the tyres on his car.
He was then dragged out of the car and taken away in an unknown direction, while his passenger, Bora Stevic, also a Serb from Koretiste, was stabbed in the shoulder with a knife.
According to the National Church Council, the international KFOR force has two outposts in Dobrcane.
The Council demanded in a statement that the KFOR command take firm action to find all Serbs abducted in the area and punish the culprits and so show the world that KFOR "is capable of carrying out its duty of protecting innocent civilians on both sides."
In Gnjilane on Saturday, an explosive device was lobbed at the house of a Serb, Djordje Kostic, causing extensive damage but luckily no casualties.
This was the third bombing attack on Kostic's home.
The Council reported that a rally was held at the Gnjilane church on Sunday, attended by some 300 local Serbs.
Father Kirilo, prior of Draganac Monastery, and Council member Goroljub Pavic urged the assembled Serbs not to sell their houses, but to withstand the pressure exerted by the ethnic Albanian extremists and stay in their native town.
SERBIAN MINISTER SAYS KOUCHNER PURSUES OWN POLICY IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA
UN Kosovo-Metohija administrator Bernard Kouchner is pursuing a policy of his own in that province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, according to a Serbian minister without portfolio on Monday.
Minister Slobodan Tomovic, who co-chairs Serbia's committee for cooperation with the UN civilian mission (UNMIK), said the policy that Kouchner was trying to implement was diametrically opposed to the provisions of the UN Security Council's relevant resolution.
Speaking for Belgrade Radio Channel One, Tomovic said in illustration that all Kouchner's regulations ran completely counter to that UN document.
"We are responding by constantly convening talks at the level of experts and showing that the regulations have no legal basis either in UN Resolution 1244 or in international law, or yet in the Serbian laws," Tomovic said.
"Everything is not going as we should wish, but we have had to face up to reality and have opted for a strategy of tenacious and persistent struggle for attaining the interests of the Serbs and other non-Albanians.
"Therefore, every time a door is slammed in our face, we are already there with our knuckles rapping on another," he added.
Commenting on last week's attack by ethnic Albanian extremists at Pec on a U.N.-escorted convoy of Serbs from Orahovac, he said the Committee had launched a media offensive so as to show the world in what kind of ghetto the Serbs were living in the Orahovac area.
"The truth about the attack is not widely known as yet, and so we have decided to institute an inquiry," he said, adding that the facts must be established in the approved fashion of investigating courts.
"It is unbelievable that the international community should turn a blind eye to incidents of this kind, while UNMIK and its leaders, notably Kouchner, cynically mouth platitudes about coming to Kosovo-Metohija to help all and preserve its multiethnic structure.
"They are doing it by keeping Serbs shut up in (the enclave of) Orahovac and not allowing them out even for medical treatment," Tomovic said.
"We are working for all people of Orahovac to have full freedom, to have clearly defined corridors so they can go under KFOR (international force) escort to all parts of Serbia and back," he added.
CHIEF OF VJ GENERAL STAFF GEN. OJDANIC RESUMES TOUR OF SECOND ARMY
Chief of the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ) General Staff, Army General Dragoljub Ojdanic and aides resumed the tour of Second Army units Tuesday, the VJ General Staff Press Service said.
The second day of the tour, Gen. Ojdanic visited a part of the Uzice Corps commands and units in Raska, Novi Pazar and the Sjenica-Pester Heights in south-western Serbia.
The unit commanders reported to the Chief of the VJ General Staff about the current situation in their zones, the results in building up combat readiness, the living conditions and the conditions in which the units and their commands carry out their tasks.
In the meetings with the troops and officers, Gen. Ojdanic got acquainted with how the troops live and work and the degree of their motivation to perform the assigned tasks. He showed special interest in the condition of the accommodation facilities, the combat systems and the equipment, as well as the progress made in reconstructing the destroyed and damaged facilities.
Gen. Ojdanic informed the Uzice Corps units he toured about the military and security situation and the tasks of further building up the combat readiness of the Army of Yugoslavia.
PATRIARCH PAVLE RECEIVES ARCHBISHOP PERKO OF BELGRADE
Patriarch Pavle of the Serbian Orthodox Church Tuesday received Archbishop France Perko of Belgrade, who delivered to him financial aid from Pope John Paul II for the Kosovo and Metohija children and conveyed to him greetings from the Supreme Pontiff.
Archbishop Perko also communicated the Pope's and his own deep regrets over the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, which he said was a very difficult one for the Serbian people.
He said that he had informed the Vatican that a great many people in Yugoslavia lived in hardship and needed aid.
After the meeting that lasted half an hour, Archbishop Perko said that one of the reasons for the meeting was a reply concerning a joint celebration of the second millennium of Christianity.
He set out that he had proposed to Patriarch Pavle a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia and the Serbian Orthodox Church, set up with a view to promoting religious dialogue.
Archbishop Perko informed the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church about the conclusions adopted by a regular Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia held in Belgrade recently, which called on the international community to lift the sanctions against Yugoslavia, because it said they only increased the sufferings of the people, and urged good-will, mutual tolerance and an end to hatred.
INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR NATO CRIMES IN YUGOSLAVIA OPENS SESSION IN ROME
The International Tribunal for NATO crimes in Yugoslavia opened its Rome session on Monday with high praises of Yugoslavia and its people by RAI journalist Uvio Grimaldi.
Testimonies were given and charges presented by former U.S. attorney-general Ramsey Clark, who has become a symbol of the American people's resistance to the White House policy, Italian Senators Ranieri Lavalle and Giovani Grusospena, Admiral Alco Acame, Teramo University International Law Professor Aldo Bernardini and many other distinguished Italian political, scientific and other public figures.
Many Italian humanitarian and peace organizations have sent their representatives to the session of the International Tribunal for NATO crimes against Yugoslavia, including the Committee for International Democracy, the Stop Uranium 239 Committee, the Italian Human Rights League, and the Committee for Peace and Solidarity among Nations.
ARMY OF YUGOSLAVIA TEAM OF INSPECTORS ARRIVES IN CROATIA
An Army of Yugoslavia team of inspectors Tuesday arrived in Croatia, where it will inspect two military sites in the next three days, in keeping with the Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control, it was officially announced in the Croatian capital.
At the Bajakovo border crossing, the Yugoslav military experts were welcomed by members of the Croatian Defense Ministry's Office for Arms Control, headed by Brigadier Ivica Klen.
Brigadier Klen expressed satisfaction with cooperation between the Croatian and Yugoslav armies in arms control.
YUGOSLAV SPORTS MINISTRY APPEALS IN CONNECTION WITH TRAGIC INCIDENT
The Yugoslav Sports Ministry has addressed an appeal to the Yugoslav Soccer Federation, the Yugoslav soccer clubs, sports federations and the sports fans in connection with a recent tragedy in which a 17-year-old student was killed by a flare at a Partizan vs. Red Star soccer match in Belgrade.
"The Federal Ministry of Sports most deeply regrets the tragic death of Aleksandar Radovic and views this unprecedented event in the glorious history of the Yugoslav sport as a most serious warning to everyone, one which must bring about a change in the understanding of the responsibility of the participants in a stadium and especially outside of it, so that the chivalrous and honourable principles of sports would be restored to competition and the rooting by sports fans.
"The Federal Ministry of Sports will undertake a broadest possible action to activate social structures, institutions and authorities with a priority view of not having similar incidents happen ever again.
"The Yugoslav sport, as a representative of our country, and all those in whose hearts it is, especially the coming generations, deserve that all of us together and each one of us individually fully contribute to the implementation of this action," the statement said.
YUGOSLAV SCRIPT WRITER WINS FIRST PRIZE AT ROMANIAN FESTIVAL
Yugoslav director and script writer Milos Radovic has won the 1st prize for the script of the film "My Homeland" at the 9th international film festival of short films DAKINO in Bucharest.
The DAKINO festival opened on Oct 25 with the film "Black Cat White Cat" by Yugoslav Director Emir Kusturica, the guest of honour.
"Acide Anime" by French director Guillaume Breaud won the award for best film.
Other guests of the festival were prominent Italian directors Vittorio Taviani and Nicola Piovani.
The film "My Homeland" has won over 30 awards at international festivals all over the world since it was released just over a year ago.
DAYS OF SERBIAN MUSIC IN SALONIKA FROM NOV 4-6
Days of Serbian music, organized by Serbian Radio Television (RTS) and Greek television ERT3, will be held in Salonika from Nov 4-6, it was announced at a press conference at the RTS on Tuesday.
RTS music editor Predrag Perisic said this would be a return visit and that Serbian musicians should perform at the Milos Cultural Center.
Fruitful cooperation between the RTS and the ERT3 began in the autumn of 1997 with a joint New Year show and concert in Saloniki.
Press Attach� of the Greek Embassy in Belgrade Sros Haggitheodoulos said cooperation between the two networks and guest visits by musicians were a great contribution to the two peoples and cultures getting closer to each other.
Haggitheodoulos said the ERT3 wanted such forms of cooperation to be expanded so that the Greek people could learn more about the culture of the friendly Serbian people.
The first evening of the event will feature the company Renaissance that will perform Serbian medieval music, music of the European Renaissance, and Byzantine musical heritage.
The RTS folk dance company and its vocal and instrumental solo performers will appear on Nov 5, and the last evening will present Serbian pop and rock music with a concert by Dejan Cukic and his band.
All proceeds from the concert will go to the RTS for alleviating the damage caused by the NATO air strikes last spring.