FYROM sets date for crucial local elections

SKOPJE (AP) - The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will hold municipal elections on March 13, officials said yesterday, following months of acrimonious debate and a national referendum on granting regional autonomy to the country’s ethnic Albanians. The parliamentary speaker, Ljubco Jordanovski, said the March 13 vote will be held under a contentious new law that has redrawn municipalities in the tense Balkan country to give ethnic Albanians greater control in areas where they live.

TETOVO (AP) - Hundreds of ethnic-Albanian students marched yesterday in northwestern FYROM to protest the arrest of two fellow students, who they say were falsely accused of being part of a militant group. Florent Sahiti, 20, and Valjon Azemi, 20, were arrested on Friday after a shootout between FYROM police and an ethnic-Albanian militant group in the city of Tetovo, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Skopje, the capital. About 400 students from the ethnic-Albanian University of Tetovo marched from the city center to their campus on the outskirts of the city, bringing traffic to a halt as they chanted slogans for the release of the students. The students have been accused of being members of Lirim Jakupi’s band and were charged with attacking police.

A bomb toppled a statue of Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito in his hometown in northern Croatia yesterday. The Culture Ministry condemned the early morning attack in the town of Kumrovec — which also damaged nearby houses — calling it a “barbaric act.” The head and a right shoulder of the bust, made by the sculptor Antun Augustincic, were blown off in the explosion, Croatian state-run radio said. No one took responsibility for the blast. (AP)

More than 100 Romanian journalists and readers of an influential daily rallied in the capital yesterday to protest the sidelining of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief following recent articles critical of the government. Journalists from the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper shouted “We want press freedom” and “Down with censorship” during the two-hour protest, which was held outside the Swiss Embassy because the paper is owned by Swiss group Ringier. Journalists delivered an open letter to the Swiss Embassy claiming that Ringier wanted to sideline editor-in-chief Dan Turturica because of his “intransigent” reporting, which angers government officials and businessmen in Romania. Last week, Ringier accused Turturica, 35, of management shortcomings, named a new editor and ordered Turturica transferred to the eastern city of Bacau to conduct a feasibility study for a new newspaper. Turturica declined and has contested the decision in court. (AP)