Shorts

Statistics

The main state TV news announced a record result in productivity on Monday, August 19. Production in July was up 15.7% this year compared to the same month last year. However, the joy of the author of that report was short-lived: On August 20, Nasa Borba reported that July’s production was 3.1% lower than June this year. Both figures are correct and they come from the same source; the Federal Statistics Office. The only question is who wants to report what and which figure reveals the trend in August.

Diplomacy

The RTS main news program on Monday informed viewers of the diplomatic activities of Federal Foreign Minister Zoran Bingulac, who was in Harare "for a series of successful talks on economic cooperation between the two friendly countries."

How did he get to Harare?

As a well known party member and successful singer, Bingulac arrived in Zimbabwe to attend the wedding of Yugoslavia’s great friend Robert Mugabe, who was getting married to his personal secretary.

Birth Rate

Judging by an article in Politika on August 20, the gynecology clinic in Novi Sad would have a much harder time if birth rates were higher. This means that the institution, which recently got a UNICEF plaque from Federal Minister Margit Savovic, is only being helped by the "white plague" and not sufficiently at that. The article stated: "Although the death rate in Vojvodina has been higher than the birth rate in the past seven years, the biggest maternity hospital in Vojvodina is facing hard times, delivering up to 7,000 babies a year although it was built to handle 3,000 births."

Who knows what would happen if there were more births and less deaths, the article asked. The clinic's director Miroslava Dokmanovic-Djordjevic hopes the high birth rate at her clinic will force society to think about building another maternity hospital to help raise birth rates.

Creative Signature

Fejza Spahic, owner of Edona Trade in Pristina, toppled the myth of literacy as a skill necessary to forge cheques and order forms: The illiterate man was charged with fraud and robbing state companies for over 1.3 million dinars. Spahic told a district court judge that he signed checks with a cross and a thumbprint. He said all his partners knew he was illiterate and added that they all cared more about the money he gave them than his ability to read and write.

Epidemic

There is no foot and mouth disease in Yugoslavia, experts at the World Laboratory for Foot and Mouth Disease said after testing over 50 samples taken from suspected animals. Laboratory chief Paul Keeching did not exclude the possibility that Yugoslav exporters found the virus in their labs, but said it is more probable that they had the wrong instruction manuals for the equipment, which are less perfect than the equipment in his lab.

He voiced his surprise that after finding three or four positive samples, Yugoslav experts panicked, declared an epidemic and slaughtered over 4,000 head of cattle. Other EU experts also found no evidence of the disease.

The Serbian Democratic Party (DSS) is now demanding that the Serbian government compensate farmers for the money they lost because entire areas of the country were blocked off. The DSS also wants to be compensated because the state unnecessarily engaged the army and police. The party expects Federal Minister Tihomir Vrebalov and Republican Minister Nedeljko Sipovac to resign in disgrace for the shame they brought to Serbia at home and abroad. In any case, the epidemic is no laughing matter. It is better to slaughter 4,000 head of cattle than spare some diseased cows.

Salaries Far Away

Believing that there is no alternative to salaries, workers at the Zastava arms plant in Kragujevac moved their protest gathering - spurred by a delay in receiving June salaries- from the factory to town hall. The workers are stepping up their efforts by preparing to protest in front the buildings of the federal government and the Ministry of Defense.