This Week, Thursday July 30, - Wednesday, August 5, 1998

Thursday, July 30
Pristina - The ethnic Albanian daily, Koha Ditore, writes that Mehmet Hajrizi, the general secretary of the Albanian Democratic Alliance, is the Prime Minister Designate for the ethnic Albanian government in Kosovo.
The ethnic Albanian delegation for talks with the Belgrade authorities has been dismissed. Members of the G-15 group told Rugova that dismissing the group would be the best option for the ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade - A team of 35 Yugoslav climbers conquers Mount Blanc.
Bonn - Klaus Kinkel, the German foreign minister, said the Contact Group was working on a project envisaging Kosovo's autonomy and guarantees similar to those obtained in the Bosnian conflict.
Washington D.C. - The U.S. Senate passes a decision requiring the country's president, Bill Clinton, to consult the Congress before sending troops to Kosovo. Clinton would have to convince the Congress that sending troops to the southern Serbian province would be in the "interests of the U.S. national security".

Friday, July 31
Podgorica - The Montenegrin government says its ministers won't communicate with Momir Bulatovic's cabinet members until the composition of the federal government changes, writes the Podgorica daily Vijesti.
Brussels - A number of unidentified perpetrators opened fire on the Yugoslav embassy in the night between July 30 and 31.

Saturday, August 1
Belgrade - Milan Zivadinovic is the new coach of the Yugoslav national soccer team.
The Hague - Milan Kovacevic, the former manager of the Prijedor hospital, dies in the Tribunal's jail for war crimes suspects.

Monday, August 3
Belgrade - The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) deputies in the federal and Serbian parliament ask for special sessions to discuss the Kosovo situation. The deputies also forwarded a proposal to declare a state of emergency in the province.
Belgrade police arrested Mladen Bukvic, the manager of the Novi Sad lottery, under suspicion that he ripped off about 25 million dinars (equivalent to 4 million German marks) from the funds.
Pristina - Ethnic Albanian extremists kidnapped 171 civilians and 10 policemen in Kosovo from January 1st to July 27th, the Pristina Media Center said. According to the center, 31 persons have been released while the fate of the others is still unknown.
The UNHCR says that about 30,000 of Kosovo's inhabitants have abandoned their homes during Serb police operations.

Tuesday, August 4
Geneva - Chris Yanovski, a UNHCR spokesman, says that "10 percent of Kosovo's entire population have been forced to flee their homes. He specified that over 200,000 people abandoned their "torched homes" in the southern Serbian province.

Wednesday, August 5
Pristina - The Serbian police denies claims by some western media that there are mass graves containing the bodies of ethnic Albanian civilians near Orahovac.

The Words
Mirko Marjanovic, the Serbian Prime Minister: "The Serbian government has every intention of continuing its policy of social stability and protecting the general living standard".

The Facts
The Federal Statistics Bureau revealed that the basic expenditures for a family of four stood at 2,060.09 dinars in June, or 2.04 average incomes. The June average income in Serbia was 1,010 dinars.