(((In Albania, they don't seem to quite get it yet about the centipede biz.
First, nude pictures of a MALE politician don't excite anybody, and second, you're not supposed to blow him up by bombing his favorite cafe'.)))
EXPLOSION MISSES ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER BY AN HOUR. Albania's leading opposition politician, Edi Rama, narrowly avoided an explosion at a restaurant he visited on February 14, local media reported. Initial reports indicated that the explosion occurred at the headquarters of his Socialist Party minutes after he left.
Details about the cause of the explosion and the incident remain scant, but Deputy Interior Minister Gjergj Lezhja told a news conference on February 15 that the explosion occurred shortly after midnight on February 15, an hour and a quarter after Rama left the restaurant. Lezhja linked the explosion to a dispute between the owner of the restaurant and a business partner. Lezhja said the business partner provided details of the dispute, but it is unclear from an Albanian Television report whether he confessed to the attack or whether he was arrested. The political situation in the country is becoming increasingly fractious ahead of local elections scheduled for February 18 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 15, 2007). It also comes in the midst of a controversy centering on the publication on
February 11 of photos of Rama in the nude. Rama has accused the governing Democratic Party of being behind the publication of the pictures, a charge it denies. The pictures were reportedly first published in Bosnian and Croatian publications before being reprinted by an Albanian newspaper on February 11. Rama, who says the photos were taken in southern France in 1995 or 1996, said on national television on February 12 that "I did what anybody else might have done at that time, under those conditions and at my age," the daily
"Korrieri" reported on February 13.
The Socialists are Albania's leading opposition party and Rama, who is running for reelection as the mayor of Tirana, has won considerable popularity for his efforts to clean up and bring order to the capital. The impact of the controversy on his popularity is hard to gauge at present. The leader of the Democratic Party, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, on February 14
predicted that Rama will boycott the elections, the daily "Albania"
reported on February 15. AG
