Using the republic’s strategic reserves without the Serbian leadership’s approval is against the law

Using the republic’s strategic reserves without the Serbian leadership’s approval is against the law. Mr Zivkovic said they had no alternative.Aleksandr Krstic, the deputy head of the local government, said that Belgrade’s blockage of the EU convoy was “definitely political”. The shipment to the two opposition-governed cities is part of the EU’s Fuel for Democracy aid programme, devised after the end of the Kosovo air campaign.Nis dipped into the Yugoslav Republic’s so-called strategic reserves of heating fuel, which amount to about 2,000 tons, to help its residents with central heating to survive sub-zero temperatures while awaiting the EU delivery.The head of the fuel plant was arrested and spent several days in prison until he was released after public demonstrations in Trg Pobede square, in the town centre. No names were released in line with Dutch privacy laws.A police spokeswoman confirmed that the family of one of the victims had requested protection but said it was not given because there were insufficient grounds to justify it (AP). FOURTEEN EUROPEAN Union trucks carrying badly needed heating fuel rumbled into the Serbian opposition stronghold of Nis yesterday, after being held up at the border for two weeks by Belgrade. The 350 tons of fuel donated by the EU to Nis, the Yugoslav Republic’s third-largest city, 235km (145 miles) south-east of Belgrade, were unloaded yesterday on a rare sunny day. One-third of the population of Nis, 75,000 people, had been without central heating for two days.

The lorries had been stranded at the Yugoslav-Macedonian border since 24 November while Yugoslav customs kept raising new administrative obstacles, attracting the EU’s censure.
Zoran Zivkovic, the mayor of Nis, said: “Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what changed their mind.” He suggested that Belgrade’s “inexplicable logic” meant that the Serbian authorities moved only “when it is too late or when grave consequences can be felt”.Mr Zivkovic said that Pirot, a town further south, was in an even more dire situation than Nis, as central heating had been cut off in parts of it for two weeks. Police did not say whether the father was likely to be charged as an accessory. The condition of one student was said to be critical.Police are questioning a 17-year-old suspect and his father, who allegedly drove his son to school, waited outside in the family’s Mercedes while the shooting took place, then took him to the police station to surrender. The other family were believed to be upset that their 15-year-old daughter had become romantically involved with the 19- year-old.
All five victims of the shooting – four students and a teacher – remained in hospital yesterday. DUTCH POLICE investigating the shooting of five people at a school in the southern town of Veghel were told yesterday that the attack was linked to a long-running feud between rival Turkish families.

The brother of one of the victims – a 19-year-old who appears to have been the main target – said his family had feared an attack for months and had sought police protection, first in August and again on the eve of Tuesday’s shooting. That would avoid a lengthy political battle, should prosecutors in Bonn decide this week to open criminal investigations.Mr Kohl has admitted publicly that he may have broken party financing laws, but has defended the secret funds as part of his highly personalised style of running the party – suggesting he used the hidden contributions to build loyalty among favoured party officials.The former Chancellor enjoys parliamentary immunity, which can be lifted only with the agreement of the Bundestag Parliament has launched an inquiry into his chancellorship.. He told prosecutors he could not remember the purpose of these visits. At least one secret account, which at one point contained DM500,000, has been traced to a Zurich bank. Mr Schauble said yesterday he was unaware of a link between his party and Swiss accounts.As the investigation drags on behind closed doors, pressure is mounting on Mr Kohl within his party to stand down as an MP. That left no paper trail, violation of the political funding law.Mr Weyrauch had also made frequent trips to Switzerland, sometimes twice a week.

This is where Horst Weyrauch, the CDU’s tax adviser, deposited anonymous donations over several years, and shunted the money about by withdrawing the entire contents and paying the cash into a new account. Mr Kohl’s unorthodox banking regime was introduced shortly after he became chancellor in 1982, Mr Schauble confirmed, and were wound up the day he left the party chairmanship last year.
As anger swells among the Christian Democrats, senior figures are urging that the party should come clean quickly. “The party is in a difficult position,” Angela Merkel, a former Kohl protege and now General Secretary, told Bild Zeitung. “I believe it would be good if he did everything he could to uncover what happened.”At one Frankfurt bank alone, the party is reported to have kept 17 secret accounts. The missing files include those of bank transactions from 1994 to 1996. The former Chancellor, who last week admitted running secret accounts for many years, refused to address the press yesterday. But Wolfgang Schauble, the party’s new leader, said Mr Kohl assured them of his readiness to co-operate with the inquiry.

Mr Schauble said the Christian Democrats would like to complete the investigation before the end of the year, but the independent accountant from Ernst & Young had been unsure if this was possible. But the low today is lower, and the old checks and safety nets of a homogeneous society are gone. Dozens of desperate parents, wailing, beside themselves with grief as they pawed through the mounds of dirty clothes retrieved from Iqbal’s murder house, bear witness to that.In his letter, Iqbal claimed that now his work was done he planned to drown himself in the Ravi River, which runs through Lahore The police, however, are sure he is still alive. “He is a very clever man,” said Malik Muhammad Iqbal (no relation), the regional head of police “He is enjoying his fame He is reading the newspapers.”. HELMUT KOHL’S standing was was further eroded yesterday when an independent accountant told an emergency party meeting that files covering the party’s financing had gone missing.