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Yugoslav Parliament has passed amendments to the Defense Law regarding additional financing of the defense, according to which the current special federal sales taxes will be increased between 25 and 50 percent. The Parliament also elected the Federal Electoral Committee.

The House of Representatives adopted the law amendments in a record ten minutes, which was the time needed for FRY Government vice-president Jovan Zebic to explain the proposed amendments. One of the reasons for the increased taxes were the debts of the Yugoslav Army which are five months overdue.

The proposed law was disputed by the delegate of the Vojvodina Alliance of Hungarians (SVM), Jalos Bala who said that the additional taxes would increase the agricultural losses, "and the inflation spurts will be included".

"Why do we need an Army of 80.000 soldiers when states of population size have 20.000-strong armies" asked the delegate of the SVM. He emphasized that countries in transit need to use 2.5% of the national product for military purposes, and with these new taxes this figure in the FRY will be 10%.

The FRY Government proposed that the new tax rates be applied starting August 1.

The trial of Miroslav Filipovic, correspondent for the Belgrade daily Danas and Agence France Press for the "crime of espionage and spreading false news" started today before the Military Court in Nis.

The deputy military prosecutor, captain Aleksandar Kalizanin proposed before the proceedings that the "public be partially excluded from the trial", therefore journalists were not allowed in the courtroom during the trial while Filipovic is presenting evidence which military secret. Before the trial Miroslav Filipovic said to the press that he has been "been informed of the details of the indictment" and that he will present his defense.

At the start of the proceedings the deputy military prosecutor read the indictment which accuses Filipovic of "committing the crime of espionage" from the beginning of May 1990 to the end of May 2000 by "gathering data which is a military secret with the intention of handing it over to foreign organizations such as the British Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and AFP".

According to the indictment, Filipovic published information on the "military-political situation, territorial jurisdiction and military mobilization in Sandzak", as well as "activities and moral of the members of the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro" in his text. The indictment also states that he had committed the crime of spreading false information with the intent of "creating civil discomfort and threaten public order and peace".

According to the indictment, Filipovic did this by stating in his texts that the "Yugoslav Army had committed brutalities" in Kosovo and Metohija and "bombed and destroyed according to the principles of 'fry' and 'burn'". The indictment adds that he had spread false information in his texts by stating that "the FR Yugoslavia is sending military and political forces to Kosovo and Metohija with the intent of creating a conflict between the Serb and Albanian sides".

The president of the Council of the Military Court in Nis, colonel Radenko Miladinovic is presiding over today's trial of Miroslav Filipovic, who is being defended by Belgrade attorneys Zoran Ateljevic and Goran Draganic, as well as Nis attorney Zoran Stojadinovic.

Colonel Miladinovic told reporters that the trial would be open to the public after 12 o'clock, by which time Filipovic should have given "strictly confidential military information".

Filipovic was arrested on May 8, and temporarily released from prison on May 12, only to be arrested again on May 22 and has since been in the military prison in Nis, despite the numerous appeals of the defense that he be released.

Vuk Draskovic, the president of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) requested the Greek international initiative for "pressure against the regime in Belgrade" in order to change the electoral conditions for the federal elections so that Montenegro would participate in them, on Tuesday in Athens. The chief of Greek diplomacy, George Papandreau stated that Draskovic's "thinking was useful" and that he would "develop" his proposal in contact with other governments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has "de facto distanced himself" from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the G-8 summit in Okinawa, demanding democratization in Yugoslavia with the other participants, writes Russian daily "Izvestija". In the commentary dedicated to the G-8 summit the paper writes that "the Yugoslav subject could have been a difficult test for the relations between Russia and the West - but it wasn't".

"To the surprise of many, Putin showed there also that he is part of the team. He did not enter a dispute with his western colleagues, but on the contrary, de facto distanced himself from Milosevic, demanding the democratization of Yugoslavia", writes the paper. It also states that "unlike Boris Yeltsin, Putin did not start playing games using the 'Slav, Orthodox card', but spoke of 'special relations and historical bonds' between Serbs and Russians". "The Russian leader showed himself as a pragmatic who thinks of the reality of today, not the day before yesterday", stated the paper adding that Putin's position on the "Serbian issue" created "a strong impression with the participants of the summit".

The Serbian Ministry of Sport and Youth and the Serbian Ministry of Education have jointly initiated a draft Juvenile Protection Act with the aim of "protecting the body and physical development of minors from use of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and religious sects", as the "Vecernje Novosti" write, Beta informs. The paper stated that the draft law predicts the prohibition of public cigarette and alcohol consumption for minors and the prohibition of lingering in cafes, restaurants, discotheques and theatres after 10 p.m. for children under the age of 16 without a guardian, and midnight for minors under the age of 18.

"The law is primarily in the interest of minors and its implementation would contribute to decreasing the wave of underage crime, which has caught us off guard, and bring it to a reasonable level. The measures which are seemingly repressive in their preventive and protective role should help all guidance factors", stated Kata Lazovic, minister of Education.

The draft version of the Juvenile Protection Act also predicts the founding of a national council for the protection of youth, as part of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, without whose approval public viewing of "film, television, theatre and video production, exhibits and reviews" will not permitted, as the "Vecernje Novosti" inform.

The Yugoslav Army has confirmed the incident on the Skadar lake involving a boat of the Montenegrin police, but blamed the Montenegrin police for it claiming that the police boat did not have markings, nor bare the flag of the FR Yugoslavia".

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