Albania

Tirana residents leave their homes after 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit Albania’s capital coast

A 5..6 Earthquake was registered in Albania. There were no reports of casualties, but an apartment building in the coastal town of Durres was reported to have been badly…

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Albanian ex-minister guilty of abuse of office

An Albanian court found former interior minister Saimir Tahiri guilty on Thursday of abuse of office but innocent of trafficking drugs and sentenced him to three years’ probation. Prosecutors wanted…

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Macron apologises to Albania’s PM after national anthem blunder

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said that France President Emmanuel Macron has apologised for the wrong national anthem being played before ‘Les Bleus’ beat the Albanians 4-1 in their Euro…

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French and Dutch seem to block Albania’s EU accession talks – Ambassador

Albania is at the "end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end" of its accession to the European Union, the bloc's ambassador to Albania has said and reported…

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Poland criticises the way EU is dealing with North Macedonia and Albania accession

Polish President Andrzej Duda scolded the European Union on Friday for delaying accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, days after the EU’s current eastern European members lost out in…

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Joint foreign policy for Kosovo and Albania

Kosovo and Albania signed a landmark agreement to coordinate their foreign policies and which will include joint embassies. The agreement was signed after Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli visited his…

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Win for Albanian Socialists in municipal elections

Preliminary results show that Albania’s ruling Socialist Party won all but two districts in last weekend’s municipal elections that were boycotted by the opposition. Counting on the website of…

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Tension as Albania goes to the polls

Albania is set for an election like no other since emerging from half a century of communism in 1990. Prime Minister Edi Rama has campaigned hard for Sunday's local…

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Huge operation in Denmark against crime group from the Western Balkans

The Copenhagen Special Investigation Unit of the Danish Police (Dansk Politi), arrested 31 individuals of a large, poly-criminal organisation, which smuggled, sold and distributed firearms and drugs throughout the EU. They…

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Protests in Albania continue

Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters, some wearing masks of Prime Minister Edi Rama, gathered outside his offices continuing protests against his government. Some carried banners reading "No elections without the…

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Photo Story: Protests in Albania

Riot police throws pepper spray on supporters of the Albanian opposition during a protest in Shkoder, Albania. Opposition has called to boycott the local election process on 30 June. Photo:…

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EU delays accession talks with N. Macedonia and Albania

EU ministers have decided to delay opening accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. The European Commission last month recommended that accession talks should begin with the Balkan countries after…

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Dim hopes for North Macedonia and Albania EU membership bid

A year ago, the European Union told two Balkan countries they could get the green light this month to start membership talks if they jumped through the right hoops. The…

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Pressure continues on the government of Albanian Prime Minister Rama to quit, local elections cancelled

The streets of Tirana were once more paralyzed Sunday as Albanian opposition leader Lulzim Basha again brought thousands of his supporters onto the streets of the Albanian capital in his…

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Frontex border agency deployed for the first time outside the EU

Frontex officers for the first time were deployed out the borders of the European Union. The European Union's border agency on Tuesday, for the first time stationed officers along…

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On this day in 1955, the Warsaw Pact was formed

The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces…

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Molotov cocktails and tear gas deployed in escalation of anti-government protests in Albania

Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of Tirana on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, clashing with security forces at several points across the city.…

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Corporate Dispatch Morning Briefing

Good morning, Your daily morning briefing gives you a quick overview of the news reported in Malta, Europe and the world. The morning briefing is brought to you by CI…

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Illegally sold public land in Albania confiscated

Prosecutors have confiscated public land on the western Albanian coast that was illegally sold or owned by a former lawmaker and other officials. The land is estimated to be worth…

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Deadly shootout at Albania’s airport

A gang of thieves broke into Tirana International Airport and grabbed bags of cash as they were about to be loaded onto an Austrian Airlines plane flying to Vienna. As…

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Albanian protesters try to storm parliament

There were clashes in Tirana between Albanian opposition supporters and police while trying to storm the parliament building in a protest against the government which they accuse of being…

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Thousands show support for Opposition’s decision to quit Albania’s Parliament

Opposition supporters in Albania hailed the decision of their MPs to quit the country’s parliament, as the European Commission and European Parliament criticized what they called decisions that “undermine democracy”.…

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Corporate Dispatch Morning Briefing

Good morning, Your Tuesday's morning briefing with a review of the main news outlets from around the world and Malta's newspapers. The Times reports links between the Labour Party and…

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Albania’s opposition party resigns from Parliament

The parliamentary group of the Democratic Party, Albania's main center-right opposition block led by Lulzim Basha, has resigned from the National Assembly. The decision was taken Monday unanimously by the…

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Albania protests against Prime Minister Rama escalate

Albanian opposition supporters broke a police cordon on Saturday after throwing petrol bombs and flares and began trying to smash the doors of the building that houses the office of…

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Kosovo’s President insists there are no plans for partition of country

Balkan Insight reports that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci moved to dampen down speculation about an ethnic partition of the country, saying he was working only on the eventual inclusion of ethnic…

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Cautious green light given to open accession negotiations with Albania and Macedonia

The door to EU membership for Albania and Macedonia remains closed at least until June 2019, but accession is on offer if the countries make progress on reforms, EU ministers decided Tuesday.…

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Balkan’s conflict tensions echo in World Cup

The Guardian: Swiss footballers Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri have risked inflaming political tensions in the Balkans after they used an Albanian nationalist symbol to celebrate their goals against Serbia in…

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