Tirana - Police in Albania used tear gas and water cannon against stone-throwing anti-government demonstrators in the capital Tirana Saturday, as they tried to force their way into the parliament building.

Berat - On a sloped, cobblestone street in southern Albania sits a small shop, empty except for a dozen framed panels on the walls bearing photos and stories from 500 years of Jewish life.

Tirana - Albanian police used teargas Tuesday to disperse hundreds of opposition protesters who tried to prevent ruling Socialist MPs from entering parliament.

Tirana - After emerging from his hiding place inside a truck packed with children's toys at a British port, Alban Tufa saw the police and realised his attempt to slip into the country had failed.

Tirana - Thousands of opposition supporters clashed with police outside the Albanian parliament on Saturday during an anti-government protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Tirana - Thousands of Albanian university students took to Tirana's streets on Tuesday for their biggest show of strength yet in a protest movement demanding lower tuition fees and more investment in public education.

Vlora - Albania's long underexplored coastal waters have become a hotspot for treasure hunters scooping up ancient pottery, sunken ship parts and other shell-encrusted relics that have lain on the seabed for centuries.

Tirana - Former Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled the country to avoid prison, used a Hungarian diplomatic vehicle to escape through Albania, police in Tirana said Thursday after Budapest formally denied any involvement.

Tirana - Tirana has banned 52 Greek nationals from entering the country over what it labelled their "extremist" behaviour at the funeral of an ethnic Greek man killed by Albanian police, an official said late Friday.

- Hundreds attended a funeral in southern Albania on Thursday for an ethnic Greek man who was killed by police there last month, inflaming tensions between Athens and Tirana.

Fier - Albanian police on Sunday broke open cages at a private zoo and removed 11 animals including three lions and a bear being kept in "hellish" conditions, animal welfare workers said.

Tirana - When he fled Syria with his four daughters, Said Dabash never dreamt of settling down in Albania, a poor country on Europe's southern edge. But the 45-year-old's hopes of reaching Germany were overtaken by exhaustion.

Qafa - Threats, poisoned dogs and massacred trees: Albania's forests are gripped by a war over truffles, the prized and pricey fungi known in this poor European country as "black gold".

Gjirokast - The Lolomani dwelling, formerly the home of the Ottoman period family of that name, was once an impressive sight in the mountainside town of Gjirokastra in southern Albania.

Tirana - Until recently, few refugees chose poverty-stricken Albania as a pit stop on their perilous trek towards wealthy EU countries. But with the so-called western Balkan migrant trail now shut, the number of Syrians arriving in Albania is on the rise.

Tirana - Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters rallied in the capital Tirana on Saturday calling for the resignation of interior minister Fatmir Xhafaj, whose brother has been convicted of drug trafficking.

Tirana - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill celebrated mass in Tirana on Sunday, the highlight of his first visit to the mainly Muslim Albania.

Tirana - The European Commission has recommended opening EU accession talks with Albania.

Tirana - With feathers on its head that make it look like it is wearing a wig, it does not go unnoticed -- the Dalmatian pelican is back with a flourish in the Divjaka Lagoon in western Albania.

Tirana - An Albanian court on Wednesday jailed 11 protesters for an undefined period of time over a violent demonstration against the introduction of a toll on a motorway linking the country with Kosovo.