Albania News

Ex-dictator Hoxha's nephew held in Albania drug bust

Tirana - The nephew of Albania's former dictator Enver Hoxha was on Thursday arrested on suspicion of running a cocaine laboratory.

Charred hull of Norman Atlantic reaches port for full search

Brindisi - The burned-out Norman Atlantic ferry was towed into the southern Italian port of Brindisi Friday, six days after a mid-sea fire led to 13 deaths and forced the rescue of 477 passengers.

Albania opens Hoxha's top secret Cold War nuclear bunker to public

Tirana - The massive, top secret Cold War nuclear bunker of former Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha was opened to the public on Saturday, decades after it was built by the paranoid communist regime fearing an attack by the West that never came.

Albanian PM visits flashpoint in fraught Serbia trip

Presevo - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Tuesday he was confident a historic visit he was making to Serbia would help open a new era of ties despite a very public row with his hosts over Kosovo.

Albanian PM heads to Serbia in historic visit

Belgrade - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was due in Serbia Monday, the first such visit in 68 years, after violence at a football match delayed his landmark bid to ease tensions between the Balkans nations.

Kosovo foreign minister visits rival Serbia as tensions ease

Belgrade - Kosovo's foreign minister made a landmark visit to Serbia on Thursday, the first since the former Serbian province unilaterally declared independence in 2008 to the fury of Belgrade.

Albanian PM's visit to Serbia postponed after football brawl

Tirana - A planned historic visit by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to Serbia has been postponed until next month, both governments said Sunday, after political tensions soared following violence at a football match between the two countries.

Serbia to decide on Albanian PM visit after football mayhem

Belgrade - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Friday he was undecided whether his Albanian counterpart should go ahead with a planned historic visit after violence halted a Serbia-Albania football match this week.

Serbia condemns Albanian flag drone stunt

Belgrade - Serbia's foreign minister said Wednesday an incident in which a pro-Albanian flag flown by a drone sparked violence on and off the pitch at a football match against Albania was a "political provocation".

Pope says religion can't justify violence

Tirana - Pope Francis warned during a visit to Albania on Sunday that religion can never be used to justify violence, making apparent reference to the bloodshed wreaked by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Pope says religion can't justify violence

Pope Francis warned during a visit to Albania on Sunday that religion can never be used to justify violence, making apparent reference to the bloodshed wreaked by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Albania's lesson in Muslim-Christian tolerance

- Perched up an Albanian mountain, the mediaeval church of St Nicolas was rebuilt from a crumbling ruin with help from local Muslims after the fall of communism, a symbol of the religious tolerance Pope Francis will be celebrating here on Sunday.

Albania tightens security ahead of pope visit

Tirana - Albania upped security on Saturday as it prepared to host Pope Francis amid warnings that Islamic State jihadists could be planning an attack on the Catholic leader in the mainly Muslim country.

Security upped at Vatican over attack fears

Rome - Security has been tightened in Saint Peter's Square after intelligence services intercepted a possible plan to attack the Vatican, Italian media reported Saturday, increasing fears Pope Francis could be in danger.

Top Kosovo ex-fighters face organ trafficking, war crimes indictment

Pristina - Several leaders of Kosovo's 1990s guerrilla army, some of them now senior officials, face possible indictment for crimes against humanity including murder and organ trafficking, an EU probe found Tuesday.

Albania seizes two tonnes of cannabis

Tirana - Albanian police on Thursday seized two tonnes of cannabis aimed at consumers in Italy and Greece, arresting seven people suspected of drug trafficking, they said in a statement.The haul was seized in Karaburun, 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of th...

Hundreds taken ill while harvesting marijuana in Albania

Since June, hundreds of people, mostly women and children, have taken ill while harvesting illegal marijuana in Albania, according to a Reuters report published Friday.

Albania's continuing blood feuds

In Albania, the Kanun, a centuries-old code of conduct still regulating many aspects of life in rural areas, especially the mountainous north, requires that killings be avenged with blood.

'Bizarre' King Zog's remains repatriated to Albania

Tirana - The remains of Europe’s strangest monarch, King Zog I of Albania, were exhumed in France and repatriated to Albania on Thursday last week.

Albania to put tourist beds in Communist concrete bunkers

Tirana - A vast array of ugly Igloo-shaped concrete bunkers litter Albania, a constant reminder of former Communist dictator Enver Hoxha's paranoia. A joint German-Albanian tourism project plans to put beds in the bunkers to transform them into tourist hostels.

Albanian minister: Gay activists should be beaten with truncheons

Tirana - As Albanian gay rights activists announced plans to hold the nation's first ever gay pride parade in May. An Albanian minister said activists should be beaten with truncheons, if the event goes ahead.

Albanian tourism is booming: Interview with Jimmy Lama

Once the butt of many jokes, Albania is emerging as one of Europe's hottest new destinations, and its ambassadors are taking the message from Tel Aviv to Berlin. Digital Journal caught up with one of them in Montenegro.

Residential property prices up more than 10% in Albania

Albania's Central Bank announces a sharp increase in residential housing prices in the latest piece of good news from the former Communist country.

Visa-free travel for Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina

Brussels - Citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina who possess biometric passports will be able to travel without a visa in the Schengen area from mid-December. The decision came today after a meeting of the Council of the European Union (EU).

Four Guantanamo Bay detainees arrive in Albania and Spain

Four more detainees have been transferred out of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Three men from North Africa have been accepted by Albania, with the remaining man from the Palestinian Territories being accepted by Spain.

Berlusconi: Albanian immigrants must be beautiful girls

Silvio Berlusconi, the gaffe-prone Prime Minister of Italy, on Friday told his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha that the only immigrants he would accept from his country were beautiful girls.

UEFA names five teams suspected of match-fixing in European ties

The governing body of European Football, UEFA, introduced its Betting Fraud Detection System (BFDS) in July 2009. This program has been monitoring all matches in the top two tiers of every European league for irregular betting patterns since that time.