Albania News

Courts, cannabis, corruption: Albania struggles against old demons

By AFP

Tirana - With an ex-minister on trial for drug trafficking, an opposition leader suspected of money laundering and hundreds of judges probed over graft, Albania is wrestling against a corruption plague threatening its EU membership hopes.

Albania parliament rejects president's bid to cancel local polls

By AFP

Tirana - Albania's ruling Socialist Party on Thursday voted down a move by President Ilir Meta to scrap local elections he viewed as undemocratic because of an opposition boycott.

EU tells Tirana, Skopje membership will have to wait

By AFP

Apo - EU Council President Donald Tusk said Wednesday the bloc should start accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, but warned there would be no quick decision, with several member states opposed.

Albania PM urges EU to deliver on membership promise

By AFP

Apo - Albania's prime minister Tuesday urged the EU to deliver on its promise to start membership talks with Tirana, as the head of the European Commission said a June deadline would likely be missed.

Albanian president, PM clash over June elections

By AFP

Tirana - Albanian President Ilir Meta on Saturday cancelled local elections scheduled for June 30, a decision promptly rejected by Prime Minister Edi Rama who said the polls would go ahead.

'I worked here': home of Albanian author Kadare becomes a museum

By AFP

Tirana - Ismail Kadare draws the curtain to bring a shaft of light into the Tirana apartment where he wrote furiously during the dark days of communism -- a space visitors can now explore first-hand after his former home was turned into a museum.

Police, protesters clash in demo against Albania PM

By AFP

Tirana - Police in the Albanian capital Tirana on Sunday fired tear gas and water canon at demonstrators demanding the resignation of socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Albania's riotous politics rattle EU dreams

By AFP

Tirana - Molotov cocktails in the streets and a mass resignation in parliament -- Albania's volatile political scene is exploding just as its European future is on the table, threatening Tirana's dreams of joining the bloc.

Albanians unearth dark past searching for communism's victims

By AFP

Tirana - After years of scouring documents, tapes and then the slopes of a mountain above Tirana, Jovan Plaku found the remains of 13 people in a forest where he believes his father was executed by Albania's former communist regime.

Albanian police arrest an Islamist sought by Italy

By AFP

Tirana - Albanian police on Tuesday arrested a 28-year old man following a request from Italy where he is sought for "terrorist activities".

Albania's opposition calls for PM to resign

By AFP

Tirana - Several police officers were injured Saturday in Tirana during the opposition protest calling on Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Albanian PM: A 'lukewarm' EU is hurting the Balkans

By AFP

Tirana - The Balkan countries are hurting from the stalled integration process with the European Union, where member states are growing weary of enlargement, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told AFP in an interview.

Tirana airport security under scrutiny after runway heist

By AFP

Tirana - Security at the Albanian capital's airport was under scrutiny Wednesday after a Hollywood-style robbery on its runway that left one gunman dead while his accomplices fled with millions of euros.

Police and protesters clash outside Albanian parliament

By AFP

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.

In Albania, a sole Jewish history museum on the brink

By AFP

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.

Albanian police disperse opposition protest with teargas

By AFP

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

Young and restless: Albanian youth see a future elsewhere

By AFP

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.

Albanian students revolt over tuition costs

By AFP

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.

Looters plunder Albania's sunken treasures

By AFP

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.

Macedonian ex-PM fled in Hungarian diplomatic car: Albanian police

By AFP

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.

Albania bans 52 Greeks after 'extremism' at funeral

By AFP

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.

Crowds flock to funeral of ethnic Greek man slain in Albania

By AFP

- 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.

Animals rescued from 'hellish' Albanian zoo

By AFP

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.

More EU-bound migrants reaching end of the road in Albania

By AFP

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.

Hunting for 'black gold' in Albania's lawless truffle trade

By AFP

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".

Steeped in history but crumbling, Albania's 'slanted city'

By AFP

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.

EU to open Macedonia, Albania accession talks June 2019

By AFP

Luxembourg - The European Union agreed Tuesday to open negotiations to join the bloc with Albania and the ex-Yugoslav republic of Macedonia starting in June next year, provided certain conditions are met.

Poverty-stricken Albania new migrant gateway into EU

By AFP

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.

Kosovo jails Muslim extremists over Israeli football terror plot

By AFP

Pristina - Eight Muslim extremists who plotted terror attacks against Israeli footballers and fans during a 2016 World Cup qualifier in Albania were jailed for up to 10 years on Friday.