Democratic Party MP

The Albanian government has come under criticism from the opposition and rights groups after it decided on Saturday to establish a new Agency for Media and Information that will centralise the government's media messaging, sparking allegations that Prime Minister Edi Rama's administration is seeking to evade media scrutiny.

Balkan countries voted in different ways in the UN General Assembly resolution, where most countries urged the United States to rescind its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Most countries defied US President Donald Trump on Thursday and voted in favour of the resolution calling for Washington to drop its plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

As former Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic takes over as Serbia's President, experts predict that he will retain full de-facto control over the security services, despite his limited constitutional powers.

Albania's parliament has set up an investigative commission to check how the hiring process in the public administration has been conducted during the last two years.

The commission was sought by the main opposition party Democratic Party, which has accused the government of hiring unqualified people based on political ties - while firing professionals.

Albania's main opposition Democratic Party and the junior ruling coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration, have called for an "international" or "American" probe into allegations that local politicians received kickbacks from a contractor of the Czech power giant CEZ. 

Supporters of Albania's opposition centre-right Democrats plan to gather on Thursday in front of the government office in Tirana amid allegations of a murder plot involving the speaker of parliament, Ilir Meta.

The former Socialist Party MP who last week accused the Speaker of Parliament, Ilir Meta, of plotting his murder on Thursday said he learned of the plot after the assassin repented and told him the details.

Tom Doshi said the assassin told him that Meta had paid him 500,000 euro to kill him and an opposition Democratic Party MP, Mhill Fufi.

DS and NS: Is the timing right to host Putin?

BELGRADE -- DS and NS Members of Parliament assessed that there is no doubt if Serbia should host such a "great leader" as Vladimir Putin, but questioned the timing of it.