Tirana

TIRANA - The brother of the Albanian prime minister Olsy Rama stated on Wednesday that he has nothing to do with the incident which occurred during the football match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade and added that he was not arrested or detained over the event.

Football incident could have political ramifications

BELGRADE -- The scandal that resulted in the abandoning of a Euro qualifier between Serbia and Albania could have wider implications, the Beta news agency is reporting.

There is now a question mark over the announced visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

TIRANA - Several thousand supporters greeted Albania's football team at the airport in Tirana early Wednesday morning.

According to the AlbaniaSoccer website, a large number of supporters gathered at the airport to greet the team coached by Gianni De Biasi a few hours after the end of the Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania.

TIRANA - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama will pay a visit to Belgrade on October 22, which will be the first visit of the Albanian prime minister to Serbia in 68 years, Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ditmir Bushati stated on Friday.

The Albanian minister's visit was announced earlier by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

Dorian Matlija, a lawyer from the Res Publica centre in Tirana, told BIRN on Tuesday that Albania's new bill on freedom of information, which parliament adopted on September 18, will speed up access to official documents and government data.

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"Religious tolerance is a treasure that you should protect well and which merits special attention in a time when extremism is threatening religious coexistence," Pope Francis said during a meeting with Albania's President Bujar Nishani.

"No one should think that can use God's strength to carry acts of violence," he added.

The powerful blast blew apart a white Mitsubishi SUV on the city ring road at 7.15am, killing the driver, businessman Isuf Brahimaj, and injuring a passenger and a bystander.

The inured passenger, a 19-year-old woman, was transferred to Tirana’s Mother Teresa University hospital, where she underwent an emergency operation.

Albania’s Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro, on August 16 said the Pope's forthcoming visit to Albania will generate enormous interest in the country.

“This is a big event that will bring Albania to the centre of attention of the international media,” Kumbaro told reporters.

“About 1,000 journalists are expected to cover the visit,” she added.

Greece’s hopes of agreeing an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Ionian Sea with Albania have been dealt another blow after the prosecutor’s office in Tirana launched an investigation into the agreement between the two countries.

Several hundred citizens, including journalists, organized a protest Monday in front of the headquarters of Albania's central bank in downtown Tirana.

Protesters demanded the instant dismissal of Ardian Fullani, governor of the bank, due to the theft of around EUR 5 M from a storage facility of the bank.