Tirana

The Albanian Ministry of Interior said the pilot of the plane, Girgio Riformato, had been arrested after he crash-landed his single-engine Piper on Sunday on the beach at Divjaka, 50 kilometres south of Tirana.

In the same area, police also arrested an Albanian, Saimir Bajramaj, after they found 460 kilograms of marijuana and €27,000 in his vehicle.

VIENNA - Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Didier Burkhalter expressed satisfaction with his two-day visit to the Western Balkan region and the meetings he had with officials in Belgrade, Pristina and Tirana.

“The highway will be remembered for years to come as the most expensive road ever built by the Albanian government,” Balla wrote on his Facebook page.

Balla accused current Albanian centre-right opposition leader Lulzim Basha, who signed the contract for the construction of the highway in 2006, of abuse of power, damaging to state to the tune of €190 million.

“We remain in contact [with the Albanian government] and Mr Blair would of course still be happy to help, as both Albania and the region mean a huge amount to him, but there is no contract,” Cirian Ward a spokesperson for Blair told Balkan Insight.

“Any help would be done at no cost to the Albanian government,” Ward added.

Albania arrests alleged jihad recruiting group

Officials are trying to prevent imams and others from recruiting Muslims to fight in foreign conflicts.

Muslims arrive at a Tirana mosque whose imam, Genci Balla, and six others were arrested on charges of recruiting believers to join the Syria conflict. [AFP]

The minister said Albania had already “consolidated legal framework on the environment, but criminal sentences for those who break the law should be increased.

“The current measures are not enough,” he told an international conference on the environment held in Tirana.

Kosovo, Albania sign employment deal

The bilateral agreement establishes a common labour market between the two countries.

Erion Veliaj, Albania minister of youth and social welfare (left) and Nenad Rasic, Kosovo minister of labour and social welfare, sign a memorandum of co-operation in Tirana. [Albania Ministry of Youth and Social Welfare]

Announcing the rally in Tirana, Albania's former Democratic Party Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, said Edi Rama's new left-of-centre government had based "everything on deception, falsity and violence against the opposition and the people”.

“The fraud committed by Edi Rama in turning his electoral platform upside down is quickly making his government illegitimate,” he added.

Albania ranks second in Europe for smoking rate