Albania

According to the annual ranking of Business Process Outsourcing and Shared Service Location Index 2015, Bulgaria is third in the world in terms of direct foreign investments attracted in the outsourcing sector and ranks first in Europe, stated Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski at the opening of the annual conference of the leaders of the European Outsourcing Association.

Only 13 of the 416 people who sought asylum in Albania between 2014 and September 2016 really intended to stay in the country, Interior Ministry data on asylum claims obtained by BIRN shows. 

In 2014, the number of asylum seekers in Albania was 134. In 2015, the number fell to 106, while it grew again in 2016 to 176 citizens so far.

The Greek Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday to deny that it is involved in any discussion with Albania regarding the claims of the Cham community to property in Greece.

Revelations made by the Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati that Greece and Albania had exchanged non-papers on the issue of ‘Tsamouria’, lands located in a region of western Greece that Albanian argues belong to citizens of Albanian descent who had been expelled from the area after collaborating with nazi-occupying forces in the second world war, have caused an uproar.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has denied claims by his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati that the two countries submitted a non-paper to the European Union that included a reference to claims by the Cham community in Albania.

"The only reference in the non-paper," Kotzias told Alpha radio on Wednesday, "was that the issue is not negotiable for the Greek state."

On April 27, 1938, Albania hosted its first royal wedding, when King Zog married Hungarian aristocrat Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony.

Photographer and photojournalist Enri Canaj's solo exhibition "Parallel Ways," currently on display in Monte Carasso, Switzerland, to a great extent represents a personal journey to find his own identity.

BELGRADE - There can be no referendum in Serbia's Vojvodina province as those who are proposing a referendum do not have the majority for the decision to call one, Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said Friday.

A steady trickle of migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa refugees make their way toward West Europe through Albania - now the former "Balkan route" through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary has all but closed.

BELGRADE - The international community, in an attempt to put pressure on Serbia and Republika Srpska after a recent referendum, is behind Kosovan calls for a referendum on unification with Albania, the former head of Serbia's Military-Security Agency (VBA) Momir Stojanovic told Sputnik Serbia.