Latest News from Albania

TAP gas pipeline can gauge customer interest

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will take gas from Azerbaijan to Europe is in a position to offer capacity on the line via so-called "open seasons" to gauge interest among potential customers, senior TAP executives said on Wednesday.

Freedom House Highlights Threats to Balkan Democracies

US-based watchdog Freedom House's annual 'Freedom in the World' report, published on Thursday, identified Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia as free countries, but Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro as only 'partly free'.

Soldiers sentenced over double-headed eagle symbol

The seven army recruits who posted a photo of themselves making the symbol of a double-headed eagle with their hands last week have been sentenced to 60 days in a military prison, the Hellenic Army General Staff said on Monday.

The symbol appears on Albania's national flag.

Albanian Minister Says Attacking Corruption Got Him Fired

Albania's Minister of Justice, Ylli Manjani - from the junior coalition party, the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI - has accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of sacking him for speaking out against corruption.

Albanians "spread wings" in Greek army

BELGRADE - After the publication of a photograph of seven recruits of the Greek army of Albanian origin, who symbolized the two-headed eagle with spread wings using their hands - symbol which many connect with "Greater Albania", the thing got politicized, and the opposition, of course, insists on every possible type of responsibility of the security system in the army.

Albania Honours Families That Sheltered Jews From Holocaust

Albania held a series of activities on Friday to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and commemorate the bravery of Albanians in fully protecting their Jewish community from Nazi persecution during World War II.

Albanians take pride in the fact that this overwhelmingly Muslim nation did not hesitate to shelter Jewish families from the Nazis in defiance of Adolf Hitler's directives.

Albanian: Extremists threaten the Greek minority in Albania while the Rama turns a blind eye

A wave of targeted break-ins in houses of members Greeks minority of Albania has struck once again with many seeing a pattern. According a letter by the Greek mayor of Dropolis, this wave of break-ins, the stealing of Greek flags in villages inhabited exclusively by Greeks the destruction of road signs written in Greek are aiming in terrorizing the local native Greek minority.

TANAP pipeline project ahead of schedule: Turkish envoy

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, set to carry Azeri gas to Europe, is now ahead of schedule, Turkey's ambassador to Azerbaijan said on Jan. 24. 

"The TANAP will be completed before the projected time and will start working," Erkan Özoral told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Bulgaria Nears 'Global Average' in Corruption Perception Index

Bulgaria has ranked 75th in the world in terms of corruption perception and is singled out as the EU state perceived as "most corrupt" by its citizens in the latest Transparency International ranking.

Kosovo to Map Territory Amid Border Uncertainties

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa on Tuesday appointed the head of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Hivzi Islami, to lead a government commission which will map the country's territory definitively for the first time.

Mustafa said the new commission would be independent.

Watchdog Highlights Persistent Corruption in Balkans

Transparency International on Wednesday published its annual global report on perceived corruption in society, indicating that governments in Balkan states have a lot of work to do to eradicate graft, with Macedonia singled out as one of the countries in which the situation has significantly worsened over the year.

Albanian Parties Hunt For MPs On Internet

Albania's main opposition Democratic Party, PD, and Libra, a new party established by the former Socialist MP Ben Blushi, are turning to the internet to help them select the MPs that will run on their lists for the June 18 general elections.

PD spokeswoman Ina Zhupa told BIRN that in the first days of this online process the response had been very high.

Investigation focuses on Mesolongi recruits

The prosecutor at a military court in Mesolongi, western Greece, has ordered an investigation after an image appeared on social media depicting seven new recruits making the symbol of a double-headed eagle with stretched-out wings with their hands.

Albania: Teacher Arrested for Pro-ISIS Propaganda

BELGRADE - Albanian police said Thursday they had arrested a female teacher for making statements supportive of the so-called Islamic State extremist group.

The teacher, whose name was not given, is being questioned at the anti-terror offices in the capital, Tirana, according to a spokesman who declined to be identified as the investigation is ongoing.

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