Latest News from Albania
Albanian Police Comb Mountains For Drugs Farms
Albania police on Thursday said they had uprooted 216,000 marijuana plants over the last six months, almost the same amount as in the previous year - adding that growers have changed their strategy by planting smaller plots, making it harder for the police to find them.
Private Electricity Production Booms in Albania
New small hydropower plants and the privatization of several medium-sized hydropower plants have increased private sector electricity production in Albania to almost a fifth of total production, a report by the Energy Regulatory Agency for 2014 shows.
It says the private electricity production market in Albania is now worth 8.1 billion leks (about 58 million euros).
FM briefs parties on latest contacts in SE Europe
Greek FM Nikos Kotzias briefed political party representatives on Wednesday of recent visits of southeast European capitals, declaring afterwards that crisis-plagued Greece is “returning to the Balkans”.
The venue was a meeting of a national council on foreign policy, with Kotzias briefing participants on his talks and contacts in visits to no less than seven regional countries.
FM N. Kotzias attends SE Europe conference
The current developments in southeast Europe top the agenda at the National Council on Foreign Policy on Wednesday after the current visit of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to the Western Balkan countries.
Albania MPs Back Controversial Education Law
Albania's parliament adopted controversial government-sponsored higher educational reforms at 2.30am on Wednesday after nine hours of debate. The law was approved by 78 votes out of 140.
Outside parliament, protesters, professors and civil rights activists protested against the law that they call an attack on public universities.
Albania Students to Rally Against Education Bill
The For the University Movement, the leftist student group that has been spearheading the opposition against the law, called on students to gather on Tuesday afternoon in front of parliament despite the summer recess.
Incidents Scare Serb Villagers in Western Kosovo
A spate of recent incidents in Kosovo Serb villages in the western Kosovo Peja area have left locals feeling nervous, although it remains unclear what provoked them.
Since last week, the village of Gorazdevac saw two shooting incidents, one at the police and one at a car with Belgrade license plates.
Rama to Mustafa: Merkel is dissatisfied
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama paid a short unannounced visit to Pristina on Thursday where he conferred with Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa.
They discussed "joint projects and the situation in the region," Tanjug reported.
No Quick Fix to Albania-Greece Maritime Dispute, Minister
Despite anticipation of a speedy deal between Athens and Tirana on their maritime borders in the Ionian, Albania’s Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, warned on Wednesday that negotiations could take some time.
Pro-ISIS Video Calls for Balkan Caliphate
A new video published on July 10 on YouTube, named "Put hilafa", which in Bosniak means "Way of caliphate", calls for the establishment of a caliphate in the Balkans - Serbia above all.
The video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with the video has been terminated.
Balkans Floods Germany With Asylum Requests
Kosovo leads the Western Balkan countries in terms of the number of asylum seekers in Germany this year.
It was responsible for 31,400 requests over six months from January to June 2015, followed by citizens of Albania, Serbia and Macedonia, the Germany Interior Ministry said in a press release on Monday.
Nuland to Press Serbia on Talks With Kosovo
Ahead of her arrival in Belgrade, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland urged Serbia and Kosovo to make courageous decisions in order to achieve further progress in the EU-led dialogue process.
According to the Belgrade daily newspaper Blic, Nuland credits Serbia and Kosovo with making some progress - and the US wants 2015 to be a year of additional improvement.
River Party in N. Greece still on… with a couple of weeks delay
Fallout from the marathon deliberations to work out a third bailout deal and avert Grexit continued this week with the annual … River Party in extreme northern Greece postponed for Aug. 18! It was originally set to begin in late July.
Greek FM in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia this week
With Grexit now slowly receding in the rear view mirror, Greece’s radical leftist government is returning to more normal international contacts, as Greek FM Nikos Kotzias begins a tour of Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina this week.
On Tuesday, Kotzias will head to Pristina, where he will be received by Kosovo PM Isa Mustafa and his counterpart Hashim Thaci.
Albania, Serbia Leaders Spar Over Football Ruling
Serbian and Albanian leaders have been sparring energetically on Twitter over the court ruling in Switzerland - which has delighted Albanians and infuriated many Serbs.
The cases concerned the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on October 14, 2014, which was abandoned amid chaotic scenes on the pitch.