University of Tirana

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Brothers Rifat and Asim, both traders, lived in the Albanian coastal city of Durres in the first half of the last century, Asim born in 1900, and Rifat in 1910.

The older brother married a woman called Hatixhe and they were blessed with 15 children, of which 10 survived into adulthood. The last was born in 1946.

Media experts say Albanian journalists are struggling to deal with the political and professional pressures they are under after Prime Minister Edi Rama lashed out at two reporters in recent months, refusing to answer their questions because he said they were "unethical".

Their main rivals in the opposition Democratic Party had their own propaganda blitz, making the April 25 elections one of the most expensive in history in Albania.

Judge Adrian Dvorani. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

"Judge Dvorani developed mechanisms to reduce political and criminal influence in the justice system, steps that contributed to the EU's decision in March to open negotiations for Albania's accession," the State Department said in a statement.

Albanian Parliamentary Commission of Laws, on November 22, 2019. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

On Thursday, Mark Marku, Dean of the Department of Journalism and Communications in the University of Tirana, told MPs debating the laws in the parliament's Commission on Media and Education that "nobody in his right mind could possibly support such laws".

Agron Tufa, head of the Institute for the Study of the Crimes of Communism, presents his annual report to parliament in May. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA.

Several hundred students blocked the entrances of the Ministry of Education in Albania's capital on Thursday in the third day of protests against rises in fees and economic difficulties.

The protests have brought Albanian universities to a standstill while the government struggles to deal with their demands.

At the first hearing of the Independent Qualification Commission of Albania, better known as Vetting Commission, in Tirana on Wednesday, Fatos Lulo, a member of the Constitutional Court, was accused of concealing several hundred thousands euros for which no legitimate source exists.

News that a monument to the Albanian national hero, Gjergj Kastriot Skenderbej/ Skanderbeg was to be erected in the central park of Budapest was initially welcomed by Albanians in the media.

Albert Berisha, a former Kosovar jihadist who travelled to fight in Syria, appeared before a Pristina court on Monday to recount his version of the story and maintain his innocence.