Albania

Bankers Petroleum announced on Monday that the National Agency for the Management of Natural Resources in Albania had agreed with the idea of holding an independent evaluation of its investments as part of efforts to end the tax dispute.

Ivica Dacic says Albania filed an official request for UNESCO's Executive Council to put Pristina's request to join on the agenda of its October session.

Prenga, 41, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday by the police in his hometown of Lac, 40 kilometres north of Tirana, accused of opening fire with a pistol and injuring Tom Cali, a 66-year-old fisherman, during a brawl that left seven people injured.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stated for CNN that a comprehensive European solution to the problem of migrants is needed.

Vucic told the American TV network on Thursday evening that Serbia is an EU candidate state and that it stands ready to cooperate with European countries in addressing this issue.

Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama pledged to work together to establish a cross-Balkans youth cooperation office aimed at improving strained relations between countries in the region.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama agreed on a number of issues as they took part in a television program.

Their stands remained distant only with regard to Kosovo, Tanjug said in its report about the broadcast, called "Okruzenje".

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic began a visit to Slovenia on Monday with a meeting with Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar.

Cerar is the host of the Bled Straregic Forum.

Albanian police have demolished a contested church dedicated to St Athanas in the southern village of Dhermi, angering the Orthodox Church and neighbouring Greece, which supports the Church's mission.

The Orthodox Church called it a vandalistic act of desecration and a violation of church property. Greece said the Albanians were behaving like Islamist extremists.

The Greek Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned what it called a "violent incident" at the church of Saint Athanas in the Albanian village of Dhermi, describing what happened as "unacceptable and contemptible".

Construction police from the local Himara Municipality went to Dhermi on Friday to remove the concrete roof of the church, claiming it was an illegal build.

Germany faced another increase in the number of asylum requests from citizens of the six Western Balkans Countries in July, despite repeated efforts by German and local authorities to halt the phenomenon.