Lulzim Basha

The zoo in the Albanian capital was shuttered after the video was published online last week by Animal Rescue Albania, a Tirana-based campaign group.

In an open letter to the city's mayor Lulzim Basha, Animal Rescue Albania called on the authorities to close the zoo down and end the cruelty towards the animals kept there.

Several thousand supporters of Albania's opposition centre-right Democratic Party showed their strength in Tirana on Thursday at a rally demanding the resignation of the speaker of parliament, Ilir Meta.

Tom Doshi, a former Socialist Party MP, has caused ructions by claiming that Meta paid an assassin to have him and one other MP killed.

Supporters of Albania's opposition centre-right Democrats plan to gather on Thursday in front of the government office in Tirana amid allegations of a murder plot involving the speaker of parliament, Ilir Meta.

TIRANA - Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama agreed in Tirana on Wednesday that both countries were willing to improve their cooperation in the new stage of their relations.

BELGRADE/TIRANA - Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic is on a two-day visit to Albania as from Tuesday, where she will meet with Albanian President Bujar Nishani, Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta and Prime Minister Edi Rama.

This is the first visit by a parliament speaker in the history of relations between the two countries, the Serbian parliament said in a release.

On Monday and Tuesday, February 23 and 24, Alternate Foreign Minister Nikos Chountis will carry out a visit Tirana, where he will participate in the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) member states being hosted by the Albanian SEECP Chairmanship.

During his stay in the Albanian capital, Chountis will have a series of meetings:

Albanian opposition leader Lulzim Basha has attacked the government for leaving villages affected by floods feeling stranded.

After visiting the village of Feras in the region of Fier on Wednesday, he said: "Half of the homes are underwater? and the residents say that the government has not shown up.

The ruling centre-left coalition of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the centre-right opposition, headed by the Democratic Party leader, Lulzim Basha, have agreed on a proposal to enable the opposition to end its prolonged boycott of the assembly.,

Prime Minister Edi Rama has ordered the closure of 18 colleges suspected of handing out dubious diplomas and degrees.

Highlighting the findings of the report on Monday, Rama noted that in the space of only a few years “32,000 degrees have been generated from the private university system, half them issued by one university.

Serbian patriarch visits Albania, nationalist protest

TIRANA -- Leaders of Orthodox Christian churches - including a delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) headed by Patriarch Irinej - were in Albania on Sunday.

They consecrated the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in the country's capital, Tirana.