Vlorë

The detention of a mayoral candidate belonging to the Greek minority in Albania has raised tensions between the two neighboring countries.

Greece's Foreign Ministry released a statement Saturday demanding the release of Dionysis-Fredi Beleri, a candidate for mayor of the Albanian city of Himare, which has a strong Greek minority presence.

A court in Albania decided on Saturday to detain until his trial an ethnic Greek mayoral candidate in the southern Albanian municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri, after he was charged with vote-buying.

This wasn't the first mass escape from Albania. A few months before, on March 6, 1991, several thousand more Albanians reached Italy after seizing cargo ships in the ports.

A year earlier, on July 1990, some 5,000 others took refuge in foreign embassies in the capital, Tirana. Thousands more crossed the land border to Greece.

Albanian environmentalists have voiced deep dismay after the country's Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy on March 5 announced the results of the tender to construct a new airport at Vlora in the south of the country.

More than 30 local and international environmental organisations are urging the Albanian government to stop the project to build an airport in Vlora, saying it will cause huge damage to the environment of the internationally protected Vjose-Narte area in southwest Albania.

New 4.7 magnitude earthquakes on the Richter scale were reported tonight in Tirana and Durrës, Albanian media reported.

The earthquakes' epicentre was near the town of Vlorë, Albania's second largest port. The earthquakes were registered shortly after 5pm local time.

With bilateral relations still hurting following the killing of an ethnic Greek man by police in Albania in October, Greece's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a decision by Albanian authorities to confiscate property belonging to ethnic Greek families in the south of the country.

Proposed flag carrier Air Albania, a joint venture being negotiated with Turkish Airlines, will begin flying European routes this summer with a view to making its first transatlantic flights by December, one of the men behind the venture has told BIRN.

Albanian police have seized 1.7 tons of marijuana on a deserted boat in the Adriatic Sea, Albanian media reported on Wednesday.

The smugglers left the rubber boat, loaded with the drugs, near the port of Vlore and fled, the Albanian police said.

The boat was abandoned most likely due to a malfunction of the engine, RTS reported, citing the website Panorama.

The smugglers left the rubber boat, loaded with the drugs, near the port of Vlore and fled, the Albanian police said.

The boat was abandoned most likely due to a malfunction of the engine, RTS reported, citing the website Panorama.