Albania

The Italian government has passed a new decree to circumvent a recent ruling from the Rome tribunal and European Court of Justice (ECJ) obligations that had challenged its migration outsourcing model with Albania. Albania and Italy struck a deal in the autumn of 2023 to set up two migrant centres …

Court documents detail claims of how an alleged drug boss living in Dubai laundered money in his native Albania, helping to fuel a rapid rise in real estate prices. In September 2020, Klajdi Merkaj was getting ready to travel to Dubai with the intention of securing new funds for his …

During the turbulent 20th Century, many Kosovo Albanians looked at Albania as a land of hope and promise. Then they visited.In the summer of 1991, just as Yugoslavia was beginning to unravel, 13-year-old Albian Ismaili travelled with his family from their home in Kosovo to Albania to visit his mother’s …

Despite the inconsistencies and uncertainties around the agreement signed between Rome and Tirana for the reception of migrants on Albanian soil, and while awaiting the judgment of the European Court, work on the two centres has already begun in Gjadër and Shëngjin. We went to see how they were progressing …

Experts say legislation is needed to address toxic social media content that too often turns into offline violence in Albania, but there are fears authorities will seek again to exploit the issue for political gain. In December last year, a well-known Albanian TikToker posted a video “confessing” that he had …

Albania officially re-opened Kuçova airbase on Monday (4 March 2024), after transforming the decades-old base into a modern hub for NATO future air operations. Located around 80 kilometres south of Tirana, Kuçova airbase will serve Albania and support Alliance logistics, air operations, training and exercises. NATO funded the base upgrade …

John Watkins’ new travelogue offers an intriguing snapshot of a country still scarred by the legacy of its brutal dictator.Over the past 10 to 15 years, it would be easy for someone with only a passing knowledge of history to think that Albania is just another part of what has …

Edi Rama’s justification for the migrant deal with Rome – that Albanians owe Italy a historic ‘debt’ to Italy – is based on a misreading of history. The protocols signed by Albanian PM Edi Rama and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni last November by which the government in Tirana will allow Italy …

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has joined in criticism of EU Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak and Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell, calling on the EU Commission to act regarding the murder of a Kosovo policeman and the day of mourning called by Belgrade after the death of terrorist suspects. …

Arrested former senior agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charles McGonigal, pleaded guilty to concealing the $225,000 he received in cash while working for the FBI from a former intelligence officer of Albania. McGonigal was the head of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York from 2016 …