Albania

Albania’s Education Ministry said Tuesday that a history textbook for twelfth graders, which was excoriated by the press and opposition, will be rewritten. “Every mistake in the textbooks will be corrected within the year,” Education Minister Myqerem Tafaj said in a statement.

Several ethnic Albanian parties from Macedonia, Thursday will stage a protest in front of the government building to express their objections to the new publication of the Macedonian encyclopaedia. Calling it a “political pamphlet” that “inflicted great evil upon the Albanian population” the parties say they cannot guarantee that all …

Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha gave an impassioned speech this weekend to the UN General Assembly appealing for more countries to recognise Kosovo’s independence. Arguing that further recognitions would strengthen peace and stability in the region, he thanked the 62 countries who have already recognised the country’s independence.

The name Albanians and the time when they arrived in Macedonia are issues that are interpreted in different ways in other encyclopedias published in the country earlier and in Former Yugoslavia, Macedonian Nova Makedonija newspaper writes. Some back the thesis that the Albanians arrived in Macedonia in the XVI century, …

ALBANIA Albanian academics in Tirana have slammed a new encyclopaedia published by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences, MANU, which describes the country’s ethnic-Albanians as “settlers”. Adding his voice to a growing number of academics, politicians and NGO members who have sharply critcised the encyclopaedia, the Deputy Head of the Albanian …

ALBANIA Albania should take extra measures to stop the politicization of the elections process in the country, says a statement of the Swedish EU presidency, DPA reports. The statement acknowledges that the Balkan country has registered serious progress in its elections system but local authorities should carefully study the final …

SERBIA, ALBANIA The War Crimes Prosecution has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court over the verdicts in the 1999 Suva Reka war crimes case. The Supreme Court has been called on to quash the War Crimes Chamber’s decision to acquit Radoslav Mitrović, Nenad Jovanović and Zoran Petković, and to …

ALBANIA Albanian parliament voted Wednesday to approve the Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s new government. Berisha’s chosen ministers were confirmed by parliament late Wednesday in a 74-1 vote. The deputies of the opposition Socialist Party boycotted the session, demanding a probe into the results of parliamentary elections, which they say were …

ALBANIA The EU has welcomed a monitoring group’s assessment that the June Albanian elections met most OSCE commitments, while noting the conduct of the polls fell short of optimum standards This, according to a written statement from the EU’s Swedish Presidency, confirming receipt of the OSCE/ODHIR Election Observation Mission’s report …

ALBANIA On Monday, Albania’s Supreme Court will reopen the case against environment minister designate Fatmir Mediu, indicted in connection with a deadly blast at a munitions depot in March 2008. The Supreme Court panel is reviewing charges against Mediu of abuse of power, relating to his tenure as defence minister …