Albania

PRIŠTINA Representatives of the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština will on July 17 send additional arguments to the International Court of Justice, reports said.The move, according to Albanian language daily Koha Ditore, will seek to “defend the legitimacy of the independence declaration”.The ethnic Albanians’ unilateral proclamation in February 2008 was …

raiders who attempted to open a series of graves in the ancient city of Apollonia on Sunday. The raiders, who remained unidentified and are suspected of being part of regional ring that smuggles artifacts, aimed to plunder a group of 2000-year-old graves, local broadcaster Top-Channel TV reported.  

PRISTINA, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu called on UNMIK to shut down its mission, in his annual address to parliament Thursday (July 9th). “It can be called a successful story of the international commitment in Kosovo,” Sejdiu said.

TIRANA, Albania The Socialist Party (SP) wants a full count of ballot boxes from the region of Fieri before it recognises the official results from Sunday’s general elections, local media reported on Thursday (July 9th). Despite the SP’s claims that they won nine mandates in Fieri, preliminary results suggest they …

Albanian economic growth this year will be minimal, owing to the effects of the global economic downturn, the Central Bank governor, Ardian Fullani, has said. Fullani said confidence in the Albanian banking sector had revived after the first aftershocks of the crises in global financial markets. However, the government needs …

The Albanian government decided on Tuesday to slash the pension age for miners from 65 to 60-years-old, following an electoral promise from Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Miners unions have held a series of protests in recent years seeking better working conditions and demanding better pensions and wages. 

TIRANA, Albania The High Court in Tirana on Monday (July 6th) again postponed the trial of former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu who faces charges of abuse of power. Mediu’s lawyers failed to appear in court, blaming the temporary closure of a tunnel along the Durres-Kukes Highway. Prosecutors say the tunnel …

Albania’s Supreme Court on Monday again delayed the case against former defence minister Fatmir Mediu – indicted over a deadly blast at a munitions depot in March 2008 – after his lawyers failed to show up in court. The lawyers notified the court that they were stranded in Kukes, in …

TIRANA, Albania Albania’s opposition Socialists accused the governing party on Monday of interfering with a recount of some ballots from last month’s general election in an effort to win more seats in parliament.

The Albanian Transportation Ministry has announced the temporary closure of the Thirre tunnel in the Rreshen-Kalimash road, one of the key segments of the Albania-Kosovo highway. The 5.6-kilometre tunnel will be closed from Monday till Thursday, with crews continuing construction work, which cannot be carried out with traffic passing through. …