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FOSSALTA DI PIAVE, Italy (AP) — Police in Italy, Albania and Greece on Wednesday arrested some 30 people accused of profiteering several hundred million euros to smuggle refugees and migrants into the European Union from Turkey on yachts and other leisure vessels.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania and Turkey on Monday pledged to further boost their ties and increase their economic and cultural relations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Albania to talk with Prime Minister Edi Rama on strengthening bilateral ties and also inaugurate new apartments funded by Turkey for Albanians left homeless by the 2019 earthquake.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union auditors say that the hundreds of millions of euros the bloc has poured into six Western Balkan nations to improve the rule of law there just doesn’t pay off.
The report by the European Court of Auditors, or ECA, that was published Monday shows that the countries often continue to show a lack of commitment to tackle anything from pervasive corruption to state interference that would help them on the way to the EU membership they so desire.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Police in Albania used a water cannon trick and tear gas to disperse protests who broke into the headquarters of the country’s main opposition party in an internal squabble over the party's leadership.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia met Tuesday to discuss and agree on furthering their Open Balkan initiative to promote political and economic ties.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama hosted the two-day meeting in the capital, Tirana, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A group of Afghan artists evacuated after the Taliban seized power in their homeland painted a mural in Albania's capital Thursday to thank their host country, and urged the world not to forget their brethren back home.
GOLEM, Albania (AP) — Women who were evacuated to Albania after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan are urging the international community to pay attention to the plight of Afghan women and girls still living in an environment of severe gender-based discrimination.
SUKTH, Albania (AP) — There's hardly any home in Albania's Sukth distict where Ndricim Rahi and Anila Shameti have not injected someone with vaccines or given them other medical treatments during their 30 years as nurses.
GOLEM, Albania (AP) — One Afghan teacher calls Albania a “paradise” while a former Afghan government official cannot get enough of “the freedom” that exists in the tiny Western Balkan country where they were evacuated to after the Taliban took over their homeland.
LONDON (AP) — Just when he is doubted, Harry Kane finds new ways to conjure the spectacular.
A right-footed scissor kick from the England captain did more than just complete a perfect hat trick against Albania after a header and left-footed strike.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian prosecutors on Thursday brought charges against a former defense minister over a massive blast at a munitions disposal factory in 2008 that killed 26 people.
The Special Structure Against Corruption, or SPAK, in charge of probing high officials, said it had charged Fatmir Mediu, a defense minister in 2005-2008, with abuse of his position.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The few mortal remains of a World War II British air gunner were formally buried in a Tirana war cemetery Wednesday, following their discovery last year at the site where his bomber crashed in Albania and their subsequent identification.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Constitutional Court said on Friday it will examine the legality of parliament's decision to impeach the country's figurehead president for alleged constitutional violations.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Albanian soccer federation on Thursday deplored the violent behavior of its fans and blamed visiting Polish supporters for provocation during a World Cup qualifying match this week.
FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings on Wednesday against the Hungarian, English, Albanian and Polish football federations after condemning disorder involving Hungary and Albania fans in separate World Cup qualifiers.
BRDO CASTLE, Slovenia (AP) — European Union leaders tried to reassure six Balkan countries they could eventually join the trading bloc if they met its standards, but the leaders failed to provide a credible signal Wednesday that the EU's enlargement process will be relaunched in the near future.
BRUSSELS (AP) — As European Union leaders gather for a summit on how to keep engaging with their Western Balkans neighbors, the bloc’s once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse.
The European Commission made repeated promises that the future of six countries in the region lies within the 27-nation bloc.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Twenty years ago, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had narrowly avoided a civil war and NATO was collecting weapons held by ethnic Albanian rebels under an internationally backed agreement meant to shore up peace.
IEROPIGI, Greece (AP) — In the early 1990s, tens of thousands of impoverished Albanian migrants slogged through the oak woods near the village of Ieropigi, dodging Greek border patrols to seek work in Greece after the collapse of communism in Albania.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's prime minister complained Tuesday about the delay in the launch of European Union membership negotiations with his country, saying Bulgaria’s veto was holding the process hostage.
TIRANA, Albania --- Albanian authorities say that another group of Afghans on Saturday arrived in the country fleeing their homeland after the Taliban took power there.
The Foreign Ministry said that 259 children, women and men have arrived from Mazar Al Sharif “following coordination with our partners.”
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Assembly, or parliament, on Friday approved Cabinet dominated by women, aiming to bring the country back to economic growth focusing on tourism and agriculture, infrastructure and energy.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s parliament was to vote late Thursday to approve the new, female-dominated cabinet of Prime Minister Edi Rama, with 12 of the 17 jobs going to women, making Albania a global leader in terms of the percentage of women in government positions.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Albania on Tuesday to urge the leaders of the six western Balkan states to strengthen their regional cooperation in their strive for European Union membership.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — It's in the European Union's strategic interests to integrate the Balkan states into the bloc, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday as she urged Serbia and other countries in the region to do more on democratic reforms in order to join.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s new parliament members were formally sworn in and elected a new speaker Friday, in the house’s first session after an April 25 election.
Serving its third consecutive mandate, the left-wing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama has 74 of parliament's 140 seats, while the main opposition center-right Democratic Party has 59.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo on Tuesday postponed the beginning of the school year for students up through high school by two weeks following a surge of coronavirus infections due to the delta variant, and new precautions were taken in other Western Balkan countries like Albania and Serbia.
GOLEM, Albania (AP) — Ghazaal Habibyar is in an Albanian tourist resort, safe with her husband and three children after being evacuated from Afghanistan. But her mind is not at rest, for many others she knows are still in danger from the Taliban.
WASHINGTON — The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday, bombing an IS member in Afghanistan less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport.
TIRANA, Abania (AP) — Albania on Friday housed its first group of Afghan evacuees who made it out of their country despite days of chaos near the Kabul airport, including an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand says it was not able to get everybody it wanted out of Afghanistan in time before the deadly attacks near Kabul’s airport brought its rescue mission to an end.