Tirana, Albania News

With Europe's fastest-growing economy, Albania recently took one step closer to joining the EU, when foreign ministers of the 27 member states agreed to launch accession talks.

Barroso: High Time for Macedonia a oeNamea Deal Macedonia's name dispute with Greece has to be solved once and for all and now is a good time to do so, the chief of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists in Brussels, following his meeting with Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

The Tirana Film Festival, Albania's only international movie event, wrapped its seventh edition -- the first to include a competition -- late Sunday at a ceremony in the capital.

If the two are not arretsed by that time, he says will resign, he says. Call for Pressure for Rape Victims' Rights Amnesty International has called on the EU to pressure the government of Bosnia in Herzegovina to ensure justice for rape victims, including compensation.

The Health Ministry reported on Thursday the first swine flu death, a 57-year-old patient from the outskirts of Tirana who had been battling a tumour and heart problems.

Albanian health authorities have reported the Balkan country's first swine flu death.

Albania says it has agreed to accept more former Guantanamo detainees, but not members of China's ethnic Uighur Muslim minority.

Tirana Fushe Kruje - Lac highway Six people lost their lives in the Fushe Kruja-Lac highway on Monday evening after a car collided with an ambulance.

TIRANA, Albania -- The country celebrated the 97th anniversary of its independence on Saturday , with most observances held in Tirana and the seaside town of Vlora, where the national flag was first raised in 1912.

In democratic countries, the political debate rolls out in parliament, and therefore it is necessary that opposition parties in Albania end the boycott of parliament, senior EU official said.

Albania Raises Overflight Charges Tirana Boing 747 Albania is expected to be one of the 19 out of 34 European countries to raise overflight charges for airlines in 2010, a proposal which has been sharply criticized by the International Air Transport Association, IATA.

Five clubs in Albania, Latvia, Slovenia and Hungary are suspected in European soccer's biggest match-fixing investigation.

Kosovo honours a hero. To the hero the spoils? Brushing a lock of hair from her face and gazing into her eyes, the former president asks the comeliest government official to hand, "So what did you think of my speech?" No Monica she, her answer stays on the vertical and is rather better sculpted than the two and half-metre effigy just unveiled ...

The traffic circles in Tirana, the capital of Albania, are a free-for-all. There are no lanes.

Tens of thousands of Albanian opposition Socialist Party supporters launched their latest protest Friday to demand the government either recount the vote in a controversial June 28 election or hold another.

Tirana Tirana Although more than half Albanian nationals admit of having paid a bribe during last year, their believe that their standard of living has improved and identify more readily with current politicians, a new study reveals.

Tirana Protestor holding sign during opposition rally The protest, which is expected to begin on Friday afternoon in Tirana's central Skenderbg square, will congregate in front of the office of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and will be followed by a three day and three night sit-out of a few thousand opposition supporters.

Corruption remains a serious problem in Albania, European Commission head in Tirana, Helmut Lohan, said on Wednesday .

Tirana Mero Baze Tirana's district court on Tuesday denied an appeal from lawyers representing controversial oil magnate Rezart Taci, who was arrested over the assault of publisher and political commentator Mero Baze.

The Albanian authorities have repatriated Shen Lei, a Chinese national wanted in connection with a 100-million-yuan fraud, China's Ministry of Public Security said Monday.