Europe Albania The fight against organised crime in Albania has intensified and the authorities have seized millions of illicit assets, but the management of these properties is proving difficult, raising fears that they could return to criminal control
Europe Albania Anastasios Yanulatos, head of Albanian Orthodox Church, has died at the age of 95; known as the man who brought the Church back to life after atheist regime, Yanulatos rebuilt hundreds of churches, trained new priests and established schools and charities
Europe Albania The country has given preliminary approval to one of Donald Trump's family's two major projects in the country: a luxury resort on Sazan Island; the project can proceed to the next stage, namely the environmental impact assessment
Europe Albania New regulations will allow Albanians living outside the country to cast postal ballots in the May parliamentary elections – a change long sought by most parties as well as called for by the diaspora
Europe Albania Durazzo-Tirana on 9 May 2025 will be the first of three Albanian stages that will kick off the 108th edition of the Giro d'Italia - an iconic annual multiple-stage bicycle race; the Giro will start abroad for the 15th time in its century long history
Europe Albania Social network TikTok will be made unavailable for at least a year across the country starting in early 2025; the government will launch a series of programmes to 'foster the education of students and help parents track their children's education'
Europe Albania The 3rd Intergovernmental Conference, one more step on the path to EU membership, will be held in Brussels on 17 December and will focus on Cluster 6, covering external relations, foreign policy, security and defence
Europe Albania National laws may be compliant with international standards but weak oversight, corruption and cash economies hamper an effective battle against money-laundering, says new report on illicit finance in the Western Balkans
Europe Albania The elderly population is growing at an unprecedented rate, putting pressure on the national health system to adapt and provide adequate care; almost half of Albanians over the age of 65 present multiple health conditions
Europe Albania Only 1 in 8 companies in Albania paid taxes on profits in 2023, according to official data from the Ministry of Finance
Europe Albania An exhibition in Tirana entitled 'Letters from Hell', organised by the Albanian Institute for the Study of the Crimes and Consequences of Communism, displays the letters of political prisoners imprisoned under communist rule
Europe Albania Former President Ilir Meta, now leader of the opposition Freedom Party, was arrested on charges of corruption, money-laundering and non-declaration of assets
Europe Albania Plans to close the existing port of Durres and develop a new one some 6 km further north have been derailed, as the tender process for the development of the first phase of the new port failed to attract bidders