Debar

Protesters from the Southwest Bulgarian village of Banya came to the streets on Friday to express their disagreement with a government project to build a landfill close to a historic monument.

Public dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the landfill will be located next to a 17th century church of historic importance near the village of Debar.

Albanian police said they had arrested two members of a gang who robbed a jewel store in a Tirana mall at the height of the Christmas season last year dressed as Santa Clauses.

The robbers entered the mall dancing and singing, with their guns hidden, but once inside the store they took the weapons out and pointed them at the shopkeeper.

Albania is hoping to tap Chinese money for an important and costly highway to Macedonia, Albanian and Chinese media reported on Wednesday after Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama met Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang at an economic forum in Tianjin.

In its latest report on hate crimes, the Helsinki Committee reported 116 such incidents in 2013, and said the authorities often downplayed them as routine acts of violence.

Over 80 per cent of the hate attacks “involved ethnic Macedonians and Albanians”, the report noted.