Shkodra

.

For 13 years, Pjetraj and her family have run a small silk farm in the village of Dajc, part of a wide low-lying and fertile plain in the region of Zadrima in north Albania.

Zadrima is known among Albanians for their motif-rich, labour-intensive handwork in tablecloths or silver ornaments, whose motifs usually combine red and white and bear the name Zadrimore.

The Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Edi Rama is ahead in most municipalities in the country after Sunday's local elections and has already won three, Kamza, Vora and Elbasan, where the voting took place electronically and the Central Election Commission was able to declare the results a few hours after polls closed.

Domestic violence survivor Elvedina Hajdari on Wednesday joined the Women's Day march in Kosovo organized by civil society and women's rights NGOs in the capital, Pristina, sharing her own experience of judicial institutions' neglect.

The spread of illegal surveillance cameras placed in cities all over Albania is causing concern about the vulnerability of personal data and about the strength of the criminal groups that allegedly put them up.

Experts warn of a concerning situation for personal data that might have been gathered, and about the criminal groups' strength.

Albanian police on Friday said they had found 47 new surveillance cameras erected illegally in the Durres region.

They said the cameras had been put up "to provide information for criminal purposes, as well as to monitor the movements of the police". Eight people are under investigation.

That lump of plaster fell from one of the many old and unmaintained houses of the neighbourhood of a town with a long history as a centre of trade and administration.

Over those centuries, many large walled houses were built. However, scores of these buildings are collapsing one after another due to abandonment, bureaucratic obstacles and lack of attention.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (left) and the now resigned Mayor of Shkodra Valdrin Pjetri, during the Socialist Party election campaign. Photo: Facebook

Bajram Curri. Photo: Wikimedia/Albinfo

Opposition supporters attacked and destroyed election material in the town of Bajram Curri, in north Albania on Tuesday, ahead of a hotly disputed local election due on June 30, which the opposition is boycotting and the President has tried to call off.

It was expected to be an eventful political season when Albania's parliament reopened earlier this month, with an agenda of reforms needed to open the way for the start of EU membership negotiations next June.

After the Council of Europe postponed a decision on this issue last June, reforms that need cross-party agreement, such as electoral reform, have become a matter of urgency.

The governments of Montenegro and Albania held an unprecedented joint cabinet meeting on Tuesday, vowing to work together to confront the challenges of migration, refugees, minorities and security.