Albanian government

The International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP said in a report published on Tuesday that Albanian prosecutors are still not issuing orders to exhume suspected mass grave sites where people who went missing during the Communist era could be buried.

The Albanian government agreed with the ICMP to start the search in 2018, after eight years of negotiations.

North Macedonia's long-overdue national census, a key operation that the country has failed to carry out for 19 years due to ethnic and political interference, is already facing serious attempts to disrupt it.

Twenty environmental organisations have called on the Albanian government to declare the river Vjosa - one of the last "wild" rivers in Europe - a national park. The request was sent on Wednesday to the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Blendi Klosi,

More than 30 local and international environmental organisations are urging the Albanian government to stop the project to build an airport in Vlora, saying it will cause huge damage to the environment of the internationally protected Vjose-Narte area in southwest Albania.

The Albanian government under Prime Minister Edi Rama has secretly proposed to extend the contract for the private management of Tirana International Airport from 22 to 35 years, parliamentary submissions show.

The Albanian government has officially expelled a Russian diplomat from the country for violating epidemiological measures imposed to counter the coronavirus pandemic, Albania's Top Channel TV reported Thursday.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will on Friday hold a private meeting with Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama in Athens, diplomatic sources say.

Later in the day, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will have a dinner for his Albanian counterpart that will also be attended by the foreign minister.

Alleged Gulenist Selami Simsek in Court in Tirana. Photo: LSA

Both men are alleged by Turkish authorities to be members of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which Ankara alleges is a terrorist organisation responsible for a failed coup plot in Turkey in 2016.

The team of 30 medical personnel from Albania will volunteer in the health institutions in the Italian town of Bergamo. 

"Thanks to the Albanian government for this act of solidarity and affection," Italian embassy in Tirana said in a tweet.

Albania confirmed 11 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours - the smallest increase in diagnoses since March 21.

Alleged Gulenist Selami Simsek was held in an Albanian police van without official insignia near the interior ministry on Monday evening. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN