Albanian parliament

The International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP on Friday called on families of victims of Communism to visit its office in Tirana and give blood samples that can be used for the identification of their relatives' remains if they are found.

The State Department announced on Monday that businessman and politician Tom Doshi, one of the wealthiest MPs in the Albanian parliament, has been barred from entering the US, along with his immediate family.

The State Department alleged in a statement that Doshi's ban was "due to his involvement in significant corruption".

As a protest against the election of a new chief prosecutor by ruling Socialists, opposition MPs threw smoke bombs in the Albanian parliament, reports actualno. 

The Albanian parliament was blanketed in pink smoke on Monday as the ruling majority voted for the appointment of the new temporary prosecutor general, after opposition MPs set off smoke bombs in an attempt to stop the move, claiming it was unconstitutional.

Clashes erupted on Monday as thousands of opposition supporters protested outside the Albanian parliament in a bid to stop the ruling majority electing a new temporary general prosecutor.

The protesters clashed with police, who used tear gas in a bid to subdue them. Some people were reported to have been injured.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci decorated the chairman of the Albanian parliament, Gramoz Ruci in Pristina on Monday, instigating a wave of anger among intellectuals and politicians in Kosovo.

A total of 75 MPs in the Albanian parliament on Wednesday voted against the prosecution's request to arrest former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri, arguing there is not enough evidence, with 60 voting in favour.

The chair of the Albanian parliament's Council for Regulations, Mandates, and Immunities, Gramoz Ruci, has postponed to Saturday a decision on the request of Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes to allow the arrest of former Interior Minister and current MP Saimir Tahiri.

The Albanian parliament passed a law for the protection of minorities in the country during a session late Friday night. With 102 in favour and 10 against out of a total of 140, the neighbouring county’s MPs passed the relevant law for the first time in its history after it became a democracy following the fall of the communist regime.

Serbian government ministers have condemned the leader of Macedonia's main opposition Social Democratic Party, Zoran Zaev, for saying that the leadership of Serbia was nationalistic, accusing him of taking his orders from Albania.