Municipalities of Albania

With bilateral relations still hurting following the killing of an ethnic Greek man by police in Albania in October, Greece's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a decision by Albanian authorities to confiscate property belonging to ethnic Greek families in the south of the country.

Albania and Greece will connect with a railway line by building a route from Lerin via Kostur to Pazardzhik. The project will be funded by Interreg-IPA CBS Greece-Albania, reports Darik. 
 
At a meeting in Kostur dedicated to the rail link between the two countries, it was emphasized that the project would be part of the trans-European network.
 

Six months after Albania's ruling Socialist Party used its parliamentary majority to block a request for his arrest on suspicion of drug smuggling, Albania's longest-serving Minister of Interior, Saimir Tahiri, on Thursday said he will resign as an MP, losing his immunity from arrest in the process.

An Albanian archaeological site and post-Byzantine churches, Bulgaria's UFO-like communist monument and an abandoned casino in the Romanian city of Constanta have been selected among the 12 finalists for the pan-European "7 Most Endangered Programme 2018".

Ethnic Greeks in Himara are to hold a rally on Monday to protest a decision by Albanian authorities to demolish several homes belonging to minority families in this predominantly ethnic Greek seaside holiday resort on the Balkan country's southeastern coast.

According to epiruspost.gr, in the last few hours the tension in the Albanian city of Himara rises dangerously as dozens of the members of the indigenous Greek minority of the area have been brought to the police station.

On February 1914 the native Greek majority population of the areas of Argyrokastro, Delvino, Agioi Saranta, Himara, Premeti, Ersekas and Korytsa begun their armed fight as they denied to be placed under Albanian rule. These areas had been liberated the previous year by the Greek Army during the Balkan Wars after five centuries(!) of Ottoman oppression.

Albanian police on Friday announced strict security measures in place for the football match with Israel that will be played at the Elbasan Arena on Saturday evening.

Around 2,000 police will be deployed to secure the match, while other security measures will also be implemented.

All teachers in Albania with fewer than 20 years' experience are being tested in order to measure their abilities in the first-ever attempt to work out what professional training is required across the country.

On January 23, around 15,000 teachers all over Albania are going to take the test; around 4,000 more in the Tirana municipality have already taken it in November 2015.

The bus transporting Serbia's national soccer team was stoned in Tirana, Vice President of the Serbian Soccer Association, Savo Milosevic confirmed for Tanjug.