Albania

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021 suggests that countries in South-East and Central Europe are making very little or no progress at all in the fight against graft.

The home of Armando Duka, head of the Albanian Football Federation, was hit by an explosion amid his ongoing dispute with the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, about upcoming elections for the federation’s leadership.

The Albanian Football Federation has accused the Socialist Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj of using threats and foul language to get his man elected head of the country’s football governing body.

Government stands by its new tough restrictions on entry to the country despite complaints from citizens and mayors of ethnic Albanian towns outside Kosovo that the new rules are hindering people's daily lives.

Austrian broadcaster says flow of hard drugs along the 'Balkan route' across the Slovenia-Austria border has risen exponentially – making work much tougher for border police and customs in Carinthia.

Afghans evacuated recently to Albania have painted two murals in Tirana and Shengjin to express gratitude for the warm reception they have received.

If Albania observed the rule of law, it would have arrested Sali Berisha long ago – but leaving him a free man clearly serves Prime Minister Rama’s narrow political interests.

No other nation in 20th Century Europe craved, loved, longed and imagined Europe more intensely than the Albanians.

Rising number of coronavirus cases prompts official US advice, which brings number of countries on ‘level four’ list to over 100The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday advised against travel to 22 nations and territories because of a rising number of Covid-19 cases including for Australia, Israel, Egypt, Albania, Argentina and […]

Petra Nachtmanova – who fell in love with the haunting sound of the Saz in the Turkish-populated suburbs of Berlin – has traced its journey from Central Asia to the Balkans in a documentary film.

On his visit to Albania, President Erdogan opened a Turkish-built apartment for quake victims on Monday – while also pressing his hosts to crack down on supporters of his great foe, the exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Kosovo political scientist Nexhmedin Spahiu tells BIRN that Kosovo needs to discover a sense of its own identity and stop publicly mulling joining Albania.

Paris has historically blocked the EU accession paths of the Western Balkan countries; now it has a chance to re-set the agenda and revive the region’s fading hopes.

Originally from the Sandzak region, Muesser Kurt has spent decades keeping alive the clothing traditions of Muslim women who migrated to Turkey from the Balkans.

The Albanian government said it will hire a US company to bolster its cybersecurity following a massive personal data leak last month.

A relic of another era, the Ballsh oil refinery was a key source of employment in central Albania. Now its fate is uncertain and its workers unpaid.

The opposition Democratic Party enters 2022 on the verge of splitting in two, while the government sets its sights on EU accession talks.

Group led by former Democratic party leader Sali Berisha used iron bars and hammers to break into the buildingPolice in Albania used a water cannon trick and teargas to disperse protesters who broke into the headquarters of the country’s main opposition party in an internal squabble over the party’s leadership.Scores of officers pushed back hundreds of […]

The Prosecution of Tirana on Friday said four people had been arrested in connection with the massive leaks of people's data that have riased questions about public security in the country.

Police have promised to investigate the conduct of officers who allegedly prevented a journalist in Shkodra from filming a police action, even though he had a press card.

Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama hails US decision as 'fantastic news' that confirms Albania's credibility as a partner in the eyes of the US and NATO.

Event series by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and partners

Prosecutors in Albania say a former minister used a remarkably simple scheme to funnel big bribes for public contracts. It still took them several years to find him out.

Based on the Pandora Papers leaks, Albanian prosecutors are to probe 3.6 million euros that the company that built the electricity interconnection line to Kosovo paid to a small UAE-baed consultancy from 2013 to 2019.

Lea Ypi says vocal minority of Albanians have sent torrent of online insults criticising her bestseller, Free A memoir about growing up before and after the fall of communism in Albania has won rave reviews in the west but has prompted “vicious” abuse from a vocal minority of Albanians, its author says.Free by Lea Ypi, a Marxist Albanian professor of […]

Discouraged by the pandemic-related crisis in Albania and lured by promises of easy money, thousands of Albanians are entering the criminal underworld in Spain – unaware of the cost they may pay.

From Greece to Moldova and from Turkey to Croatia, BIRN spent 2021 reporting, investigating and holding the powerful to account.

Like the European Union, the countries of the Western Balkans have committed to seek carbon neutrality by 2050. But they have a mountain to climb.

A round-up of Balkan Insight's favourite photographs of the week.

From locals helping migrants to activists and NGOs helping those in need, BIRN profiles some of those who took action for positive change in 2021.