A dangerous incident between local inhabitants and the hooligans come from TIRANA

more see: www.nenanews.eu

“Difference of opinions on NATO won’t hurt coalition”

19 June 2010 | 11:58 | Source: Večernje novosti

BELGRADE -- Daily Večernje novosti states that the ruling coalition is sure that differences in opinion regarding NATO will not cause a rift in the coalition. (Tanjug archive) The state policy regarding Serbia’s military neutrality is not expected to change, despite the initiative of G17 Plus and SPO for reevaluating the situation. While coalition members DS and SPS support remaining militarily neutral, G17 Plus and SPO believe that it would be better for Serbia to join the most power military alliance in the world, NATO. Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) leader Vuk Drašković said that he does not believe that there will be new talks on Kosovo’s status after the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s unilaterally proclaimed independence is given, even though the leading parties and officials of the ruling coalition are hoping for that. Ruling coalition officials stated that it is normal to have differences in opinion within the coalition, and that they would not lead to problems. “We are just stating that military neutrality was proclaimed with one paragraph in the parliamentary resolution on Kosovo and that we did not ask of any country to recognize that neutrality. Euro-Atlantic integrations are essentially connected and Serbia needs to ask for a place in both the EU and NATO. Of course, the citizens would decide on it by way of a referendum,” sources from SPO told the daily.

Albania Leaders Exchange Barbs over Failed Talks

Tirana | 18 June 2010 |

Albania's assembly

Albania’s political leaders blamed each other on Thursday for the failure of EU-sponsored talks aimed at resolving the country's political crisis.

Speaking during the parliamentary session Prime Minister Sali Berisha accused the opposition Socialist Party of having a covert plan to boycott the upcoming 2011 local elections, rather than seek transparency over parliamentary elections held last June.

“Since the request was filed that was against the verdicts of the court I have had the conviction that it has the goal to boycott the local elections and do anything to stop Albania’s integration into the EU,” said Berisha.

Reacting to Berisha’s accusations, the head of the Socialist parliamentary group, Gramoz Ruci, said that the talks to resolve the crisis had failed because the ruling majority had not offered its consensus for a compromise.

“You don’t want to resolve this crisis,” he accused Berisha.

Top members of the European Parliament, who sponsored the talks, yesterday expressed regret that the two main political parties in Albania have been unable to solve their political stalemate, and warned that the country risks stalling its EU bid if it does not find a solution.

“We sincerely regret that the Albanian Government and the opposition could not overcome their differences and have therefore not yet been able to take further necessary steps towards meeting the country's European ambition,” MEPs Joseph Daul and Martin Schulz said in a joint statement.

Daul is the president of the centre-right EPP grouping, and Schulz is the president of the centre-left S&D grouping in the European Parliament.

The two men, on behalf of their political groups, initiated talks between Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to help the country find a solution to the political dispute between the two main parties following the Albanian general elections on June 28, 2009.

Berisha, who heads the ruling Democratic Party, and Socialist Party leader Rama have been locked in a standoff over the results of the June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections, which Berisha's party narrowly won.

The Socialists blame alleged electoral fraud by the government for their loss and have sought a recount of election ballots. The government has stubbornly refused the recount as unconstitutional, arguing that it is a decision for the courts to take.

Albania Court Overturns Ruling on Greek Mayor

Anyway the fascist Vlora`s Attorney, has forgotten to open an terrorist incurring against the Mayor of Himara and President of "Omonia" Vassilios Bollanos, for bombing house issue one month ago.

Tirana | 17 June 2010 |

Vassillios Bollanos
with V/US President Joe Biden

An appeals court in the city of Vlora has overturned a lower court ruling that sentenced an ethnic-Greek mayor to a six-month prison term for ordering the removal of road signs because they were not bilingual.

Mayor Vasil Bollano of the town of Himara on Albania’s southern coast ordered the removal of road signs in December 2007, arguing that the signs should also have been written in Greek, as he considers the area a Greek-minority zone.

Prosecutors filed charges against Bollano for abuse of power, arguing that his actions were illegal and that the removed signs cost Albanian taxpayers roughly €170,000. Bollano rejected the charges against him as politically motivated.

According to Albanian sources the Greek minority in Albania is estimated to be around three per cent of the country's total population, when the Greek Ethnic Organization "Omonia" said for 25 per cent of Albanian total population, which have old Greek origin.

Anyway the fascist Vlora`s Attorney, has forgotten to open an terrorist incurring against the Mayor of Himara and President of Omonia Vassilios Bollanos, for bombing house issue one month ago.

Sources from Vlora Region said that the Vlora Court and Prosecutor district continues to forget the Pyros Bollanos issue, killed tow years ago by a terrorist action in center of Himara town. According to information, the Vlora`s Court continues to have no transparency public information about the penal terrorist process.

EP Leaves Albania EU Fate to Country's Politicians

| 17 June 2010 |

European Parliament

Top members of the European Parliament have expressed regret that the two main political parties in Albania have been unable to solve their political stalemate, and have warned that the country risks stalling its EU bid if it does not find a solution.

“We sincerely regret that the Albanian Government and the opposition could not overcome their differences and have therefore not yet been able to take further necessary steps towards meeting the country's European ambition,” MEPs Joseph Daul and Martin Schulz said in a joint statement.

Daul is the president of the centre-right EPP grouping, and Schulz is the president of the centre-left S&D grouping in the European Parliament.

The two men, on behalf of their political groups, initiated talks between Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to help the country find a solution to the political dispute between the two main parties following the Albanian general elections on June 28, 2009.

Berisha, who heads the ruling Democratic Party, and Socialist Party leader Rama have been locked in a standoff over the results of the June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections, which Berisha's party narrowly won.

The Socialists blame alleged electoral fraud by the government for their loss and have sought a recount of election ballots. The government has stubbornly refused the recount as unconstitutional, arguing that it is a decision for the courts to take.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/28819/

'We Albanians hate terror'

The six-month war between ethnic Albanians and Macedonian forces ended in 2001 with the signing of a cohabitation agreement. But the Albanian Liberation Army of Kosovo and Macedonia claims that the rights of ethnic Albanians are being ignored by the Macedonian authorities. In November 2007 Macedonian police launched an armed offensive on the Albanian village of Brodec. They were looking for terrorists. Local man Ziber Ziberi says that of the five villagers killed and 13 arrested, not one was a terrorist

• Guardian Weekly

An Albanian man sifts through the rubble of his house after the 2001 conflict. Photograph: Yannis Behrakis

At 6am our village, Brodec, was attacked without warning by Macedonian special police. First they shelled us from the surrounding hills, then they came in with helicopters and armed vehicles. The noise was unbearable. My wife, children, mother and mother-in-law ran to a small space under the stairs to hide.

They remained hidden there for several hours – the shelling lasted from early morning to 3pm. My son was ill at the time and he should have been taken to a doctor, but it was impossible to move from the shelter.

There are 300 children in the village; they were supposed to go to school that day, but instead they ran to hide in cellars. The shelling made holes in the walls of our houses, but it was our mosque that took most of the damage. You could literally see through it. The house of my immediate neighbour was burned to the ground by a fire that spread after a grenade hit. The flames were so big we couldn't put them out....................................

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/29/albania-macedonia

Albanians in Macedonia want Albanian citizenship

Albanians in Macedonia want from Tirana to require official to allow the benefit of all Albanians the Albanian citizenship across borders.

Such a plan is implemented by neighboring countries such as Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and other former Yugoslav countries. Albanian political parties in Macedonia do not want to debate the issue, but they point out that the Albanian state itself should assess whether or not to create opportunity through constitutional road, all the Albanians wherever they are equipped with Albanian citizenship, regardless of they live in two states or more states, but the device with Albanian citizenship to become the model of dual citizenship that allowed by many states.


Lawyers do not exclude the possibility that Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha with the decree of President Bamir Topi fulfill their promise 90 years to when he claimed that every Albanian in the world is a citizen of Albania.

"It should be realized that, because we have the case of Macedonians, who everywhere possess the nationality of Macedonia. Especially such an option is used by the Albanians living on the border with Macedonia, which declared that they have Macedonian origin, the lawyer Numan Limani has stressed.

But sources closer to the government in Tirana has not ruled out the possibility that the Albanian government to consider such a plan for granting citizenships to all Albanian citizens outside the borders of the Albanian state.

The Law granting citizenship is a right that decreed by the President of Albania and that the right has the benefit of its foreign national that he has completed five years of regular residence in the territory of the Albanian state. In any provision of law amended in 1998, is not expected to benefit through ethnicity and provides that every Albanian has the right to possession of Albanian nationality.

Barack Obama and his family to spend their summer holiday in Greece

Athens. U.S. President Barack Obama will spend his summer holiday in Greece, together with his family, Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia reports. Obama will most probably spend his holiday on the Crete Island towards the end of June or beginning of July.

The newspaper points that the Illinois State Treasurer - Alexi Giannoulias who is of Greek origin has invited Obama to visit Chania, Crete, the birthplace of Giannoulias’ mother. Obama and his family will most probably stay in a yacht, together with Giannoulias.

Athens and Skopje are close to resolving the name dispute

Following the statements that Serbian President Boris Tadic has went from Athens to Skopje with the proposal for the name dispute – Republic of North Macedonia, instead of the FYROM abbreviation; information came from the Greek capital that Macedonia and Greece were close to resolving the name dispute with a proposed name Vardar Macedonia, Macedonian newspaper Utrinski Vesnik reads.

The information has not been confirmed by either side, which means that the two countries are “putting out feelers”. Utrinski Vesnik quotes an article in Greek newspaper Kathimerini, according to which, the two countries were very close to a solution, which will include the name of the longest river in Macedonia.

EU Concern Over Political Situation in Albania

| 15 June 2010 |

Luxembourg

EU foreign ministers have expressed their concern over the political situation in Albania, where the ruling and opposition parties have not yet found a solution to the political crisis that began almost one year ago.

“It is high time to find a solution to the current crisis on a basis which will stand the test of time,” the foreign ministers said in their conclusions following a meeting in Luxembourg.

They reiterated that it is the responsibility of both the opposition and the ruling party to find "solutions and
ways forward which will be required for the country on its EU path".

The Council welcomed the initiative of several MEPs to try to help Albanian leaders resolve the stalemate but regretted that “the facilitation initiative has not yet found sufficient support to enable the Albanian government and the opposition to overcome their differences”.

Albania has faced political deadlock since the country's June 2009 parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Sali Berisha from the ruling Democratic Party and opposition leader Edi Rama of the Socialists have been locked in a stalemate over the results of the elections, which Berisha's party narrowly won.

Berisha and Rama have so far failed to agree on the powers of a parliamentary commission set to investigate alleged irregularities in the parliamentary ballot held on June 28, 2009.

While the Socialists seek a recount of the ballots, claiming that the government’s alleged fraud was to blame for their electoral loss, the majority insists that the opposition has exhausted all legal means for a recount to take place.

Albania's main political parties met with EU representatives in Strasbourg at the end of May, but an agreement has still not been reached. The parliament has, however, largely returned to normal following the nomination by the Socialist opposition of a deputy speaker and committee members last week. The foreign ministers welcomed this development.

Wreck of WWII freighter believed found off Albania

By LLAZAR SEMINI (AP)

TIRANA, Albania — Using undersea scanning devices, archaeologists from the U.S. and Albania believe they have found the wreckage of an Italian ship that British forces torpedoed during World War II when Albania was occupied by Mussolini's Fascists.

The remnants — found just off Albania's coast last weekend — probably were part of the 8,000-ton Rosandra freighter, which was hit by a British submarine on June 14, 1943, the team said on Monday, the 67th anniversary of the sinking.

The vessel was located 260 feet (80 meters) beneath the surface of the Ionian Sea near Albania's Karaburun Peninsula, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Tirana, the capital, during a survey of the country's seabed that began four years ago.

Expedition coordinator Auron Tare of Albania said the size of the wreck, and sonar images of two holes apparently caused by torpedo explosions, matched information from Italian and British sources on the Rosandra.

"If the data coincide with the conclusions of the further study of that archaeological relic, then we may say the expedition has discovered the Italian Rosandra ship," Tare told The Associated Press.

Six people died in the attack on the Axis vessel, which was carrying 400 tons of food and military supplies to Italian occupation forces in neighboring Greece, but 173 were safely evacuated to land, 400 meters (yards) away.

A freighter converted to a refrigerated ship, the Rosandra had been headed from the Albanian port of Vlora — 70 miles from Italy — to Patras in Greece.

Albania was under Fascist Italian occupation from 1939 until September 1943, when Italy surrendered to Allied forces. During the Second World War, Italy lost about 90 percent of its merchant fleet.

Albanian archaeologists and the RPM Nautical Foundation of Key West, Florida, have found 18 wrecks from ancient, medieval and modern times in their survey off the Balkan country's coast.

"This important discovery once more shows the important relics hidden deep in Albanian waters," the expedition said in a statement.

It is creating an underwater cultural heritage map of the Albanian coastline with the aim of opening an underwater archaeological museum in Porto Palermo in what is regarded as Albania's Riviera, a 90-mile (140-kilometer) stretch of coastline from Vlora to Saranda.

On Monday, the expedition expanded its mission north to cover waters off neighboring Montenegro.