An Italian navy ship docked at the Albanian port of Shengjin to bring the first group of 16 migrants intercepted in international waters.

Italy is transferring the first group of migrants to Albania as part of a contentious plan to process thousands of asylum-seekers outside its borders.

Opposition supporters in Albania have protested again and demanded that the government be replaced by a technocratic caretaker Cabinet before next year’s parliamentary election.

Thousands of people have paid their last respects to Ismail Kadare in a state funeral in Tirana Wednesday, with a minute’s silence held nationwide in memory of the renowned Albanian novelist and poet who died earlier this week.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has traveled to Albania to thank its government for its unique and controversial role in agreeing to host thousands of asylum-seekers while Italy processes their claims.

Ukraine’s president has pleaded for more ammunition to repel Russian advances at a summit he co-hosted with Albania’s government to build further support for Kyiv among southeastern European countries.

Albania’s Parliament has approved a deal for the country to hold thousands of asylum seekers for Italy despite protests from opposition lawmakers and human rights groups.

The leaders of Italy and the U.K. have agreed to tackle irregular migration to Europe.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has urged NATO to further boost its military forces in Kosovo and secure the country’s borders with Serbia.

Albanian opposition lawmakers have disrupted the Parliament’s session again to protest what they say is increasingly authoritarian rule by the governing Socialists.

It’s Day 3 of the U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting that brings world leaders together at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Ukraine’s president is accusing Russia of undermining all norms of war and the United Nations Charter.

Albania’s prime minister has denied that he bribed or gave preferential treatment to a former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official who has been indicted in the U.S. Edi Rama told Parliament Thursday that the opposition wanted “to politically exploit a legal process in the USA that has no links at all to Albania, the government or me personally.

Albania’s prime minister says Britain is carrying out a “calculated attack” on his country by blaming it for the increased number of immigrants crossing the English Channel illegally.

Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters have protested the country's cost of living crisis, which they blame on the center-left government.

Britain’s interior minister has visited immigration facilities on England’s southeastern coast as she grappled with an overcrowding crisis at a migrant facility and an outcry over her claim that the U.K. faced an “invasion” of asylum-seekers.

The European Union is in the midst of yet another goodwill trip through the Western Balkans to drum up support for the 27-nation bloc.

French President Emmanuel Macron and over 40 European leaders have sought to show the unity of the continent faced with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Leaders from around Europe are converging on the Czech capital, Prague, to launch a new “European Political Community.”.

Albania’s Interior Ministry says one of its border systems has been hit by a cyberattack that came from the same Iranian source as an earlier attack that led the country to break diplomatic relations with Iran.

Albanian special forces police have forced the door of the Iranian Embassy in Tirana and officers have surrounded the compound in which it stands, shortly after the last staff members left the building following the government’s order to expel them.

Albania's prime minister says the government has cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country’s embassy staff.

Anticipating a tough winter in light of the war in Ukraine, three Balkan states have agreed to help each other with potential food or energy shortages.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the Western Balkans are an integral part of the European Union, repeating his country's full support of the region's integration into the 27-member bloc.

Albania’s former President Ilir Meta has taken over the leadership of his old political party pledging to fight government corruption through referendums.

Albania plans to make the Vjosa River and its tributaries the country's latest national park.

Albania’s parliament elected its top military official as the country’s new president.

Albania says former President Bujar Nishani has died at 55 following a serious health problem.

The office of Albania's prime minister says the country has offered to NATO a naval base in an effort to highlight the tiny country’s value in the alliance “in these difficult times."

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has said the bloc would support the Western Balkan countries to overcome the economic crisis caused by Russia's war on Ukraine.

Albania and Turkey have pledged to further boost their ties and increase their economic and cultural relations.

Albanian police have intervened to move away protesters at the headquarters of the country’s main opposition party.

North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has formally resigned, a move he had announced after his governing Social Democrat party’s heavy defeat in October’s local elections.

The leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia have met in Tirana to discuss and agree on furthering their Open Balkan initiative to promote political and economic ties.

Albanian medical staff have launched a nationwide campaign taking medical teams door to door to convince unvaccinated people to get their shots against COVID-19.

European Union leaders will gather Wednesday for a summit on how to keep engaging with their Western Balkans neighbors, but the bloc’s once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse.

The head of the European Union’s executive branch has called on Kosovo and Serbia to resolve their disputes through the dialogue and deescalate the recent tension over license plates.

Albania's prime minister has complained about the delay in the launch of his country's membership negotiations with the European Union, saying Bulgaria’s veto is holding the process hostage.

Albania’s parliament is to vote late Thursday to approve the new, female-dominated cabinet of Prime Minister Edi Rama, with 12 of the 17 jobs going to women, making Albania a global leader in terms of the percentage of women holding government positions.

In her last trip in the western Balkans as a German chancellor, Angela Merkel visited Albania to urge the leaders of six western Balkan nations gathered there to strengthen their regional cooperation in their strive for European Union membership.

The Albanian Parliament has impeached President Ilir Meta for violating the constitution and discharged him from the post.

Albania's parliament has decided to hold an extraordinary session next week on the impeachment of the country’s president for allegedly violating the constitution.

Albania’s prime minister has expressed his determination to remove the president from his post, saying he has embarrassed the country.

An Albania lawmaker says the governing left-wing Socialist Party legislators have started the impeachment process against the country’s president who they accuse of violating the constitution during the last election.

Albanian electoral officials say the left-wing Socialist Party has secured its third consecutive mandate in a parliamentary election, winning nearly one in two votes and enough seats in parliament to govern alone.

Preliminary results show that the ruling Socialist Party is ahead in Albania’s parliamentary election.

An exit poll for Albania's parliamentary election suggests the ruling Socialist Party is in a tight race with the opposition Democratic Party.

Albania’s president has accused the U.S. ambassador of intervening in the small European country’s internal affairs by supporting its prime minister in an upcoming parliamentary election.

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 16, 1997 file photo, Albanian Prime Minister Bashkim Fino shakes hands with OSCE representative Austrian Franz Vranitzky, in Tirana. Bashkim Fino, who was appointed prime minister to shepherd Albania out of almost total chaos 24 years ago when fraudulent investment schemes collapsed and angry crowds looted military installations nationwide, has died aged 58. Fino's family and his governing Socialist party said the former prime minister died Monday March 29, 2021 in hospital, where he had been treated for several days after contracting COVID-19. The former prime minister's family and his governing Socialist party said Fino died Monday in a hospital, where he had been treated for several days after contracting COVID-19. Fino was a trained economist and former mayor of Gjirokastra, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of the capital, Tirana.

A man receives a dose of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in Tirana, Albania, Sunday, March 28, 2021. Albania started a mass vaccination campaign trying to inoculate half a million people opening the way to a more relaxed incoming summer tourism season. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Albania started a mass inoculation campaign Sunday ahead of the summer tourism season after acquiring 192,000 doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine Sinovac earlier this week. AdEarlier this week, Prime Minister Edi Rama went to Turkey and brought back the 192,000 Sinovac doses. The remainder of the 500,000 Sinovac doses Albania is due to receive will come in two months.

Bulldozers are parked outside a building known to Albanians as the Pyramid in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. A pharaonic landmark in central Tirana built as a posthumous museum for Albanias communist-era strongman, Enver Hoxha, is being transformed into a youth training and art center. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama attended Thursdays symbolic start of work to radically transform the largely abandoned, 17,000-square-meter (180,000-square-foot) structure. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – A pharaonic landmark in central Tirana built as a posthumous museum for Albania's communist-era strongman, Enver Hoxha, is being transformed into a youth training and art center. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama attended Thursday's symbolic start of work to radically transform the largely abandoned, 17,000-square-meter (180,000-square-foot) structure.

TIRANA – Conservationist groups urged the Albanian government on Tuesday to rescind a decision to build a airport they say would seriously damage the country’s western wetlands. “Such an investment would bring about uncontrolled and unsustainable development models that would irreversibly damage the natural values and resources of the area,” the coalition of organizations said in a statement. The Narta lagoon and its surroundings comprising more than 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) represent one of the largest and most important wetland ecosystems in the Mediterranean, recognized as a key biodiversity area with more than 200 bird species such as pelicans, herons, gulls and flamingos. The organizations said such construction violates a number of conventions ratified by Albania. The conservationist groups also warned of airplanes potentially sustaining bird strikes with “tragic consequences" because of the large number of fowl there.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks at a news conference in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. Turkey on Monday, Jan. 11 invited Greece to resume talks designed to reduce tensions between the neighbors, following this summer's dispute over maritime borders and energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean. Cavusoglu also extended an invitation to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, for a meeting to discuss their troubled relations. “Today ... we want to extend an open invitation to Greece” Cavusoglu said. “We invite Greece to start exploratory talks, with the first meeting being held in January.”The foreign ministries of Turkey and Greece later issued separate statements saying the so-called exploratory talks would be held in Istanbul on Jan. 25.

Albanian prime minister Edi Rama receives the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Tirana, Albania, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Rama was among the first to take the COVID-19 vaccine which the country has received from an undisclosed European Union member country. The Prime Minister said he was "not authorized" to say which EU country had provided 975 vaccines. Prime Minister Edi Rama said he was “not authorized” to say which EU country had provided 975 doses to the Balkan nation. The vaccinations Albania gave Monday are sure to spark some envy in other Balkan countries.

(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand will soon require that travelers from most countries show negative coronavirus tests before they leave for New Zealand. Public health officials announced plans Monday to replace the state’s distribution plan and direct providers to concurrently vaccinate high-risk groups. State health officials report more than 13,000 coronavirus patients currently in hospitals statewide, and nearly 30,000 deaths since the pandemic started. ___ATLANTA — Georgia’s plan to expand access to the coronavirus vaccine for people over 65 is off to a rocky start. ___AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan has received its first shipment of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine before its vaccination drive kicks off this week.

North Macedonian epidemiologist Dragan Danilovski compared the current vaccine situation in the Western Balkans to the inequalities seen during the 1911 sinking of the Titanic. Serbia is the only Western Balkan nation to receive vaccine shots so far, getting deliveries from Pfizer-BioNTech and the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine. However, Serbia does not have enough doses to begin mass vaccinations, as only 25,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 2,400 of the Russian vaccine have arrived. “Throughout the pandemic, the EU has shown that we treat the Western Balkans as privileged partners,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. “I trust (the Russian vaccine), I don’t trust the commercial narratives that are coming from the West,” Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb's leader, declared before he was hospitalized with coronavirus.

A protester holding a road sign makes his way with others during a protest rally in Tirana, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – The first peaceful protest in Albania's capital over the fatal shooting of a man by police enforcing a coronavirus curfew quickly faded away Monday following a strong police warning to avoid illegal gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic. Those restrictions include a ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people, an overnight curfew, the mandatory use of masks and social distancing. Albanians have defied a coronavirus ban on public gatherings and there have been clashes with police in recent days after Klodian Rasha was killed in Tirana during a curfew early Tuesday. Prime Minister Edi Rama has apologized for what he called the “inexplicable” shooting of Rasha, and his interior minister resigned Thursday.

Albanian protesters run away from teargas during a protest rally in Tirana, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Albanian demonstrators on Sunday kept up their daily protests over the fatal shooting of a man by police enforcing a coronavirus curfew. Later some hurled stones at the Tirana police station, where police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Albanians have defied a coronavirus ban on public gatherings and have clashed with police in recent days after Klodian Rasha was killed in Tirana amid a curfew early Tuesday. The U.S. and the European Union have urged Albania's political parties to exercise restraint amid the protests.

Albanian protesters run away from teargas during a protest rally in Tirana, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Albanian police swiftly dispersed a smaller crowd of demonstrators Saturday as part of their ongoing protests this week after a fatal shooting by police enforcing a coronavirus curfew. In the nearby western port city of Durres, demonstrators concluded their protest with fist-bumping with officers in front of a police station. Albanian politics has been mired by infighting since the shooting, with Rama accusing opposition politicians, including President Ilir Meta, of inciting the violent protests. The U.S. and the European Union have called on Albanian political parties to exercise restraint.

Albanian police use a water cannon against protesters during clashes in Tirana, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. Albanian protesters on Thursday renewed clashes with police over the fatal police shooting of a man during curfew hours despite the call from the authorities to respect a pandemic ban on public gatherings. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Demonstrators clashed with police for a second day Thursday in the Albanian capital, Tirana, during a protest over this week's fatal police shooting of a man during curfew hours. In a televised address broadcast just as the protest started, Prime Minister Edi Rama apologized to the dead 25-year-old's parents, and the country's interior minister resigned over the shooting. A police statement said three alleged organizers of Wednesday's protest have been arrested, and another four people were freed after being charged.

A few hundred Albanian men are known to have joined terror groups in Syria and Iraq in the early 2010s, and now many of them are dead and their family members are stuck in Syria camps, but will be repatriated via Beirut to Albania. (Albanian Prime Minister's office via AP)TIRANA – Albania's prime minister said Monday that four children and a woman, all related to Albanian nationals who joined Islamist extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, are being repatriated from a Syrian camp. A few hundred Albanian men joined the Islamic State and other groups fighting in Syria and Iraq in the early 2010s. Rama could not give the exact number of Albanian nationals in the camps. He added that Albanian nationals who took part in the fighting would face criminal prosecution if they are detained and repatriated.

Police in Belarus have dispersed protesters who gathered on the capital's central square, detaining dozens. Belarus authoritarian president of 26 years has faced weeks of protests since he was reelected to a sixth term on Aug. 9 with 80% of the vote. Asked whether the Belarus president will be hit by a travel ban and asset freeze, Petricek said he believes that Lukashenko should be on the list. Linkevicius said that we cannot exclude this invasion, and that the EU must also send a clear warning to Russia. For the country to move forward safely and as securely as possible will require mutual understanding and cooperation inside Belarus, Rama said.

Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana , on Thursday, July 9, 2020. A memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the World War II and for the Albanians who protected them from the Nazis was inaugurated Thursday in the capital. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)

Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana , on Thursday, July 9, 2020. A memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the World War II and for the Albanians who protected them from the Nazis was inaugurated Thursday in the capital. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)TIRANA Albania unveiled a Holocaust memorial in the capital on Thursday to honor the dead and the Albanians who protected Jews from the Nazis. Albanians protected their few hundred Jewish friends, and helped other Jews who fled from Germany and Austria by either smuggling them abroad or hiding them at home. A small Jewish community living in Albania left the ex-communist country for Israel just after the fall of the regime in 1991.

PRISTINA Albania's prime minister on Monday called the indictment of Kosovo's president and other former rebel fighters a shameful stain" on world justice. Ramas unannounced visit to Kosovo, which also has a predominantly ethnic Albanian population, was a signal of support from neighboring Albania. He tweeted that the indictment was a shameful stain of 21st century" world justice. Thacis indictment also disrupted a White House meeting between Kosovo and Serbia leaders initiated by U.S presidential envoy Richard Grenell, which would have been the first official talks between Serbia and Kosovo in 19 months. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Serbia refuses to recognize.

26, 2019, file photo, people walk past the National Theater of Albania in Tirana. Albania demolished its crumbling National Theater, which opened during World War II, above which sparked protests by artists, backed by the opposition, who wanted the theater to be renovated and condemned the $32.4 million price tag to build a new facility. (AP Photo/Gent Onuzi, File)TIRANA Albanian artists and opposition party supporters gathered for a second day Monday to protest authorities' demolition of the crumbling National Theater building in the capital, which has triggered strong political tension amid a major heritage debate. Artists and intellectuals addressed the crowd, denouncing the theater's demolition and pledging to continue protests until Rama's government is overthrown. Artists belonging to the Alliance for the Theater Protection had pressed for the renovation of the old theater building which they consider a national heritage.

CNN Video(CNN) - At least 37 people were injured on Saturday when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Albania. The earthquake struck along Albania's central coast near the port city of Durrs, according to the United States Geological Survey, about 35 kilometers west of the capital Tirana. A trauma hospital in Tirana reported 37 injuries, according to public broadcaster Albanian Radio and TV. Prime Minister Edi Rama canceled a trip to New York, CNN affiliate A2 reported, and he's expected to return home from Frankfurt. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company.