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Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez assured Wednesday in Madrid Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic that her country will stick to its decision not to recognize Kosovo's independence. In a meeting with Jeremic, Jimenez also expressed support for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, according to Spanish news agency EFE. The talk focused on the situation in Kosovo, bilateral relations -- which the two ministers agreed were excellent -- and Serbia's integration in the European Union, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. The Spanish minister thanked Jeremic on Serbia's constructive attitude regarding dialogue with Pristina, which they agreed should start as soon as...

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...

...Contemporary proponents of the Greater Albania employ a two-pronged strategy to gather supporters. "We are a social-welfare movement." Vetevendosje chief Kurti said. He seeks to draw support from the reservoir of energetic young people, frustrated by economic hopelessness, poverty and unemployment. The other direction of Vetevendosje action is to play up allegations of discrimination of Albanians in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro....

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo082410.htm Two Additional Arrests Made of Members of Violent International Organized Crime Group Albanian Government Aide Arrested; Newly Unsealed Indictment Charges 17 Defendants with Murder, Kidnapping, and Other Racketeering Offenses PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), and RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced the arrests of FLORIAN VESHI and ALMIR RRAPO for their roles in a racketeering enterprise that engaged...

SNIPPET: "Dr. Zakir Naik is a 44 year-old Muslim preacher born in India. He has gained a significant international following by establishing a satellite television network, Peace TV, which promotes Wahhabi Islam; it is based in Mumbai/Bombay, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, and has a supporting organization, the Islamic Research Foundation. Naik has mainly broadcast his message in English as well as Urdu. But Peace TV is an ambitious enterprise that now aims at Albanian Muslims, among others. Zakir Naik is distinguished by one characteristic: incitement of provocative disdain for any other Muslims than Wahhabis and Pakistani jihadists, as well as...

Note: The following text is a quote: Seven Charged with Terrorism Violations in North Carolina RALEIGH, NC—Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today. On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the...

June 17, 2010 NOTE The following text is a quote: Kosovar National Charged with Terrorism Violations RALEIGH, NC—Bajram Asllani, 29, a resident of Mitrovica, Kosovo, has been charged in a criminal complaint with providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division; and Robin Pendergraft, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, announced today. Asllani, also known as “Bajram...

  CONSPIRACY TO PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT OR RESOURCES TO TERRORISTS (1 COUNT); CONSPIRACY TO KILL, KIDNAP, MAIM, OR INJURE PERSONS OR DAMAGE PROPERTY IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY (1 COUNT) BAJRAM ASLLANI Photograph taken in 2010    Aliases: Ebu Hatab, Bajram Aslani, Bajram Asslani Var Aslani, Bajram Asslani, Aslani Bajram, Bajram Aslami, Bajram Aslanni, Bajram Hajriz Asllani, Bayram Aslani DESCRIPTION   Dates of Birth Used:  August 12, 1980; August 12, 1989; November 11, 1970; December 8, 1980 Hair: Dark Brown Place of Birth: Mitrovica, Kosovo Eyes: Brown Height: 5'7" Sex: Male Weight: Unknown (heavy-set build) Complexion: Medium NCIC: T920777787 Nationality:...

Since the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe in 1989, the countries involved have explored different ways of dealing with the past. Albania took a different path to many, something which is still affecting it today, says the BBC's Iain MacInnes.> We met Ramiz Alia, the former leader of the Communist Party of Albania and, later, the first president of the post-communist Republic of Albania. Enver Hoxha, who led Albania from World War II until his death in 1985, designated Mr Alia as his successor as party leader. Mr Alia, who remained in power until 1992, has some regrets...

Something happened after President Clinton's 1999 war in Kosovo: It never ended. Its continuation was characterized by anti-Serb arson, kidnappings, bombings of NATO-escorted civilian buses and efforts to kill everyone from schoolgirls to octogenarians, plus the rare peacekeeper who tried to prevent any of this. Toward the end of 1999, several major newspapers reported on findings that mass graves such as the infamous Trepca zinc mine turned up empty, as did the stadium we were told was being used as a concentration camp. Anyone reading this one-time follow-up also would have learned that the "cleansing" of 800,000 Albanians had more...

A UN official has urged Albania to stop hampering efforts to investigate claims that hundreds of Serbs were tortured and murdered for their organs in the country during the Kosovo war. Belgrade says the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) abducted up to 500 Serb civilians and took them to neighbouring Albania for organ removal during the 1998-9 conflict with Slobodan Milosevic’s forces. The allegations were first made public in a memoir by Carla Del Ponte, the former chief UN war crimes prosecutor, who said her office had received information about a possible Albanian trafficking network selling human organs abroad for transplanting....

The New Year's Eve massacre in Finland was described by police as a case of domestic violence, a bloody crime of passion. And so it was:a middle-aged man rebuffed by his ex-girlfriend broke a restraining order, killed her, then shot four of her colleagues at a supermarket before, it seems, taking his own life. But behind the horrific crime of an apparently deranged individual there was the deep-rooted problem of social exclusion. The clue is in the name of the suspected gunman: Ibrahim Shkupolli. Finnish sources say he was a Pristina-born Kosovo Albanian, one of the many who have settled...

Shots have been fired at a shopping centre in the town of Espoo, near the capital of Finland, Helsinki. An eyewitness said at least one person was left lying on the floor after shooting broke out, the national broadcaster YLE said on its website.

A sixth person has been found dead following the shootings in a town near Helsinki, Finland, police said Thursday. They said it is believed the sixth victim is the shooter, who police had previously identified as 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli. Shkupolli, who police said had lived in Finland "for some time," is believed to have killed at least four people at a shopping center near the Finnish capital Helsinki. Finnish police confirmed the shooting happened at 10:08 a.m. (3:08 a.m. ET), leaving three men and one woman dead. CNN affiliate MTV3 and state broadcaster YLE reported that five people were killed....

<p>"NatWest handed Al Qaeda terrorist 100% mortgage to buy £93,000 home he turned into a bomb factory"</p> <p>SNIPPET: "A bank has sparked outrage by handing over a 100 per cent mortgage to an Al Qaeda terrorist who smuggled himself into Britain.</p>

* Print * ShareThis A suspected Albanian gangster carrying a loaded pistol and silencer has been arrested outside the home of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, police have said, Sky News reported. There was no threat to Blair's safety, it is understood. The suspect, 56, was stopped in his car as he drove in Connaught Street, central London, on Monday at 11.15 p.m. local time. Officers on patrol became suspicious and arrested him for alleged traffic and documentation offences. About 25 minutes later, a passer-by approached a uniformed officer on guard outside Blair's £3.5m Connaught Square townhouse. He handed the...

Not much media attention focuses on the leveling of Christian sanctuaries. After all, it’s just a "Christian story." However, the latest mosque burnt to the ground gets plenty of newsfeed with narrative and copious photographs.

Inevitably, some extraordinary security measures were taken in Kosovo's capital in connection with William Jefferson Clinton's recent visit. The former president of the United States undertook a long journey to the middle of the Balkans in order to take a look at his own figure standing twelve feet above the rest of humanity. There could be little doubt that those extraordinary measures added additional tension in the life of the current and former residents of the area. Let's clear up a possible confusion: many of the current Albanian residents of Pristina live in the houses of the former Serbian owners...

Albania wants the remains of Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa and the only post-independence monarch to be returned to the country, the prime minister has said. Mother Teresa's remains are in India and King Ahmet Zog's in France. Prime minister Sali Berisha's government has asked India for the Roman Catholic nun's to be returned by the 100th anniversary of her birth in August. Berisha yesterday said Albania has started negotiations with India's government,which "will be intensified this year". Macedonia and Albania have been engaged in a dispute over the national identity of Mother Teresa, who was born in Macedonia to...

SNIPPET: "Arabic language schools in Nasr City are doing well and many Salafists come to Egypt in to learn the language of the Koran. Many deeply religious students from Europe come to Egypt to learn Arabic. The question is: are these European Salafists coming to study the language of the Koran or to prepare terrorist attacks?" SNIPPET: "In addition to language lessons, they usually follow courses in Islamic law offered by teachers ranging from the renowned Al-Azhar University to clandestine imams without permits. "Religious fanatics want to be taken seriously," says Walid al-Gohari, founder and director of the Al-Fajr institute,...