Free Republic

Encrusted with tiny shells and smelling strongly of the sea, a 2,400-year-old Greek jar lies in a saltwater bath in Durres Museum, on Albania's Adriatic coast. Part of a sunken shipment of up to 60 ceramic vessels, the 67-centimeter (26-inch) storage jar, or amphora, was the top find... Launched in July, the month-long survey was the first step in compiling an underwater cultural heritage map that could eventually plot the position of sunken fleets from ancient and mediaeval times believed to lie along Albania's 360-kilometer (220-mile) coastline... The light-brown clay amphora, probably used to store wine or oil, was found...

A bust of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been erected in Albania’s southernmost city of Saranda to honor what officials say is her contribution to Albania in the international arena. […] The city council took a unanimous decision more than a month ago to put up the bust to depict Clinton’s “dimension as a woman in politics, as a representative of the old Albania-U.S. friendship, for her contribution to the Albanian nation in different historical moments.” …

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Four ethnic Albanian children told a court Wednesday how Serb forces rounded up and gunned down their families with automatic weapons in one of the most brutal acts of the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Their testimony came during the trial of a Serb police officer accused of leading an assassination squad through their community during the war. The children, who were said to have positively identified the officer, Sasa Cvjetan, in his prison cell Tuesday, watched as Serb troops slaughtered 19 ethnic Albanian relatives, including their mothers, siblings and grandparents, on March 28, 1999, in the town...

Oct. 8, 2003 Fifth-century synagogue found in Albania By JERUSALEM POST STAFF Impressive remains of a synagogue dating from the fifth or sixth century CE have been revealed in the Albanian coastal city of Saranda, opposite the Greek island of Corfu. Initial excavations at the site were conducted some 20 years ago when Albania was under tight Communist rule. The synagogue has come to light as the result of an invitation from the Archeology Institute of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, asking the Hebrew University Institute of Archeology to participate in a joint excavation and study project at the site....