Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has rejected a request from the United States for the tiny impoverished Balkan nation to host the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

George Soros, the 83-year-old billionaire investor, philanthropist and active supporter of liberal political causes, married health care and education consultant Tamiko Bolton at the weekend.

An Albanian political candidate was shot and a supporter of a rival party killed in an exchange of gunfire near a polling station, police said yesterday, as the country held elections already marred by a dispute that could leave the outcome up in the air.

A bus carrying university students on a pre-graduation trip toppled off a mountain cliff in southern Albania yesterday, killing 12 people and injuring another 21, authorities said.

Albania’s political crisis escalated as the government and its opposition traded blame for the deaths of three protesters during a violent demonstration against an administration accused of deeply-rooted corruption.

Twenty-two opposition Socialist MPs and 180 supporters have launched a hunger strike to press the government to allow a partial recount of an election they claim was tainted by vote-rigging.

ALBANIANS have voted in a general election that is seen as crucial for the country’s European Union aspirations, with surveys showing the two main rivals neck and neck.

ALBANIANS have voted in a general election that is seen as crucial for the country’s European Union aspirations, with surveys showing the two main rivals neck and neck.

An explosive device killed a conservative politician as he drove through northern Albania today, 10 days ahead of the country’s parliamentary election, police said.

The Albanian government has decided to allow the public to visit the Palace of Brigades, one of Tirana’s few architectural gems.