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Following on from an earlier story concerning Albanian immigrants in Greece, the Financial Times has the story of one of those immigrants, Gazmend Kapllani, a journalist and writer.

BIRN reports on the 13 million EUR fine imposed on the Top Media group by the tax authorities who claim that the group has been under-reporting its income for the last 5 years. Others, noting that Top Media has been highly critical of the current government, claim that the authorities are trying to silence any opposition.

China, seeking to extend its influence through the judicious application of soft power, has been giving gifts to Albania. A couple of weeks ago it was 1,400 computers for use in schools; this week it was a load of balls.

Good news for the aspiring middle classes and frustrated handymen out there: German DIY/home improvement chain Praktiker plans to open a store in Tirana in the summer of 2008.

Finally, the funniest story of recent days concerns an offer by the Iranians to help Albania renovate economic and industrial infrastructure. Why funny? Because Iran, sitting on top of the world's third largest oil reserves (or second largest if you don't count Canada's oil sands), recently had to ration petrol supplies because the industrial infrastructure of the country's most important industry is such a shambles.

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Comments

Anonymous said…
omg...LOL...that is pretty funny...and the China ball article was hilarious too...At least we'll have balls from now on....LOL.
8:11 pm
Anonymous said…
Wow, we will have chinese balls, that's awsome!!! :)
11:13 pm
Anonymous said…
BIRN is a Serbian media. I would refrain from posting anything about Albania or Albanians coming from Serbian media.
2:15 am
tabakhone said…
Anonymous!
I would refrain from telling people what to do in their own blog!
Omit! I'm comming home for a visit in August. I'd like te buy you a beer while I'm there, so I can brag to my fellow Albos this side of the pond where you've become a must read of sorts
Is there a way of recognizing you while there?
P.S. If not, I'll buy a beer to the first Irish lad I meet when I leave Albania.
4:36 am
olli said…
Anon, BIRN is not Serbian media. BIRN is the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network which grew out of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting's Balkan programme. BIRN is based in Sarajevo.

The founder and regional director, Gordana Igric, was regularly threatened by the Milosevic regime because of her reporting of war crimes in the region.

Tabakhone, send me an email on ourmanintirana@gmail.com and I will let you have a phone number. When you get here give me a call.
10:52 am
Anonymous said…
Tabakhone, send me an email on ourmanintirana@gmail.com and I will let you have a phone number. When you get here give me a call.
-----------------------------------

Dude I'll be there in the later half of August too. Perhaps we can meet up along with this other guy and make it a 'threesome' :)

i'll shoot you an email
7:49 pm
olli said…
OK anon. Sounds good. Then we will find out who you are.
12:28 am
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