An Albanian court on Wednesday sentenced a British man to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing children at an orphanage in the Balkan country.

David Brown, a 57-year-old charity worker, was found guilty of sexually abusing at least two children, aged nine and 10, in the orphanage located in the central town of Elbasan, judge Geri Hoxha said.

Albania`s parliament on Wednesday passed a new electoral law seen as a key condition set by the European Union for the country`s integration with the bloc.

The bill, which introduces a proportional electoral system, was contested by small opposition parties whose deputies ended a week-long hunger strike over the issue on Tuesday.

Albania`s parliament on Wednesday passed a new electoral law seen a key condition set by the European Union for the country`s integration with the bloc.

The bill, which introduces a proportional electoral system, was contested by small opposition parties whose deputies ended a week-long hunger strike over the issue on Tuesday.

Albania`s parliament on Wednesday passed a new electoral law seen a key condition set by the European Union for the country`s integration with the bloc.

The bill, which introduces a proportional electoral system, was contested by small opposition parties whose deputies ended a week-long hunger strike over the issue on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Albania has 'a lot of work' to do before it is invited to join NATO as it hopes in 2008, alliance secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Friday.

Albania is one of three Balkan states, along with Macedonia and Croatia, hoping to receive an invitation to join NATO at a summit of heads of state and government in Bucharest in April.

'It's too early to say what will happen in Bucharest,' Scheffer said after talks in Brussels with visiting Albanian President Bamir Topi.

PARIS, 12 oct 2007 (AFP) - Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha on Friday called on the EU to brace for the breakdown of talks over the future of Kosovo and be ready to recognise the Serbian province's independence.

'Albania fully supports the attempts to find a negotiated solution between Pristina and Belgrade ... but it is looking increasingly difficult for this to be the case,' Basha said in an interview in Paris, where he is on an official visit.

'So the European Union has to start preparing now for the worst case scenario,' he said.

TIRANA, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - NATO and its European partner states have launched three-week military exercises in Albania, with some 1,100 soldiers from 25 countries taking part in the largest manoeuvres held so far in the Balkan country, officials said Wednesday.

Albanian Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu that the Cooperative Longbow/Lancer 07 exercises would be important for the country's campaign to become a full NATO member, which is expected at a summit of the Atlantic alliance in 2008.

SALONIKA, Greece, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - A people trafficker was killed and nine clandestine immigrants from Albania injured after their car crashed in a police chase in the north of Greece Thursday, police said.

The 35-year-old smuggler was behind the wheel of the car when it went through a red light and smashed into another vehicle.

Police had given chase after the car failed to stop at a spotcheck on the motorway into Salonika, Greece's second city.

TIRANA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Albania's deputy transportation minister and six other top officials have been arrested on suspected corruption and embezzlement of funds aimed at road reconstruction in the country, police said Tuesday.

'Nikolin Jaka, deputy transportation minister and six other senior officials from the department of road reconstruction were arrested late Monday in Tirana in a police operation,' Deputy Interior Minister Gent Strazimiri told reporters.

ZAGREB, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - A group of 16 Albanian illegal immigrants were detained on Tuesday at Croatia's border with Slovenia, police said.

The immigrants, 10 of whom were under 18 years of age, were caught trying to cross the frontier near the northwestern town of Buje, but their guide escaped, police said.

Croatia lies on the so-called Balkans route used by criminal groups to smuggle drugs and people into western Europe.

TIRANA, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Only Kosovo's independence can guarantee Balkan stability, Prime Minister Sali Berisha of neighbouring Albania said, warning new delays in defining the status of the Serbian province could lead to 'chaos.'

'I believe that after the already fixed 120 days, all efforts to get more time will open the door to the risk of chaos,' Berisha said in an interview with AFP.

THE HAGUE, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Letting former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj take part in elections would intimidate witnesses in his war crimes trial, a spokeswoman for the UN war crimes prosecutor said Wednesday.

'The prosecutor is worried,' said Olga Kavran, spokeswoman for Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

'In some regions, he is considered as a hero. Witnesses are terrified.'

TIRANA, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - An Albanian artist has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for a second time after sticking together 1.5 million toothpicks in the shape of a horse mosaic.

The three-dimensional mosaic by 41-year-old Saimir Strati was the largest of its kind at two by four metres (6.5 by 13 feet), said Andrea Bamfi, a member of the local Guinness jury.

TIRANA, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale shook an area near Albania's central coast on Wednesday, causing no casualties or damage, authorities said.

The tremor, which struck shortly after 7:00 am (0500 GMT), jolted the region of Maminas, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Tirana and close to the coastal resort town of Durres, said the national seismological centre.

There were no reports of any casualties or damage, it added.

SARAJEVO, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - Bosnian police said on Wednesday they had arrested 11 would-be immigrants of Albanian origin and a local suspected trafficker.

The group was arrested on a road in southeastern Bosnia, while the detained Bosnian national suspected of human trafficking was handed over to a court, a police statement said.

Bosnia lies on the so-called Balkans route used by criminal groups to smuggle people from developing countries towards western Europe.

ZAGREB, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty-four illegal immigrants trying to sneak into western Europe have been arrested while attempting to cross Croatia's border with Slovenia, local police said Tuesday.

A group of 20 Albanians and four Serbs were travelling in a van when a police patrol intercepted them near the town of Vrbovsko on Monday, police spokeswoman Mirjana Kulas told HINA news agency.

Eleven of them were minors, said Kulas, adding the Croatian driver of the van was also detained.

TIRANA, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Albania is on the brink of a 'serious energy crisis' due to months of summer drought that have hit the country's hydroelectric power plants, the Albanian economy ministry said Tuesday.

'The country is at the edge of a serious energy crisis,' said a ministry spokeswoman, Iva Tico.

In a bid to avoid the worst, the authorities have taken severe measures to ration electricity, introducing power cuts for consumers and state institutions and ordering many companies to work at night, when power consumption is lower.

TIRANA, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Albania is on the brink of a 'serious energy crisis' due to months of summer drought that have hit the country's hydroelectric power plants, the Albanian economy ministry said Tuesday.

'The country is at the edge of a serious energy crisis,' said a ministry spokeswoman, Iva Tico.

In a bid to avoid the worst, the authorities have taken severe measures to ration electricity, introducing power cuts for consumers and state institutions and ordering many companies to work at night, when power consumption is lower.

SKOPJE, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Macedonian police have arrested 24 suspected prostitutes, mostly from abroad, the second such group in less then a month, the interior ministry said Friday.

The suspects, whose age has not been disclosed, had been working as waitresses, singers and dancers in two bars near Gostivar, southwest of the capital Skopje, the ministry said in a statement.

The women -- nine from Serbia, one from Bulgaria, four from Albania and 10 from Macedonia itself -- were transferred to Skopje where they await trial.

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TIRANA, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - Albanian President Bamir Topi, sworn in to the duty on Tuesday, called for political unity in the country in order to meet the 'historic challenge' of European Union membership.

Topi, a 50-year-old senior official of the governing Democratic party, was elected president on Friday, after three failed attempts to choose a leader -- caused by political bickering among political parties -- raised the spectre of early general elections.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - The United States on Monday congratulated Albania on its election last week of Bamir Topi from the ruling Democratic party as its new president.

'We congratulate the people and the parliament of Albania on the successful conclusion of the process of electing their new president,' State Department Spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.

Albania's parliament Friday elected Topi after three failed attempts to choose a president had raised the specter of early general polls.