Latest news

The political situation in Albania 

Jared Kushner involved in gangsters' tangle in Albania

American businessman Jared Kushner's planned luxury resort in the Albanian town of Zvernec has developed into a soup of a gangster, a fistfight and a wave of protests, writes the Wall Street Journal.

Residents of the small coastal town were shocked when they were told last year that Trump's son-in-law had bought the land. They had been in a legal battle over the area for almost two decades with Artur Shehu, a suspected gangster believed to have connections to the Italian mafia. They claim that Shehu illegally took over the land through forged documents and that it actually belongs to the local community.

Nevertheless, Kushner's company paid Shehu over a billion kronor for the peninsula. Two months later, the Miami-based Shehu was wanted by Albanian prosecutors, with allegations that he plays a key role in a global drug ring.

The protests have been going on in Albania for months. They intensified when a video clip showed how the company's security guard beat a local resident and dragged him across the beach, writes WSJ. 

Political situation in Kosovo
Parliamentarians threw eggs at the prime minister

A three-day debate in the Kosovo parliament came to an abrupt end when Prime Minister Albin Kurti was attacked with four eggs by an opposition politician. This is reported by AFP.

-Shame! Shame! shouted Time Kadrijaj, fishing out one egg after another and throwing them accurately at Kurti.

New elections are threatening in the country, which has held three elections in less than two years. The prime minister, who has been in tough negotiations with the opposition on a new speaker, tried to postpone the vote when he was interrupted by the egg volley, with subsequent chaos and security deployment.

The date for the next session of the chamber has not been set.

Notorious Mafia Boss Extradited from Dubai to Ireland

Notorious Irish mafia boss Daniel Kinahan has been extradited to Ireland, the United Arab Emirates' state media reported, according to Reuters.

Kinahan has been wanted internationally by both Irish and American authorities for several years. Despite this, he has been able to live a relatively open life in Dubai, where he has been photographed at MMA galas, as Bellingcat revealed earlier this year.

The Kinahan family's global crime empire is described as one of the world's most dangerous by the US Treasury Department, which is offering a $5 million reward for anyone who helps them arrest the family's three leaders.

40,000 tons of rotten food makes Los Angeles stink

It has been a stinky summer in parts of Los Angeles, writes the BBC. On June 17, a fire broke out in a refrigerated warehouse in Boyle Heights in the eastern part of the city. Almost 40,000 tons of food were stored there, including meat, fish and seafood that have since rotted under the California sun.

“It smells bad, really bad. So bad that you want to vomit,” says security guard Mesha, who works at a nearby cannabis store.

The company that ran the department store says that they had transported away 80 percent of the food by Monday, but the mayor's office criticizes that the company has not done a better job.

The BBC reporter describes it as being impossible to be near the partially burned-out department store without fighting your way through a sea of ​​flies that are big, small, black, blue and green.

American health trend: Eat like on a European holiday

Despite the low-calorie diet being replaced by creamy pasta dishes and pizzas and that they exercise just as much as at home, a number of American health influencers say that they lose weight and feel better during their holidays to Europe. The Wall Street Journal spoke to some of them, including Maddy Renne, who after five weeks on the French Riviera has started importing pasta and flour from Italy and now only uses French butter that she finds at a specialty store in Florida.

The influencers believe the secret lies in the fact that in Europe we use “real” ingredients, while American food is ultra-processed, filled with additives and treated with harmful pesticides. Erika Armetta, a dietitian at Johns Hopkins Hospital, is not so convinced.

“I think it’s more about lifestyle in general. There’s a better balance between work and leisure, which means they have more time to cook and aren’t always on the go buying processed food,” she says.