http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/world/europe/09albania.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

For One Visit, Bush Will Feel Pro-U.S. Glow

Hektor Pustina/Associated Press
Workers in Tirana, Albania, prepared the area in front of the “Pyramid,” a cultural center, for President Bush’s visit Sunday.

By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: June 9, 2007
TIRANA, Albania, June 8 — The highlight of President Bush’s European tour may well be his visit on Sunday to this tiny country, one of the few places left where he can bask in unabashed pro-American sentiment without a protester in sight.

Visar Kryeziu/Associated Press

Albania wakes up to green issues
By Nicholas Walton
BBC News, Tirana

The environment is starting to become a political issue in Albania
Albania does not at first sight seem to be fertile ground for environmental politics.

Rubbish bins on city streets and country roads overflow with refuse.

Plastic bags blow around the fields, catching on the branches of trees and on fences.

Dust, diesel and smog choke pedestrians braving the chaotic traffic of Tirana.

Albania is a very poor country, and many citizens seem to have too many other problems to worry about to concentrate on ecology.

Smouldering rubbish

But with fiercely contested mayoral and local elections due in February, environmental issues are firmly on the agenda.

"I think they have started to realise how important environmental issues are," explains Xhemal Mato, the executive director of Eko-Levizja, a grouping of NGOs.

Newspaper article from an Albanian newspaper Shqip, in Albanian. File attached.

Circulation Fountain: On top of the Guva e Quete Hotel, Tirana
18th of August 2006

Tirana hostel: Presentation of Stefano Romano (1.60 Insurgent space) at Backpackers HostelTirana streetTirana terrace party: Party and presentation at Guva hotel roof terraceTirana from above: Tirana north periphery under construction

In Tirana we had a few amazing and unusual events. Presentation from Stefano Romano and 1.60 Insurgent Space at the Backpacker Hostel, with 40 people in one room, drive around the city peripheries in 5 taxies, presentation and discussion at Guva hotel terrace and night visit to one of the richest Tirana all-under-construction neighborhoods by night!