BAJRAM CURRI, Albania: Monika Mulaj’s son was in his second year of college in Albania, studying to become a mechanical engineer, when he resolved to make a daring change: He told his parents he would leave his lifelong home for a new future in Britain.
“We had tried to fulfil all his requests, for books and clothing, food and a bit of entertaining. But he was still dissatisfied,” said Mulaj, a high school teacher in the northeastern town of Bajram Curri, which is in one of the country’s poorest regions.
Five years later, her now 25-year-old son is working two jobs in Britain and hardly thinks of returning to his homeland. “Albania is in regress,” he complains to his mother.
His path has been shared in recent years by thousands of young Albanians who have crossed the English Channel in small boats or inflatable dinghies to seek work in the UK. Their odyssey reflects the country’s anemic economy and a younger generation’s longing for fresh opportunities.
In 2018, only 300 people reached Britain by crossing the channel in small boats. The number rose to 45,000 in 2022, in part because of arrivals from Albania, a country in southern Europe that is negotiating for membership in the European Union.
Other migrants were from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Unlike many countries that fuel migration, Albania is considered safe by UK officials.
Britain is attractive to Albanians because it has a better economy and higher-paying jobs than neighboring countries such as Greece or Italy. Many Albanians also have family ties in the UK. Birmingham, for instance, has a large immigrant population from the Albanian town of Kukes, on the border with Kosovo.
The deputy mayor of Bajram Curri, Abedin Kernaja, said young people leave because of low wages and the difficulty of building “a comfortable family life.” His two sons are in the UK
Xhemile Tafaj, who owns a restaurant on a scenic plateau outside town, said “young people have no money to follow school, no job to work, no revenue at all.”
In such an environment, “only old men have remained and soon there will be empty houses,” Tafaj said.
Northeastern Albania is known for its natural Alpine beauty and green sloping landscape. The region is also famous for chestnuts, blueberries, blackberries and medicinal plants, as well as wool carpets and other handmade goods.
But those products offer scant job opportunities. The only jobs are at town halls, schools and hospitals, plus a few more at cafes and restaurants.
Petrit Lleshi, who owns a motel in Kukes, has struggled to find waiters for two years.
“I would not blame a 25-year-old leaving because of the low salaries here,” Lleshi said. “What our country offers is not enough to build a proper life.”
Few migrants seek a visa. They generally pay smugglers 5,000 to 20,000 euros ($5,300 to $21,200) for the dangerous, illegal crossing.
Many migrants undertake the trip with the expectation of a secure job, only to find after arriving in the UK that they must work in cannabis-growing houses for up to two years to pay back the trafficking money, according to reports by Albanian news outlets.
The steady stream of migrants has provoked clashes between British and Albanian leaders in recent months.
UK interior minister Suella Braverman has described the arrivals as an “invasion on our southern coast” — words that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blasted as a “crazy narrative” and an attempt to cover up for the UK’s failed border policies.
Albania also publicly protested what it called a “verbal lynching” by another UK official who made comments about Albanian immigrants. Rama accused the new UK Cabinet of scapegoating Albanians because it “has gone down a blind alley with its new policy resulting from Brexit.”
Rama was is in London Thursday for talks on immigration with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and accused UK officials of “singling out” Albanians for political purposes. “It has been a very, very disgraceful moment for British politics,” he told the BBC.
Sunak’s spokesman has said the UK welcomes and values Albanian migrants who come to the country legally, but that large numbers making illegal boat journeys to the UK are straining the asylum system.
In a statement after the meeting, Sunak and Rama welcomed progress to date following a taskforce action on organized crime and new UK guidance designating Albania a safe country, with around 800 migrants returning to Albania since December.
They also decided to create a joint team to assess Albania’s prison capacity until the end of April “with a view to returning all eligible Albanian nationals in the UK prison system.”
Rama has argued that easing visa requirements would help reduce the number of people arriving illegally.
In response to the spike in migration, some agencies are investing in programs that aim to offer opportunities to both countries — jobs for eager Albanians and a supply of remote workers for businesses in the UK
Elias Mazloum of Albania’s Social Development Investment group said that immigration is “a cancer.”
“We are offering chemotherapy after a lot of morphine used so far only has delayed immigration,” he said.
Under his project, 10 companies in Ireland will employ 10 young Albanians to work remotely in an apprenticeship paying 500 euros ($530) per month in the first year. Participants get a certificate from Ireland’s Digital Marketing Institute and then are hired remotely for 1,000 euros ($1,060) per month.
The vision is for the project to help establish a remote-work ecosystem in the region.
“Albania, and in particular the northeast region, has the advantage of working from a blank canvas” to attract digital nomads and encourage its young people to stay, said Declan Droney, a business trainer and consultant in Galway, in the west of Ireland.
A British project in Kukes supports small and midsize businesses in tourism and agriculture and will open a school teaching different professions.
The Albanian government has also offered incentives. Young couples who launch a small business will be exempt from taxes for up to three years, and couples who return from the UK will receive 5,000 euros ($5,300).
Mazloum’s organization has negotiated with Vodafone Albania to offer free high-speed Internet to remote workers.
“The eyes cannot get enough from the beauty of this place — the food, the fresh air. This added to very hospitable people, ambitious youth who like to work hard,” Mazloum said. “Imagine if you give a little hope to the people here, what they could make this place.”
Eager young Albanians risk everything for new future in UK
https://arab.news/jywmk
Eager young Albanians risk everything for new future in UK
- UK interior minister Suella Braverman has described the arrivals as an ‘invasion on our southern coast’ — words that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blasted as a ‘crazy narrative’
- Britain is attractive to Albanians because it has a better economy and higher-paying jobs than neighboring countries such as Greece or Italy
Hong Kong’s last active pro-democracy group says it will disband amid security crackdown
- League of Social Democrats co-founded in 2006 by former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung
- LSD is the last group in Hong Kong to stage small protests this year
The LSD becomes the third major opposition party to shutter in Hong Kong in the past two years.
Co-founded in 2006 by former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung as a radical wing of the pro-democracy camp, the LSD is the last group in Hong Kong to stage small protests this year.
Mass public gatherings and marches spearheaded by political and civil society groups had been common in Hong Kong until 2020, but the threat of prosecution has largely shut down organized protests since.
China imposed a national security law on the former British colony in 2020, punishing offenses like subversion with possible life imprisonment following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
A second set of laws, known as Article 23, was passed in 2024 by the city’s pro-Beijing legislature covering crimes such as sedition and treason.
Current chair Chan Po-ying said the group had been “left with no choice” and after considering the safety of party members had decided to shutdown. Chan declined to specify what pressures they had faced.
“We have endured hardships of internal disputes and the near total imprisonment of our leadership while witnessing the erosion of civil society, the fading of grassroots voices, the omnipresence of red lines and the draconian suppression of dissent,” Chan told reporters, while flanked by six other core members including Tsang Kin-shing, Dickson Chau, Raphael Wong, Figo Chan and Jimmy Sham.
In February, the Democratic Party, the city’s largest and most popular opposition party, announced it would disband. Several senior members told Reuters they had been warned by Beijing that a failure to do so would mean serious consequences including possible arrests.
Earlier this month, China’s top official on Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, stressed national security work must continue as hostile forces were still interfering in the city.
“We must clearly see that the anti-China and Hong Kong chaos elements are still ruthless and are renewing various forms of soft resistance,” Xia said in a speech in Hong Kong.
The League of Social Democrats is one of Hong Kong’s smaller pro-democracy groups known for its more aggressive tactics and street protests in its advocacy of universal suffrage and grassroots causes including a universal pension scheme. In a 2016 incident, Leung threw a round object at former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying inside the legislature.
Three LSD members were fined on June 12 by a magistrate for setting up a street booth where a blank black cloth was displayed and money was collected in public without official permission. Chan told reporters that the party had no assets to divest and no funds left after several of its bank accounts were shut down in 2023.
While never as popular as the more moderate Democratic Party and Civic Party, it gained three seats in a 2008 legislative election — its best showing.
The LSD’s founder Leung, 69, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in 2021 in the landmark ‘47 Democrats’ case. He is currently serving a sentence of six years and nine months in prison. Another member, Jimmy Sham, was also jailed in the same case and released in May.
The security laws have been criticized as a tool of repression by the US and Britain, but China says they have restored stability with 332 people so far arrested under these laws.
“I hope that the people of Hong Kong will continue to pay attention to the vulnerable, and they will continue to speak out for injustice,” Figo Chan said.
EU plans to add carbon credits to new climate goal, document shows
- An internal Commission summary of the upcoming proposal said the EU would be able to use “high quality international credits” from a UN backed carbon credits market to meet 3 percent of the emissions cuts toward the 2040 goal
BRUSSELS: The European Commission is set to propose counting carbon credits bought from other countries toward the European Union’s 2040 climate target, a Commission document seen by Reuters showed.
The Commission is due to propose a legally binding EU climate target for 2040 on July 2.
The EU executive had initially planned a 90 percent net emissions cut, against 1990 levels, but in recent months has sought to make this goal more flexible, in response to pushback from governments including Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, concerned about the cost.
An internal Commission summary of the upcoming proposal, seen by Reuters, said the EU would be able to use “high-quality international credits” from a UN-backed carbon credits market to meet 3 percent of the emissions cuts toward the 2040 goal.
The document said the credits would be phased in from 2036, and that additional EU legislation would later set out the origin and quality criteria that the credits must meet, and details of how they would be purchased.
The move would in effect ease the emissions cuts — and the investments required — from European industries needed to hit the 90 percent emissions-cutting target. For the share of the target met by credits, the EU would buy “credits” from projects that reduce CO2 emissions abroad — for example, forest restoration in Brazil — rather than reducing emissions in Europe.
Proponents say these credits are a crucial way to raise funds for CO2-cutting projects in developing nations. But recent scandals have shown some credit-generating projects did not deliver the climate benefits they claimed.
The document said the Commission will add other flexibilities to the 90 percent target, as Brussels attempts to contain resistance from governments struggling to fund the green transition alongside priorities including defense, and industries who say ambitious environmental regulations hurt their competitiveness.
These include integrating credits from projects that remove CO2 from the atmosphere into the EU’s carbon market so that European industries can buy these credits to offset some of their own emissions, the document said.
The draft would also give countries more flexibility on which sectors in their economy do the heavy lifting to meet the 2040 goal, “to support the achievement of targets in a cost-effective way.”
A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the upcoming proposal, which could still change before it is published next week.
EU countries and the European Parliament must negotiate the final target and could amend what the Commission proposes.
Iran’s judiciary says at least 71 killed in Israel’s attack on Tehran’s notorious Evin prison
- Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said that those killed included staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families.
- The June 23 attack, the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took hold, hit several prison buildings
DUBAI: At least 71 people were killed in Israel’s attack on Tehran’s Evin prison, a notorious facility where many political prisoners and dissidents have been held, Iran’s judiciary said on Sunday.
Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir posted on the office’s official Mizan news agency website that those killed on Monday included staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families. It was not possible to independently verify the claim.
The June 23 attack, the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took hold, hit several prison buildings and prompted concerns from rights groups about the safety of the inmates.
It remains unclear why Israel targeted the prison, but it came on a day when the Defense Ministry said it was attacking “regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran.”
The news of the prison attack was quickly overshadowed by an Iranian attack on a US base in Qatar later that same day, which caused no casualties, and the announcement of the ceasefire.
Jahangir did not break down the casualty figures but said the attack had hit the prison’s infirmary, engineering building, judicial affairs and visitation hall, where visiting family members were killed and injured.
On the day of the attack, New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran criticized Israel for striking the prison, seen as a symbol of the Iranian regime’s repression of any opposition, saying it violated the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets.
At the same time, the group said Iran was legally obligated to protect the prisoners held in Evin, and slammed authorities in Tehran for their “failure to evacuate, provide medical assistance or inform families” following the attack.
Jahangir said some of those injured were treated on site, while others were sent to hospitals.
Iran had not previously announced any death figures, though on Saturday confirmed that top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar — whose prosecution of dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, led to widespread criticism by human rights groups — had been killed in the attack.
He was one of about 60 people for whom a massive public funeral procession was held on Saturday in Tehran, and he was to be buried at a shrine in Qom on Sunday.
Israel attacked Iran on June 13 in a bid to destroy the country’s nuclear program.
Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.
In retaliation, Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
UK police studying Glastonbury performances after anti Israel chants
- Irish hip hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was “not appropriate” for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury
GLASTONBURY: British police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
“We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon,” Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday.
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted “Death, death, to the IDF” in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offenses may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation,” the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was “not appropriate” for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band’s frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offense last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival’s organizers and the BBC broadcaster — which is showing the event — had questions to answer.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
“I’d also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank,” Streeting told Sky News.
“I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens toward Palestinians more seriously,” he said.
Taiwan VP says not intimidated after alleged China plot
- Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s motorcade was followed, surveilled and nearly hit by a car during a visit to the Czech Republic in 2024
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s vice president said she would not be intimidated by Beijing after the government accused Chinese embassy staff of planning to ram her car during an official visit to Europe.
Taiwan’s top China policy body, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), on Friday said Hsiao Bi-khim’s motorcade was followed, surveilled and nearly hit by a car during a visit to the Czech Republic in March 2024.
Citing a Czech intelligence agency report, the council said staff from the Chinese Embassy in Prague were behind the incident.
“I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety,” Hsiao, who was vice president-elect at the time of the trip, posted on social media on Saturday.
“The CCP’s unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan’s interests in the international community.”
“Taiwan will not be isolated by intimidation,” she added.
Like most countries, Prague does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and in recent years, has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and warships around the self-ruled island. It has also sought to erase Taiwan from the international stage by poaching its diplomatic allies and blocking it from global forums.
Taipei said on Friday that “the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic followed, conducted surveillance on, and even attempted to ram the motorcade, seriously threatening the personal safety of Vice President Hsiao and her entourage.”
It added the incident exposed CCP’s “violent nature” and lack of “sincerity” in communication.
A Taiwan security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said it was a “typical case” of China’s “transnational repression” against dissidents or those who criticize China.
“China uses legal grey areas to harass, threaten or oppress their targets,” the official said.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international group that has challenged Beijing’s human rights record, said in a statement signed by 51 lawmakers from nearly 30 countries that it supported Hsiao and “Taiwanese citizens who may be subject to coercion by the Chinese state while traveling abroad.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Friday that Prague had violated the “One-China principle” and its political commitments to China by allowing Hsaio, who it called a diehard “Taiwan independence” activist, to visit.
“Chinese diplomats always abide by the laws and regulations of host countries,” he said. He urged other countries not to be exploited by “Taiwan independence” separatists to “stir up troubles” and undermine the relations with China.
