Macro-economic indicators are good in Albania, despite the impact of the Kosovo crisis. But rampant crime and corruption, combined with a questionable political will, continue to deter critical foreign investment.
The Kosovo Democratic League - the Kosovo Liberation Army's chief challengers for rule over the breakaway province - has been hit by a series of bomb attacks. Some blame deranged individuals, others see political method in the madness.
Albania is reluctant to openly support the Kosovo Albanian demands for independence but Albanians on both sides of the border threw themselves into celebrations for Albania's first official Independence Day on November 28.
One year on from the introduction of the Law on Public Information, the Serbian government has stepped up pressure on the independent media yet further, calling for a "decontamination" of the press.
By Mufail Limani in Pristina (BCR No.100, 8-Nov-99)
While Serbs flee Albanian persecution in Kosovo and move to Serbia proper, Albanians living in southern Serbia are intimidated into making the opposite journey.
Kosovo is not ready for elections: To hold them now, in the present political and social environment risks more instability, not less.
Fear of crime is taking bizarre shape in Kosovo, with rampant rumours of gangs kidnapping babies to steal their body parts. The response of UN representative Bernard Kouchner to the problem might seem to some as no less eccentric.
Financial exigencies may finally do to the Yugoslav regular military what NATO seemingly failed to do this summer - substantially reduce its numbers.
Kosovar Albanians are used to living their lives according to a traditional moral code that - among other things - guides the conduct of women in public. The arrival of organised prostitution shows that like so much else in the tormented province, that co
