Albania

Global Voices: An artist's take on dictatorship's legacy

2013-04-10 10:02:00

Anila Rubiku grew up in a country that no longer exists, at least not the isolated, repressed and paranoid state that was Albania before Eastern Europe’s anti-Communist revolutions. The Balkan country that broke away from its iron-fisted mentors...

The case for naming a U.S. secretary of Culture

2013-01-19 06:00:00

Along with adding the finishing touches to his inaugural address on Monday, President Obama has plenty on his plate. He is consumed by the responsibilities of selecting new Cabinet members and preparing strategies to get them confirmed. He already had his...

PASSINGS: Ramiz Alia

2011-10-08 00:00:00

Ramiz Alia Albania's last communist leader Ramiz Alia, 85, who was Albania's last communist president and is credited with opening to democracy one of the world's most isolationist political systems, died Friday of lung complications, an Albanian...

Planning your trip to Albania

2010-02-07 00:00:00

THE BEST WAY TO SARANDE AND BUTRINT The only daily cruises to Albania sail from the northern Greek island of Corfu. Communications are quirky in Corfu; my ATT cellphone, with a built-in GSM chip for Europe, worked perfectly in Athens and Santorini but...

ARAB WORLD: Protests in Algeria and Yemen draw inspiration from Tunisia uprising

2011-01-23 16:32:21

Book review: 'My New American Life' by Francine Prose

2011-04-24 00:00:00

My New American Life A Novel Francine Prose Harper: 306 pp., $25.99 Early in her writing life, Francine Prose developed an unmistakable voice: sharp, ironic, intelligent, uncompromising. Using this voice the way a miner uses a headlamp, she has...

Hop aboard for Albania coast

2010-02-07 00:00:00

Somewhere on Earth there must be a cheaper, easier, more exotic cruise, packed with even more beautiful sights and filled with more history, providing even tastier food, but for now, I'm happy to settle on this one: Ionian Cruises' daily excursion from...

Dissident or not, Ismail Kadare is one of the greats

2009-02-18 00:00:00

Ismail Kadare is, in many ways, among the most problematic of major writers in contemporary Western letters. But that shouldn't prevent readers from savoring "The Siege" for what it is, a significant work by an important, fascinating author. Though he...

Communism's grim toll

2007-06-16 00:00:00

WHEN President Bush declared, at Tuesday's dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, that communist regimes had been responsible during the 20th century for taking the lives of 100 million innocent people, he did not so much...

America's taxi capital: Bethel, Alaska

2007-11-30 00:00:00

Atiny, round-faced woman stands in a field of ice, a solitary figure in the tundra, waiting for a ride. From one hand dangles several plastic grocery bags. With her free hand, she flicks a finger as if inscribing a single scratch in the air, an almost...

Countries where dollars go the distance

2007-12-02 00:00:00

Longing for an out-of-country excursion but feeling a little poor because you have only dollars in your pocket? Relax. Even with the fast-eroding value of the dollar against other currencies, you still can find international destinations where your buck...

Past is ever-present

2006-09-03 00:00:00

GETTING THERE: From LAX, British Airways, Delta, US Airways, Lufthansa and Air France have connecting service (changes of planes) to Tirana. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $1,507 until Oct. 31. TELEPHONES: To call numbers below from the U.S.,...

Reshat Mati delivers a blow to trainer Akmal Zakirov during a kickboxing session at Bars gym. Reshat's father, Adrian, grew up in Albania and introduced combat sports to his children after immigrating to the U.S. and starting a family with his wife, Ajshe.

2013-04-24 00:00:00

Anila Rubiku, who grew up in Stalinist Albania, shares her views on how to express dictatorship's legacy through art with visitors to her weekly workshops at the Hammer Museum in Westwood.

2013-04-13 02:00:00

Albania, in the southeastern corner of Europe, was settled by the Illyrians, ancestors of present-day Albanians, in Paleolithic times. Situated where it is and surrounded by powerful, warring empires, Albania has seen a lot of violence throughout its history.

2012-09-28 08:31:00