Tirana  - Arie Haan has resigned as Albanian national te

Tirana - An Albanian high-school class pulled off a dangerous April fool's prank on their teacher when all pupils took sedatives and fell asleep in class, local media reported Thursday.

All 20 students of a class in a school in Saranda, on Albania's southern Adriatic coast, swallowed one or two Diazepam pills. They obtained the drug, similar to Valium, in a pharmacy, reports said.

Washington/Brussels - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday formally welcomed Albania and Croatia as fully fledged allies, raising the total number of member states to 28.

"Today, Albania and Croatia have completed the accession process, and have joined the Alliance as members," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a statement.

"I warmly congratulate them on this historic achievement. In becoming NATO members, Albania and Croatia share the benefits and responsibilities of collective security," the alliance's chief said.

Washington/Brussels - Albania and Croatia formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday, raising its member states to 28.

The announcement came shortly after the ambassadors of the two Central European countries handed over the "instruments of accession" during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington.

The bureaucratic act completed a year-long process involving the ratification of their accession by existing NATO allies.

Tirana- The Albanian government on Wednesday sold a 76 per cent stake of its OSSH power distributor to the Czech energy group CEZ for 129 million dollars.

Albanian Economy minister Genc Ruil said that the privatization of OSSH will improve the energy sector in the country.

"This is an important strategic decision of our government which will guarantee more stability," Ruil told reporters after the transfer of the government stakes in the OSSH.

CEZ won an international tender for the privatization of OSSH last year.

Tirana - Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha fired the nation's culture minister late Wednesday after a local television channel showed him sexually harassing a woman seeking a job in his office.

The largest private TV in Albania, the Top Channel, previously showed Culture, Youth, Tourism and Sports Minister Ylli Pango, 56, asking sexual favours from the woman seeking work.

Berisha's cabinet said in a statement that Pango was immediately fired over "ethically unacceptable acts."