Macedonia News

Persistent heavy rain has washed away a road bridge on the road to the Bulgarian-Macedonian border near Kyustendil, bringing all traffic to a standstill at Gyueshovo border crossing.

From November 10-14, 2009, seven agricultural companies and food and beverage producers from South Serbia will participate at the 59th International Trade Fair of Food, Beverages and Consumer Goods in Skoplje, one of the leading trade fairs in FYRMacedonia, giving them an opportunity to expand into the Macedonian market.

The 59th edition of international fair for wide consumption "Agrofood" opens at the Skopje Fair on Tuesday evening. The event will also include debates and a regional ministers' forum on increase of agriculture competitiveness for easier access to the EU market.

A man was found dead in Grevena, northern Greece, after his car was swept away by onrushing water as he was driving between the villages of Trikokia and Karpero. The man was not named or further identified.

FYR Macedonia and Kosovo will soon appoint ambassadors in Pristina and Skopje, thus opening a new stage of mutual relations, said countries' foreign ministers Antonio Milososki and Skender Hyseni respectively at Friday's joint press conference.

Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou detailed his government's initiatives in a series of foreign policy issues during an informal meeting here with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday, on the sidelines of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Police in Macedonia have announced that they have a suspected serial killer in custody.

Via Focus Information Agency: 12 new swine flu cases registered in Macedonia . 12 schoolchildren from Macedonia, who returned from a holiday to Turkey, are infected with swine flu and are now under home treatment, Macedonian media report.

Regarding the name dispute with FYROM, the UN Secretary General said that special mediator Matthew Nimetz was ready to repeat talks whenever the two sides were ready, welcoming Greece's readiness to begin talks and Athens' assurance that it would fully support the role of the UN special envoy on this issue. The UN Secretary General praised Greece's contribution to the "concepts of democracy, human rights and a state of law," and the Greek prime minister's role at the EU.

FinMin Stavreski stated at Friday's press conference that the Government did not plan new employments in the public administration, except for the ones in the Euro-integration sector and in line with the Framework Agreement.

Our basic pursuit is for Greece to be the motor force behind the European perspectives of all our neighboring countries in the Western Balkans. This holds true for FYROM as well. But we say that a prerequisite for the opening of accession negotiations with Skopje is the resolution of name dispute, an issue that has unfortunately dragged on for many years. Greece – and the new government in particular – is going into this process with a very open stance. We would like another effort at rapprochement with Skopje, a policy that we have implemented as the government in the past as well. We have done a lot for our neighbour, FYROM, particularly in economic sectors. Greece continues to be the number one investor in FYROM.

Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen and Alain Resnais' Wild Grass will bookend the 50th International Thessaloniki Film Festival, which opens on November 13.

Secondary sources have informed us that a comedy, “Macedonians,” written by Strattis circa 410 BC contained a piece of conversation between an Attican and a Macedonian, each speaking in his own dialect. From the few saved words and other lexical evidence, Hoffman and Ahrens had identified the Macedonian speech as Aeolic, similar to Thessalian and Lesbian. Romiopoulou (1980) thought that Doric might have been a second dialect in pre-Hellenistic Macedon in addition to a Macedonian dialect.

The city of Drama - capital of the prefecture of the same name - is a beautiful town in northeastern Macedonia.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn has stated that he hopes that Serbia, FYRMacedonia and Montenegro will be included in the White Schengen list already as of December 19, before Christmas holidays, which imply a spirit of good will.

An announcement by a UN Secretariat spokesman on Wednesday said that name) Matthew Nimetz has proposed a new meeting with the representatives of Greece and fYRoM, during the week beginning on November 16.

In an era where people are crossing borders in greater numbers seeking better opportunities, it is more vital than ever that States safeguard the rights of migrants, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a high-level gathering in Athens today.

"Greece attaches great importance to the United Nations, of which it is a founding member, while there is a tradition of long-term and multilateral cooperation and dedication to the principles of international law," said the prime minister, stressing the UN's decisive mission for global peace and cooperation. Their meeting also covered issues of Greek interest, such as the Cyprus problem and the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and matters such as the UN peacekeeping forces and the Millenium targets.

The National Bank has revised its projection of the economic decline for this year from - 1,8 to - 1,6 percent.

In preparation for further EU enlargement, Cogeca met in Slovenia today with representatives of cooperative organisations and the Ministries of Agriculture from the candidate countries to debate the implications of accession for the agricultural sector for these countries when they join the EU.