Pence to speak with Tsipras, Zaev on Thursday night

US Vice President Mike Pence will speak on the phone with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at 10 p.m. (Greek time) on Thursday, and half an hour later with the Prime Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Zoran Zaev, Pence's office announced.

Earlier in the day, FYROM's Parliament approved for the second time the deal signed with Greece on the country's name, which had been returned to the House after the country's President Gjorge Ivanov refused to rubber-stamp the first decree.

The bill ratifying the deal was approved with 69 votes in favour and one abstention, the same number it had received in the first vote on June 20, when lawmakers of the conservative main opposition, VMRO-DPMNE, did not participate in the vote.