Skopje

She may have reached the grand age of 74, but musical virtuoso Pranvera Badivuku - only the second Kosovo Albanian woman to become a composer in Kosovo - is still full of ideas.

The World Bank's CEO Kristalina Georgieva and two incumbent prime ministers, Alexis Tsipras of Greece and Zoran Zaev of North Macedonia, have been selected as the beneficiaries of Emerging Europe's Remarkable Achievement Awards for 2019.

Greece on Tuesday conducted its first fighter jet flight over North Macedonia, in a mission that was carried out by an F-16 from the Hellenic Tactical Air Force's 110 Combat Wing, based in Larissa.

The purpose of the mission was to locate any radar blank sectors and to test the compatibility of reconnaissance systems.

The first-ever gay Pride Parade in North Macedonia will be held in Skopje on June 29, the country's National Network Against Homophobia and Transphobia, gathering human rights NGOs, told a press conference on Monday.

"The gay parade will be a form of protest for affirmation, support and protection of human rights of the LGBTQ people," said activist Antonio Mihajlov.

Hahn, who is in charge of enlargement negotiations and neighborhood policy, at the same time stressed that North Macedonia is "a positive example in the region that problems can be resolved."

Former defense minister Panos Kammenos has defended the political legacy of his Independent Greeks (ANEL) party during its now-defunct coalition with the incumbent SYRIZA leftists, ahead of municipal and European Parliament elections this weekend.

Testing Relations

The MPC is a canonically unrecognized church.

Parliament in Ankara will soon ratify the NATO accession protocol for North Macedonia and will not condition this with Skopje delivering suspected supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara considers terrorists, Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci has said in an interview.

The European Commission (EC) will recommend opening accession talks for full membership of northern Macedonia and Albania by the end of May, reiterated EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who until now has only expressed confidence that this will happen.