Skopje

The steel cross, which the authors say will be over 50 metres high, is being speedily assembled in the Skopje municipality of Aerodrom so that it can be opened by Orthodox Easter, celebrated on April 20.

Experts say that if the opposition presidential candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, comes close to the ruling party's candidate, Gjorge Ivanov, on April 13, it will boost the opposition's chances in the subsequent general elections on April 27.

Pictures from Macedonia's capital Skopje can be seen at the European Parliament's visitors center in a short film dedicated to Sofia.

The story presented by the film starts with the 1997 protests that rocked Bulgaria's capital and goes on with later years of transition to market economy in the country.

Local and international organizations seeking to follow the election process will have registered just over 3,000 monitors with the State Electoral Commission by the end of the deadline on Wednesday at midnight.

The civil association MOST, which provided most local monitors for Macedonia's previous elections, said it plans to deploy 2,240 monitors.

Government to publish agreement with Etihad

BELGRADE -- The government has received the approval of Etihad to publish the deal on strategic partnership with Air Serbia, says an advisor to Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić.

The agreement will be made public soon, Siniša Mali said on Wednesday.

Dozens of Turks and Bosnians celebrated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s local elections by gathering to celebrate in Ilidza in Sarajevo and driving through the city honking their car horns and waving AK (Justice and Development) Party flags alongside those of Turkey and Bosnia.

Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, has launched a campaign for a new presidential election model in Macedonia.

The campaign slogan, “No to a One-sided President”, advocates scrapping direct elections for the post of President - and the main Albanian and Macedonian parties in parliament agreeing on a consensus candidate.

The candidate of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov, launches his campaign with a rally in the town of Ohrid, the party’s traditional election launch venue.

Ivanov, who is competing for a secound five-year term in office, is running under the election slogan “The State Above All”, positioning himself as a proven defender of the country's interests.

BELGRADE – Belgrade-based cultural organization Mikser, in association with the Croatian Design Association and Public Room from Skopje, announced results of the Young Balkan Designers 2014 competition on Thursday.

By Ilias Bellos

Trainose is set to expand its cargo services even further following the success of its Athens-Thessaloniki route by launching a second daily service on that line and planning routes to Skopje and Belgrade twice a week.