Skopje

SKOPJE - The Macedonian Appellate Court confirmed the fist instance ruling sentencing Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje Jovan Vraniskovski to three years of imprisonment on charges for embezzlement of EUR 250,000.

New data from the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency, CAA, show that passenger numbers rose by 40 per cent in the last four years at Skopje’s Alexander the Great airport.

Macedonia’s main airport last year nearly broke the million-passenger boundary, after more than 920,000 passengers passed through it.

Two companies, Turkey's Aksoy Energy and CPL Concordia of Italy, have passed the next stage in an important competition for the announced €100 million gasification of Skopje, it was announced.

Macedonia's Transport Ministry is due to select the winning private partner for the energy project in September.

If all goes to plan, construction is expected to start early next year.

Bosniaks marched through the Macedonian capital on Monday from Skopje’s old town, near the Murat Pasha mosque, to the Stone Bridge, one of the city’s biggest landmarks, where participants called for peace and tolerance and said that Srebrenica should never be forgotten.

President to confer with U.S. official Nuland

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić will meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Euroasian Affairs Victoria Nuland.

The meeting will take place on Sunday, the president's press service announced on Friday.

Macedonian police were maintaining a heavy presence on Friday in the capital, Skopje, where rival demonstrations had been announced in the city.

Ethnic Macedonians had been due to gather in front of the government building while ethnic Albanians were to rally in the city's mainly Albanian municipality of Cair.

Police confirmed there were four casualties in the crash in the Russian-made multi-purpose Mi 17 helicopter, announcing more details would follow on Friday.

The helicopter that crashed minutes after 10pm was reportedly transporting a shift of border police officers.

Sofia is the most affordable EU city for expat living, shows the 2014 Mercer Cost of Living Rankings annual survey. 

The capital of Bulgaria takes the 172-nd position out of 211 surveyed cities. 

Compared to the 2013 survey, the cost of expat living increased, shows the survey. Last year Bulgaria was at the 181-st place. 

Police spokesperson Ivo Kotevski said that officers were “closely monitoring social networks” ahead of the possible unauthorised protests on Friday and warned that “violent outbursts cannot be tolerated”.

Macedonia hopes for calm after days of protests, riots