Macedonia

Greece has launched a "preliminary investigation for foreign bribery and money laundering" allegedly committed by AKTOR AD? in neighbouring Macedonia, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, said in its latest Report on Implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in Greece.

Macedonia's ruling party has built itself a grandiose new headquarters in Skopje.

Armed forces train leaders for new global challenges

The British Embassy in Macedonia held training for 30 high-ranking officials in the security sector.

UK Major General John Moore-Bick shares advice with representatives from Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Serbia and Ukraine. [British Embassy Skopje]

An interesting exhibition opened yesterday on Thessaloniki featuring works that explore the collective memory of Southeastern Europe.

Organized by the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography the exhibition Recorded Memories - Europe. Southeast will run until May 15, 2015.

A newly aired tape, containing what appears to be the voice of Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski, confirms claims that ruling party MPs had to sign blank resignation declarations, which could then be activated if they defected or disobeyed instructions.

Serbia crash spotlights peril for migrants

A deadly accident involving refugees from Syria and other war zones draws attention to a growing crisis for some Balkan states.

Asylum seekers wait in Belgrade for the bus to Hungary. [Nikola Barbutov/SETimes]

Under the motto "Stop the Bad Reforms in Education", high school pupils in Macedonia marched from the city park in Skopje to the front of the Education Ministry in the city centre, demanding that that government scrap graduation exams.

Macedonia's Prime Minister, Interior Minister and secret police chief have been routinely fixing which judges get appointed and promoted - or not - in Macedonian courts, the head of the Social Democratic Party, SDSM, Zoran Zaev, said on Tuesday.

Bulgaria has launched a large-scale promotion of its resorts and tourist sites via four pan-European TV channels as part of steps to make up for a drop in the number of visitors from Russia and Ukraine.

Europe eyes energy from Balkans

The Western Balkans may provide a remedy to energy-starved Europe by exporting power across the Adriatic.

Hydropower plants, such as this one in Vrutok, Macedonia, are a way for Balkan states to secure energy independence. [Tomislav Georgiev/SETimes]