MIA

BELGRADE - Serbian Interior Ministry has officially confirmed today that members of MIA arrested N.T. (1976) from Urosevac, on the basis of an arrest warrant by order of the High Court in Nis for the crime of terrorism.

About 100 people have been injured and sought medical assistance as a consequence of an earthquake that struck Macedonia's capital Skopje.

Most were injured while trying to leave their homes. Three have been hospitalized, including a woman who fell of a first-floor terrace, the MIA news agency has reported.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov on Friday moved to scrap the amnesty of nearly half of the 56 people who had been facing proceedings in a wiretapping affair.

With a decree signed by Ivanov, the decisin is applied to 22 of those involved, all politically exposed people, according to Utrinski vesnik.

The EU-mediated meeting of Macedonian political leaders for resolving the country's political crisis has been cancelled after the main opposition Social Democrats declined to attend, the EU mediators have said.

Macedonia's Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski has signed a decree setting the date for an early general election, amid protests that followed a presidential decision and demand the vote be postponed.

Veljanoski has already informed the state electoral commission, and the ministries of justice and foreign affairs, state news agency MIA report.

The European Commission has expressed its concerns over the decision of Macedonia's Presigent Gjorge Ivanov to pardon politicians suspected of involvement in last year's wiretapping scandal and condemned Wednesday's violent opposition protests.

United States and European Union envoys to Macedonia have cast doubt on whether an early general election could be held in the country on April 24, 2016, as planned.

Macedonia will start immediate preparations for building a wire fence along sectors of the country's borders to respond to a potential slowdown in the passage of migrants from Macedonia to western Europe, MIA news agency reported on Sunday.

Macedonia's four main political parties on Friday reached consensus on power sharing in the period until the snap elections now confirmed for April 24 of next year.

Working groups of the main Macedonian parties failed to reach an agreement on resolving the country's political crisis.

According to media reports, parties continue to disagree over the competencies of the new ministries and the deputy-ministers nominated by the opposition, MIA news agency informs.