Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia

Kosovo Liberation Army veterans marked Albanian independence day by protesting against the convictions of 33 ethnic Albanians found guilty of involvement in a deadly gun battle with police in Kumanovo, Macedonia.

The wife of the only Macedonian war crimes convict, Johan Tarculovski, confirmed receiving payments from the government of 5,000 euros a month during the eight years her husband spent in jail abroad.

Police arrested the five people at their homes on Tuesday on suspicion that they were accomplices to the attempted murder of MP Zijadin Sela.

The parliamentary speaker and the ruling majority are being urged to take action to curb the stalling tactics of the opposition VMRO DPMNE party which have been blocking parliament's work for the past month and a half.

Macedonia is marking the 16th anniversary of the ambush and killing of ten soldiers on the Skopje-Tetovo highway near the end of the 2001 armed conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels.

President Rumen Radev praised the friendship and cooperation treaty signed by Bulgaria and Macedonia yesterday.

''A new European page has been opened today in the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia'', President said. 

Macedonian police say they have boosted security in and around the mountain town of Krusevo in case of incidents during Wednesday's commemoration of Ilinden, the St Elijah's Day uprising against Ottoman rule in 1903.

Many of the new government's proposed bills, regulations and appointments may fall victim to the strategy adopted by the former ruling VMRO DPMNE, whose MPs have formed ten separate parliamentary caucuses which gave them more opportunities to stall parliament's work.

Two chief priorities of the new coalition government in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are the resolution of a long-standing dispute with Greece over the Balkan state's official name and the country's accession to NATO with the acronym FYROM, the head of the coalition's junior partner, ethnic Albanian Ali Ahmeti, has told Kathimerini in an interview.

The governing coalition in FYROM may be dissolved after 100 days in office, if the new bill on a wider use of the Albanian language, is not approved, according to the Independent Balkan News Agency. This warning comes from the Alliance for Albanians, which has three seats in parliament and which enabled the formation of the government led by the social democrat MP, Zoran Zaev.