Macedonia

Over 500 refugees and migrants entered Serbia on Thursday, UNHCR's Melita Sunjic said on Friday.

The number of those crossing into the country from Macedonia has dropped, she noted.

A migrant was electrocuted to death at the Greek-Macedonian border on Dec. 3 during a second successive day of clashes between police and migrants stranded for weeks on the Greek side. 

Man dies of electrocution, as migrants and refugees clash

One man died of electrocution while two others were injured on the Greece-Macedonia border as migrants and refugees clashed there on Thursday.

Macedonian authorities are allowing only refugees from war-affected Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq to enter the country, on their way to western and northern Europe.

A Moroccan refugee, aged 22, was electrocuted at Idomeni, northern Greece, at the Greek buffer zone with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after coming in contact with high-voltage cables.

The man touched the cables where the trains had been immobilized for days.

Aleksandar Vucic said at the opening of the OSCE Ministerial Council that the Balkans remains "a powder keg that needs only a spark to explode again."

Army and police officials said on Wednesday that they are closely watching for threats from Macedonian nationals who have reportedly fought alongside radical Islamists in Syria or are close to them.

At a conference in Skopje on security risks, they insist that although the threat is heightened, there is no place for panic.

Macedonian police has used tear gas to push back illegal migrants who tried to storm through the country's border with Greece on Wednesday.

Dozens of economic migrants climbed a wire fence on Tuesday on the Greece-Macedonian border asking to be allowed to enter Macedonia, RTS is reporting.

Also today, Macedonian special forces managed to round up a sizeable group that had managed to circumvent the fence and enter the country.

A clash between Macedonian police and migrants left up to forty people injured at the Macedonian-Greek border on Saturday.

A group of economic migrants not allowed to enter Macedonia from Greece attacked policemen by throwing stones and other objects.

Reports suggest that Macedonian police briefly entered Greece and fired stun grenades on the discontent migrants.

The government of Japan has decided to grant around USD 2.7 million for protection of refugees in Serbia and Macedonia from cold weather.

The grant will be released through UNHCR activities, the Japanese embassy in Belgrade said in a statement.