Macedonia

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry considers the opening of three new border crossing points on the border with Macedonia a very important initiative, according to Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov.

SKOPJE - Serbia and Macedonia have good relations and are willing to continue improving cooperation, Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and her Macedonian counterpart Trajko Veljanoski said on Thursday.

The new World Press Freedom Index, surveying the state of media freedom in 2014, has ranked Macedonia at the bottom of the Balkan pile in 117th position out of 180 listed countries.

This is a slight improvement from the previous year when Macedonia was ranked in 123rd place.

"Media freedom declines worldwide, including Serbia"

Serbia ranks as 67th out of 180 countries ranked according to the Press Freedom Index, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annual report.

The organization stressed that media freedom suffered a "drastic decline" worldwide last year.

The increasingly authoritarian government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the neighboring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) fell back on an “antiquated line of defense” last week in a bid to neutralize a political rival, namely, to indirectly involve Greek secret services.

A petition has been launched on social media in Macedonia urging the government to name a street in the capital Skopie after the recently deceased former Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev.

Zhelev, Bulgaria's first democratically-elected President after the fall of communism in 1989, passed away on 30 January.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has reiterated Bulgaria's support for the Euro-Atlantic integration of Macedonia.

Responding to a question of former Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin, Borisov stressed that the policy of the Bulgarian government on Macedonia was consistent and had remained unchanged.

The mayor of Delta, in the northern region of Macedonia, has asked Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis to grant his municipality a bronze statue of Alexander the Great, which was purchased by the Culture Ministry in 1993 and given to City Hall but it has yet to go on public display, it emerged on Wednesday.

US military assistance contributes to Balkan armies' modernisation

Experts say modernised military forces will be more prepared to confront extremists like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Macedonia Defence Minister Zoran Jolevski inspects equipment donated by the US military. [Defence Ministry of Macedonia]

Jovan Vraniskovski might be out of prison as early as Monday, December 17, a source from Macedonia's Idrizovo prison told BIRN, after the state prosecution and the Skopje criminal court approved his release.