Republic of Macedonia

Economic growth in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary are hampered by corruption, according to Aasim Husain, Deputy Director in the European Department of the IMF.

BELGRADE - EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti will arrive in Belgrade on Wednesday for a three-day visit to meet with Serbian government officials and discuss the details and priorities of the recovery from the floods that have caused greate damage to homes, companies and infrastructure across the Balkans.

Neighbours help flooded Serbia and BiH

Hundreds of Macedonians protested in the streets of Skopje on Monday after a high school graduate was stabbed to death in a suburb of the capital.

The accident took place when the teenager, born in 1995, and his father chased a man who had stolen his bicycle, according to Macedonia's daily Dnevnik.

The arrest of an ethnic Albanian on suspicion of killing a young Macedonian has raised ethnic tensions and provoked a new outbreak of protests in the capital, Skopje.

Foreign investment to promote Macedonian textiles

An investment of $400 million would create one of Europe's biggest textile factories.

Macedonia hopes to be home to Europe’s biggest integrated textile production facility. [AFP]

Balkan female soldiers take greater role in peacekeeping missions

Women also obtain greater responsibilities in missions abroad.

Macedonian soldiers participate in a training exercise for a peacekeeping mission abroad. [Army of the Republic of Macedonia]

A gym and relaxation area for MPs complete with baths will soon be put to good use, the speaker of the Macedonian parliament, Trajko Veljanoski, said on Thursday, leading a tour of parliament's new leisure facilities.

The revamp of the parliament building was launched in 2010 at a planned cost of 11 million euro.

A 35-year-old Bulgarian citizen caused a serious car crash in which the Director of Macedonia's Intelligence Agency, Nake Chulev, was injured.

The incident happened near the Bulgarian border in the region of Kriva Palanka, according to reports of Sega daily.

Chulev's driver suffered the most serious injuries, including leg fractures.

In its latest report on hate crimes, the Helsinki Committee reported 116 such incidents in 2013, and said the authorities often downplayed them as routine acts of violence.

Over 80 per cent of the hate attacks “involved ethnic Macedonians and Albanians”, the report noted.