Skopje

SKOPJE - In an 11-point joint statement adopted on Monday at a Skopje summit titled The Growth Plan: Western Balkans Meets EU, Western Balkan leaders underscore the "paramount significance of cooperation within the region" and note that an EU Growth Plan represents a "new opportunity to promote the economic and social convergence of our region with the European Union."

SKOPJE - Regional connectivity is very significant, green lanes at border crossings are of the greatest importance for the Western Balkans and Serbia will be open to all ideas on a common regional market and ready to implement them, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at a Western Balkans-EU summit in Skopje on Monday.

In a significant breakthrough, the suspected mastermind behind the brutal murders of a 14-year-old girl from Skopje and a 74-year-old man from Veles, identified as Ljupcho Palevski-Palcho, has been apprehended in Turkey, announced North Macedonia's Interior Minister, Oliver Spasovski, during an urgent press conference.

Three suspects in the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Skopje and a 74-year-old man from Veles have been detained, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in North Macedonia announced late last night. Today, the Minister of the Interior, Oliver Spasovski, said that two more people are being sought, one of whom is said to have gone first to Belgrade and then to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has officially granted permission for a plane carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to pass through its airspace on its way to Skopje for an OSCE Ministerial Council meeting scheduled from November 29 to December 1.

BELGRADE - North Macedonian PM Dimitar Kovacevski said on Friday in Belgrade a memorandum on cooperation in rail transport signed by Serbia and North Macedonia earlier in the day included the construction of a high-speed rail line that would connect Belgrade and Skopje via Nis.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday connectivity was crucial for all countries in the region and that the construction of a Nis-Skopje high-speed rail line would bring a different future to the entire region.

SKOPJE - The government of North Macedonia said on Thursday North Macedonian citizens who remained stranded in Israel would evacuated on an Air Serbia flight on Friday.

In a statement, the government said it would cover all expenses of the Tel Aviv-Skopje flight.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been informed about a Bulgarian citizen injured in an accident in Skopje before the football match between PFC "Levski" and the local FC "Shkupi". This was announced by the BTA department. According to initial information, it was an attack in the northern part of the city and stab wounds were inflicted with cold weapons.

In homophobic North Macedonia, the LGBT Safe House in Skopje provides a vital refuge for some of the country's most marginalised people.