Skopje

Flags bearing the 16-beam Vergina Sun and maps of the so-called “Great Macedonia” were held by governing party VMRO-DPMNE supports in Skopje, during an anti-rally held and attended by PM Nikola Gruevski. The Skopje hands of the attending crowd pointed to the Skopjan “dream”. Three fingers for Vardaris, the Aegean Sea, and Pirin, and the “O” from the word “Obedineta” which means United.

One interesting travelogue recently focused on the land-locked country to Greece’s immediate north, the one-time Yugoslav republic known today – in some quarters and especially in Greece – as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM).

The neophyte’s country’s leadership has, since 1991, insisted on the “Republic of Macedonia”.

Officials at the Greek Foreign Ministry were enraged yesterday at reports in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) that ex-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had suggested Greece may have been involved in deadly incidents last weekend in the town of Kumanovo.

Eighteen people ? 10 Albanian militants and eight policemen ? died after gunmen raided in the town.

Terrorists "planned to blow up bridge in Skopje"

SKOPJE -- The terrorist group that last weekend carried out an attack in Kumanovo, northern Macedonia, "planned to blow up one of the main bridges in Skopje."

This was reported on Tuesday by the Macedonian website vecer.mk, which said the information was revealed by one of the captured terrorists.

Skopje is in turmoil after the Kumanovo clashes which cost the lives of 22 people. Political analysts express fears of a resurgence of violence in view of the 17th of May march which the opposition party has organized.

EU is concerned about situation in Macedonia - commissioner

BRUSSELS -- EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Monday "reiterated that everyone in the European Union is concerned about the situation in Macedonia."

He repeated his call to political actors to work together to overcome the crisis.

FYROM looks like a battlefield, with Kumanovo’s albanian neighborhood being the focal point, after the clashes over the weekend between armed Albanians and government forces, over which 22 people lost their lives.

Macedonia warned early this year 17 European states of the activities of the group whose attack in Kumanovo left 8 police officers dead, the country's President has said.

Macedonian Deputy PM on European Affairs Fatmir Besimi has canceled his May 11 visit to Bulgaria, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia has said.

A photoreporter and a police officer have been injured in Wednesday's protests in Macedonian capital Skopje as demonstrators gathered for a second night to demand that the government stepped down.

Wednesday's gathering in front of the Macedonian Parliament was more peaceful that the previous one, which on Tuesday evening left dozens wounded.