Skopje

As Macedonian authorities warn people against exposure to scorching summer heat, construction workers plough on with the government-funded Skopje 2014 revamp project.

Amid a heavy police presence in a Skopje courtroom full of friends and relatives of the six alleged ethnic Albanian Muslim extremists who were sentenced to life in prison for terrorism over the killings, judge Liljana Shopova postponed the public hearing until September 11, citing "unfulfilled legal conditions".

A woman aged between 20 and 30 has died after setting herself on fire in Macedonian capital Skopje, local media outlets report.

Witnesses say she poured herself with an inflammable liquid just before setting fire to her body, according to Macedonia's Utrinski vesnik.

A large fountain which is part of the freshly revamped central square in the Macedonian capital, was unveiled this week. For 2.4 million euro, the revamp also saw the laying of white and grey cobblestones that form floral patterns on the ground.

The European Union should be committed to the process of stabilization in Macedonia, the country's President Gorge Ivanov said on Monday.

Meeting Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, who is in Skopje on June 14-15, Ivanov stressed the importance of dialogue between the ruling parties and the opposition in the country after months of political tensions.

The placement of eight richly decorated bronze candelabras with seraphims on top has added ?260,000 to the already high ?1.7-million price tag of the new fence rail on a bridge in Skopje.

Ever since the Skopje city authorities revealed plans for the revamp of the "Freedom" bridge in 2011, the high price tag has been a subject of criticism and ridicule.

The European Commission has said it is expecting the leaders of Macedonia's largest political parties to take part in Wednesday's meeting in Brussels with Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

The covertly-recorded tapes of Macedonian officials' conversations that the opposition says it plans to publish soon could undermine the official story about the six men convicted of the murders at Smilkovci Lake near Skopje in 2012, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev, said on Wednesday.

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”.