Skopje

Trainose, the operating arm of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), is to resume services linking northern Greece to the country’s Balkan neighbors after a three-year hiatus in a bid to profits from rising tourism.

A daily service linking Thessaloniki to Skopje, Belgrade and Sofia is to start operating from May 10.

Macedonia promotes education for Roma population

The government and civil society are funding and implementing programmes for young Roma to attend school and improve their social integration.

Roma community leaders tour the new Roma high school in Suto Orizari. [Miki Trajkovski/SETimes]

BELGRADE - Serbia will be represented at an international book fair in Skopje (from April 8-14), and then in Sarajevo (April 23-28), the National Library of Serbia (NBS) as an executive organizer announced on Monday.

The steel cross, which the authors say will be over 50 metres high, is being speedily assembled in the Skopje municipality of Aerodrom so that it can be opened by Orthodox Easter, celebrated on April 20.

Pictures from Macedonia's capital Skopje can be seen at the European Parliament's visitors center in a short film dedicated to Sofia.

The story presented by the film starts with the 1997 protests that rocked Bulgaria's capital and goes on with later years of transition to market economy in the country.

The new archaeological museum of Skopje will display wax figures of Alexander the Great, his father Philip II, his mother Olympia, and other alleged Macedonians.

Among them will also be the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the Byzantine emperor Justinian, the Balkan folk hero Krali Marko and the Bulgarian king Samuil. 

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced over the weekend the start of work on the two new motorway segments financed by a loan of 574 million euro from the Chinese Export-Import Bank.

While the city of Skopje planned to set aside 51 million euro for the important bypass, the lowest bidder, a Bulgarian-Macedonian consortium composed of Pons Troy Engineering, Gp Group and Urban Plan, has sought 66.9 million euro.

Another group of Bulgarian firms has offered to do the work for 69.8 million euro while a Bulgarian-Portuguese consortium sought 67.3 million euro.