Macedonia, Greece News

Macedonian woman walks past a hand drawn old map of ethnic Macedonia, with a teritory which today belongs to the FYROM, Greece and Bulgaria on the wall of the main train station of the capitol Skopje, on 08 December 2009.

The prime ministers of three Balkan countries discuss the protection of Prespa National Park.

Hooded youths smashed the windows of shops and banks, and hurled petrol bombs at police on Monday, who retaliated with tear gas during a second day of protests marking the anniversary of last year's police shooting of a teenager.

The Skopje-Athens name row could be solved via international arbitration, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told journalists after meeting his Macedonian counterpart Georgi Ivanov on Thursday in Skopje.

Thousands of police are deploying across the Greek capital to prevent violence during demonstrations to mark the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

Menduh Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians, foresees renewed ethnic conflict between Macedonians and Albanians.

"Did you see it?! It's not that great. It could have been much better. How could they waste so much money on such a lame ad?" These are some of the things we hear in Pristina nowadays.

Macedonia's prime minister Nikola Gruevski, left, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso address a joint news conference at the end of a meeting in Brussels, December 2 2009.

ATHENS, Greece -- Prime Minister George Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas have told Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki that their country's position regarding Skopje's efforts to get a date for starting EU accession talks has not changed, Macedonian media reported on Tuesday .

International Security Assistance Force soldiers, from Macedonia and the 2nd battalion, 1st brigade, patrol a neighborhood November 19, 2006 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A convicted kidnapper on leave from prison forced his way Wednesday into a German school in northern Greece - for the second time in three years - and was holding one staff member hostage at gunpoint, police said.

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday , sources from the government told Makfax news agency Monday.

"Did you see it?! It's not that great. It could have been much better. How could they waste so much money on such a lame ad?" These are some of the things we hear in Pristina nowadays.

A former lawmaker and finance minister was elected the new leader of Greece's conservative opposition party on Sunday, succeeding a former prime minister.

An ad hoc choir "Singing Skopjans" consists of citizens of Skopje who express their opinions on social matters through songs.

Skopje Carl Bildt Bildt, whose country currently heads the rotating EU presidency, had a three-and-a-half-hour long meeting with the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski behind closed doors.

Carl Bildt, the straight-talking Swedish foreign minister, has made a final effort on behalf of his country's EU presidency to defuse Turkey's blocked EU accession talks, and to lift obstacles to opening accession negotiations with Macedonia.

Culture brings the US and Macedonia closer. By Goran Trajkov for Southeast European Times in Skopje -- 26/11/09 Co-ordinator Olivera Trajkova hosts a Thanksgiving dinner at the American Corner in Skopje.

Skopje A 32-years old man who died on Wednesday afternoon is the first swine flu victim in Macedonia, the Health Minister Bujar Osmani confirmed.

European Commission President Jose Barroso and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, right, are reportedly exerting pressure for a resolution to the long-standing dispute about the use of the name Macedonia.