Category Archives: North Macedonia

Weather tracker: Heavy seasonal rain causes widespread flooding in China

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Six people dead, thousands evacuated and transport disrupted after at least 20 floods in major rivers

China has been experiencing heavy and widespread rainfall since the start of the rainy season, which runs from May to September. It has resulted in at least 20 floods in major rivers across the country, with 31 rivers surpassing their flood warning levels.

Dianjiang county, in Chongqing, received 269.2mm in one day last week, a single-day record there. It led to six deaths, more than 10,000 evacuations, and 40,000 people being affected, as well as severe disruptions to rail services and transport caused by flooding.

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Videos show migrants stripped of clothing in freezing temperatures at Serbian border

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Exclusive: footage of semi-naked men is evidence of increasing abuse during illegal pushbacks on Europe’s borders, say rights groups

Videos appearing to show groups of men stripped of their clothing in near-freezing temperatures and being forced back from the Serbian border into North Macedonia are evidence of escalating mistreatment of migrants at European borders, according to human rights groups.

Two videos shown to the Guardian by Legis, a North Macedonian NGO, show a line of semi-naked men on a stretch of road near the Serbian-North Macedonian border.

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Germany proposes giving EU candidate countries observer status at summits

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Roadmap for expansion suggests integrating countries such as Ukraine into sections of EU before negotiations are complete

Germany has proposed a detailed and innovative roadmap to expand the EU that would give candidate countries such as Ukraine early benefits including observer status at leaders’ summits in Brussels before full membership.

The proposals by the foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, amount to an offer of integrating candidate countries into sections of the EU long before technical negotiations for membership, which can drag on for years, are completed.

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Bulgaria bus crash kills at least 45 people

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Twelve children are among the dead after a bus from North Macedonia crashed and caught fire on highway

At least 45 people including 12 children have died as a bus carrying mostly North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria hours before daybreak on Tuesday.

Seven people who leapt from the burning bus were taken to hospital in Sofia and were in stable conditions, hospital staff said. They had suffered burns and one had a broken leg.

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EU removes six countries including US from Covid safe travel list

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Travellers from Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia also affected by move

The EU has removed six countries, including the US, from a Covid “white list” of places whose tourists should be permitted entry without restrictions such as mandatory quarantine.

A majority of EU countries had reopened their borders to Americans in June, in the hope of salvaging the summer tourism season although most required a negative test ahead of travel. The move was not, however, reciprocated by the US.

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Race too close to call as North Macedonia holds first poll since name change

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Vote will decide whether country continues on course of pro-European reform

North Macedonia goes to the polls on Wednesday in an election viewed as crucial for the Balkan state’s future after months of political drift exacerbated by voting being postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The vote, originally due to be held in April, will be the first since the country changed its name from Macedonia in a landmark deal with Greece two years ago. It is hoped the election will end the political uncertainty that has lingered since the European Union’s refusal to set a date for North Macedonia to begin eagerly-awaited accession talks with the bloc.

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Global report: India reports surge in Covid-19 cases as lockdown eased

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Almost 10,000 new cases in India on Thursday as WHO warns situation outside Europe deteriorating

India reported almost 10,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, with hospitals swamped in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, and predictions that the infection rate will not peak before the end of next month.

The country of 1.3bn people now has the fifth highest number of confirmed cases in the world, at 286,579. Over the last 24 hours 357 people have died from the virus, bringing the official toll to 8,102.

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EU can start talks with Albania and North Macedonia over joining

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Member states clear way for Balkan countries to join after concerns over corruption

The EU can start membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, according to a draft decision by the bloc’s 27 member states due to be finalised this week.

If approved as expected, the agreement would end two years of delays and signal new momentum for all six western Balkan countries – Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and North Macedonia – seeking to join the EU.

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‘Our ticket to Europe’: North Macedonia elects pro-western president

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Stevo Pendarovski wins vote focused on changing country’s name change, consolidating push towards EU and Nato membership

North Macedonia’s pro-western candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, won a run-off presidential vote after a campaign dominated by divisions over a change to the country’s name that was agreed to mollify Greece and open the way for EU and Nato membership.

The State Election Commission results based on 99.5% the votes counted showed 51.7% of the votes going to Pendarovski, who is the candidate of the ruling coalition and a long-serving senior civil servant and academic.

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North Macedonia goes to the polls amid rain and rancour

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Ethnic and political divisions may affect turnout in former Yugoslav republic’s presidential election

Voters in North Macedonia braving heavy rain have begun casting ballots in the second round of a race that will not only decide the country’s new president but could determine whether the tiny state is plunged into political turmoil.

In what has become a showdown between pro-EU and nationalist forces, much depends on turnout. Before polling stations opened, speculation was rife that voter participation could fall below the 40% needed for the election to be valid, fears compounded by the weather.

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North Macedonia presidential election goes to runoff as name change divides

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Turnout in vote regarded as a fresh say on country’s name change too low to deliver decisive result, say officials

A presidential election in North Macedonia that gave voters another chance to express an opinion on their country’s new name will go to a runoff after turnout in the first round was too low for any candidate to win outright, election officials said.

The runoff on 5 May is inevitable because election law requires a candidate to get 50% plus one of registered voters to be elected in the first round. The state electoral commission reported the turnout on Sunday was 41.9%.

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Greek PM stops for selfie on goodwill trip to North Macedonia

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Alexis Tsipras arrives in Skopje on first official visit after settling decades-long dispute

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has begun a historic visit to his newly named neighbour of North Macedonia two months after brokering a landmark deal to end a row that spawned almost three decades of hostility between the two countries.

In the first official trip by a Greek premier since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991, Tsipras touched down in the capital, Skopje, pledging to consolidate the mutual trust that for so long has eluded the two Balkan nations. He then posed for a selfie with his North Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev.

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UAE woman who fled family begs to be allowed to claim asylum

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Hind Mohammed al-Bolooki could be sent home after North Macedonia rejected her claim

An Emirati woman who fled her family and is now trapped in a detention centre in North Macedonia is begging to be allowed to claim asylum elsewhere instead of being deported back home, the Guardian has learned.

Hind Mohammed al-Bolooki, 43, says she was locked in a room at her home in Dubai in October last year by family members after she asked for a divorce, but she managed to escape and leave the country.

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