The breaking of a cable in the Ilinden boat steering system and the fact that it was overloaded are the reasons why the boat sank killing 15 people on Lake Ohrid on Saturday, the Interior Ministry said. Police pressed charges against 23-year-old Sotir Filevski, captain of the boat, and placed him under 30-day detention.

- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent a letter of commiseration to his Bulgarian counterpart Bojko Borisov. Letter of commiserations to the prime ministers of Macedonia and Bulgaria were sent by the Albanian and Croatian state leaderships, as well as by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis. A book of morning will be opened at the Bulgarian Embassy in Macedonia today.

- The autopsy of the 15 people who drowned on Lake Ohrid on Saturday was completed at the Forensic Institute on Sunday. According to Forensic Institute Director Professor Aleksej Duma, the post-mortem examination was carried out by international standards and in the presence of Bulgarian colleagues.

Transport Minister Mile Janakieski resigns.

There were 73 passengers on board, mostly Bulgarian tourists. 

Fifteen die, 5 injured, three missing, 50 survivors in Ohrid boat accident. 

 

Macedonia has real chances to receive a recommendation for start of the negotiations for membership with the EU. But it should not give in to complacency until it fulfills all conditions set by Brussels, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said on Wednesday as he announced the fall report on Macedonia. Rehn stressed that the Macedonian Government and Assembly had done a good job over the last few weeks and that the European Union would evaluate this work.

"The country has made good progress as regards fulfilling the eight benchmarks. If it completes the remaining tasks, we will be able to propose a date for start of the negotiations this year. The name dispute is not a condition. But if the dispute is resolved, this will provide a positive climate for the state's EU integration," Rehn said before the EU parliamentarians in Brussels.

- Czech Republic expects Macedonia to fulfill eight benchmarks and receive positive report from European Commission, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout states following meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Milososki in Skopje on Wednesday. Milososki notes that, regardless of situation in EU, Macedonia is determined to implement reforms. During his visit to Skopje, Czech Foreign Minister Kohout also met with President Ivanov, Prime Minister Gruevski, Assembly Chairman Veljanoski, and National Council for EU Integration Chairwoman Sekerinska.

Greece was once again criticized by the United Nations for not observing the rights of the minorities. Athens was instructed to recognize the Macedonian and Turkish minorities, that is, to enable them to achieve their guaranteed rights. This is one of the conclusions of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which reviewed the Periodic Reports of a few countries, including Greece, in Geneva between 3 and 28 August this year.

- Greece is sharpening its position to the name issue with Macedonia and so it is getting more probable that after NATO it is also going to veto Macedonia's aspirations for EU membership, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told Reuters on the sidelines of the Strategic Forum in Bled, Slovenia.

Macedonia in NATO - this was the topic of discussion at last week's meeting in Ottawa between Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Canadian Defense Minister Peter Gordon MacKay, who once again stressed Canada's support for Macedonia's aspirations for NATO membership.

This was Prime Minister Gruevski's second meeting with MacKay this year, Nova Makedonija notes. The first meeting was held at a conference in Munich. Inspired by Greece's veto against Macedonia's accession to NATO, MacKay stressed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would have to consider the possibility of changing the principle according to which new member states are admitted to NATO with a consensus. He proposed the principle - consensus minus one.

 

Canada will not withdraw its decision to recognize Macedonia with its constitutional name, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper assured at the meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Ottawa. The two prime ministers agreed that the bilateral relations between the two countries are at a high level, and they signed the Agreement on Social and Pension Insurance.

- Macedonia and Canada are going to sign an agreement in Ottawa today for social insurance. The agreement being signed within the framework of the working visit of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to Canada is the first such agreement that Macedonia signs with an overseas country in which a lot of Macedonians live.

Plain window-dressing, bigger partization of the state administration, and lack of desire to resolve this problem and implement the European Commission's recommendations. This is how the opposition assessed the last version of the bill on civil servants on Monday. Even though the assembly Committee on Political System and Interethnic Relations backed the need for ratification of this bill, SDSM announced that it would submit amendments and that it would insist on these amendments being accepted.

Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski explained that the proposed changes strengthen the position of the Agency for Civil Servants, ensure de-partization, and create conditions for an efficient administration. We will review all proposals and remarks so that we formulate a good law, he said.

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that writings of the Greek media regarding the name issue be carefully reported by the Macedonian press. In the announcement sent to the media it is said that this is an important moment in the dialogue mediated by Mr. Nimetz. According to the Foreign Ministry, certain Greek media release information to divert the public attention and diminish the significance and position of the other party in the dispute. "Only Jolevski's statements reflect Macedonia's state positions to the name issue," says the press release from the Foreign Ministry.

 

UN mediator Matthew Nimetz's proposal for resolution of the name dispute, which was presented in July, is good a basis for continuation of talks. This is the Macedonian state leadership's position on Nimetz's proposal, which Macedonia's representative in the talks on name dispute Zoran Jolevski conveyed to mediator Nimetz at their meeting in New York on Thursday.

Greece's representative in talks on name dispute Adamantios Vassilakis negates media reports that Athens rejected UN mediator Matthew Nimetz's package of ideas. 

- Athens rejected mediator Nimetz's proposal. Most remarks concern the scope of use of the compromise name. Macedonian negotiator Zoran Jolevski is going to communicate to Nimetz today that Macedonia is ready to accept that "Northern Republic of Macedonia" be used in all international organizations and that the constitutional name remain for the 125 countries that have already recognized it. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said in Krusevo Wednesday he hoped the name issue would be resolved.

The New Democracy parliamentarians and New Alternative leader Gjorgi Orovcanec will challenge the Law on the Assembly, which was ratified on Monday, before the Constitutional Court. These two parties dispute the procedure used to ratify this law, explaining that a Badinter majority is not needed for ratification of this law.

The SDSM and LDP parliamentarians also condemned this "abuse of the Badinter principle", noting that the ruling majority violated the assembly Rules of Procedure and the procedure for ratification of a law.

 

The Law on the Assembly was ratified at the assembly session on Monday with support from the VMRO-DPMNE, BDI, and SDSM parliamentarians. The parliamentarians did not support New Democracy's amendments concerning complete use of the Albanian language in the Assembly. The PDSH parliamentarians walked out of the assembly session, announcing that they are boycotting the work of the Assembly.

- Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska said charges were pressed against eight persons, including 3 minors aged 17. Police are investigating and in cooperation with the locals are looking for evidence against other fans. "The Interior Ministry wishes to send a clear message that it will endure in the campaign for prevention of violence at sporting events," Minister Jankulovska said.  

The four soldiers of the Macedonian Army, who sustained injuries over the weekend in a suicide bomb attack outside the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, are feeling well, said Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski. Immediately after the incident, he talked to some of them on the phone, but refused to answer if the incident was going to directly affect the interest of Macedonian soldiers in participation in missions abroad.

- Macedonian name issue negotiator Zoran Jolevski, who had meetings over the weekend with the state leaders, said mediator Matthew Nimetz will be notified over the next few days of Macedonia's position regarding his latest proposal.

No matter what our personal opinion of the Framework Agreement is, it turned out that at that moment a decision was taken that concerned the future of the country and that had a positive and unifying effect, said President Gjorge Ivanov after taking a walk through the Old Bazaar in Skopje on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the Framework Agreement. Everyone can have their own personal beliefs. But what is of interest to all is that we have a positive attitude toward it. This country truly knew how to build its future," he said.

Interview with H.E. Mr. Philip Thomas Reeker, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia

The United States is a true and sincere friend of Macedonia and I believe that the bond between our two countries is very strong. We are working together to secure the best possible future for all the citizens of this country and to realize our common goals. Recently we moved into our new embassy and I cannot think of any better proof of our permanent commitment towards this country than our wonderful new embassy.

The main strategic priority of the Republic of Macedonia remains to be its attainment of full-fledged membership of NATO, which the United States of America strongly supports. Macedonia is also committed to maintaining and, if possible, increasing its participation in international NATO-led missions with its own troops. How does the United States of America see Macedonia's contribution to the global war on terror?

Macedonia is a constant partner in the global battle against extremism. When I was in Iraq, the Macedonian troops stationed there were constantly praised by every contingent with which they served. Here I also had the honor of awarding medals to many soldiers who distinguished themselves while carrying out their duties in Iraq. I also know that the Macedonian soldiers who are in Afghanistan right now are carrying out very important tasks and they are doing a very good job. Macedonia can be proud of the impressions that these excellent soldiers are leaving on all the countries that are part of this multinational mission.

- The experts from the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination asked Greece in Geneva Tuesday to recognize the Macedonian minority and give them the right to speak their mother tongue. Nova Makedonija reports that for the first time experts from a number of countries at the UN bombarded Greece with questions of why it refuses to recognize the Macedonian minority and give them the right to speak their language. The Greek delegation defended itself saying that the recognition of the minority as "Macedonian" was a threat of potential tension in the region.

 

The ban on media presentation of the political party of Macedonians in Greece Vinozito during its election campaign as well as the Greek disregard of minority expert Gay McDougall's recommendations are some of the issues currently being discussed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.

The Greek Helsinki Committee and the Group on Minority Rights are going to present to the UN Committee the report which lists a number of examples of violation of human rights of Macedonians and other minorities in Greece.

Greece and Bulgaria have aired positive views of the visa liberalization for the people of Macedonia and I believe they will not check the advanced process for starting EU accession talks, said EU Ambassador Erwan Fouere in Ohrid, asked whether the latest pressures from Bulgaria regarding Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova's case could change their politics to the Macedonian Euro-integration.

- Macedonia and Andorra have established diplomatic relations. Andorra is the 125th country with which Macedonia has set up diplomatic relations with its constitutional name.

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the verbal note of protest from the Bulgarian authorities reacting to the alleged pressure being put on Bulgarians in Macedonia. The MFA expects the Bulgarian authorities to distance themselves from the classical manipulation with human fates. The relations between the two countries must not be held hostage by people looking for an excuse for their family misunderstanding and crimes. In this regard, MFA mentions Former Health Minister Vlado Dimov and Spaska Mitrova, sentenced to 3 months in prison for not letting her husband see their child.

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contradicted the information of the Kosovo television Klan Kosova that Macedonia is going to call for an international arbitration to demarcate its border to Kosovo unless the disagreements between the two parties are overcome soon.

"This is completely inaccurate information. The borderline to Kosovo is demarcated along its whole length. The minutes of establishing the main and auxiliary border stones have been signed by the mixed Macedonian-Kosovo commission, which gave the border international verification," said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Petar Culev.