•Macedonian Intelligence Agency Director Kire Naumov asks President Crvenkovski to relieve him of duties as soon as possible for personal reasons.

President Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski celebrated together the great religious holiday of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Berovo on Tuesday. President Crvenkovski took the opportunity to congratulate the Government on the restored optimism in people and supported its commitment to fighting off corruption.

•Prime Minister Gruevski is taking part in a conference on EU expansion in Bled, Slovenia.

The National Security Council of Macedonia stated that the Republic of Macedonia opposes division of Kosovo. The state leadership believes that Kosovo could be divided only along ethnic lines, which would inspire the radical elements in this region. The Security Council concluded that there are no serious threats to the security, but that the possible risks should not be underestimated.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski assessed in his interview for the Sitel news on Wednesday that there are tensions in the region, but that Macedonia does not expect these tensions to provoke major problems and destabilization of the security.

The Government of the Republic of Macedonia decided to increase the salaries of the state and public administration by about 34 percent from October 2007 to October 2009, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at a press conference today. The pay increase, he explained, will also be conducive to an increase in pensions of about 20 percent over a period of three years from 1 January 2008.

•Government to buy parcels and buildings for embassies abroad, for which it will spend 40 million euros.

One of the most influential Greek dailies Kathimerini called on the political parties in Greece to be braver and admit that Greece's chances of imposing a new name for Macedonia are small, A1 Television reported yesterday. The editorial titled "Alliances are needed for key issues" states that certain issues like the name issue cannot be resolved without an agreement among the big parties.

The main goal of the not-for-profit and non-partisan organization "Macedonia 2025" is to transfer skills and know-how to domestic businessmen and people making important decisions in the country, as well as to help bring more foreign direct investment.

Fitch Ratings changed Tuesday Macedonia's long-term foreign and local currency ratings of 'BB+ ' with Stable Outlook into 'BB+' with Positive Outlook, the Ministry of Finance announced.

Western diplomats warn that possible division of Kosovo could reactivate the rebellion of the ethnic Albanians in the Presevo valley in southern Serbia and in neighboring Macedonia, Utrinski Vesnik cites Reuters.

Macedonian experts comment that division of Kosovo is not a good resolution for this province or for Macedonia.

Six years after the signing of the Framework Agreement, everyone is still interpreting this agreement differently, depending on the political position that they back.

The new bankruptcy law, which came into force in end March this year, yielded positive results as regards the shortening of the bankruptcy proceedings, said Deputy Economy Minister Kiro Spandzev at a press conference today.

The fact that the measure of detention has not been pronounced in MP Vlado Buckovski's case is very bad for the credibility and professionalism of the courts, senior court officials told Vreme. In their view, investigative judge Katica Jovanovska's decision not to detain the prime suspect Buckovski over his involvement in the dubious procurement of spare parts for tanks in 2001 was utterly unprofessional.

Former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski submitted an initiative to the Ombudsman's Office to determine at whose order he was held up for about 20 minutes at the Bogorodica border crossing a few days ago.

Two missiles were fired from a grenade launcher at the Government building early this morning, state media report. The grenades were antipersonnel arms with a 400-450m range made in the Republic of South Africa, said Government Spokesperson Ivica Bocevski today.

Following the interrogation that started earlier today, the Basic Court 1 in Skopje and investigative judge Katica Jovanovska decided that former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, accused of embezzlement in supplying spare parts for T-55 tanks while Minister of Defense in 2001, should not be taken into custody.

•Parliamentary committee on mandate and immunity issues suspends MP Vlado Buckovski s immunity at court s request.

Macedonia's national holiday of Ilinden was celebrated at Pelince and Meckin kamen, Krusevo. All media comment that VMRO-DPMNE's supporters gathered at Krusevo while those of SDSM rallied at Pelince.

•Macedonian Parliament adopts revised budget 2007.

National Bank Governor Petar Gosev gave the holding company Milestone of Iceland consent for acquiring Commercial and Investment Bank of Kumanovo. Central Bank officials stated Monday that Milestone could take hold of the shares within three months of receiving the consent.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said at yesterday's emergency assembly session that the Government is mobilizing all domestic capacities in the fight against the fires throughout Macedonia. Nine hundred members of the Macedonian Army have also been mobilized in the field. The prime minister informed that the local population and 121 fire engines have been engaged in the fight against this natural disaster.

•Government raises readiness of all ministries to maximum as a result of fires.

•Macedonia withdrew request issued to Serbia for Macedonian delegation to be allowed to mark Ilinden in Prohor Pcinski Monastery, Foreign Minister Milososki says.

The European Union wants Macedonia to adopt a constructive approach to the name dispute with Greece, Portuguese Minister for European Affairs Manuel Lobo Antunes said following yesterday's meeting with the Macedonian government delegation led by Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski requested assistance from Austria, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, and Bulgaria yesterday in the extinguishing of the fire in Bitola, which has taken one life so far. Prime Minister Gruevski left the assembly session last night to go to Bitola.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski called on SDSM in the Assembly today to explain what this party promised BDI when it was in power. "This was promised to us by SDSM, BDI told us at the talks. So I call on them to tell us what they promised. We did not participate in those talks and we cannot fulfill promises made by others," Prime Minister Gruevski said, as regards BDI's demands for bilingualism and ratification of a law for the NLA fighters.