A huge fire broke out on Wednesday morning at the Monastery of Sveti Jovan Bigorski. The initial results of the investigation show the fire broke out due to a faulty electrical wiring at the kitchen. The fire totally destroyed the monastery library, kitchen, dining room, lodgings and guest room. Fortunately, nobody was injured and thanks to the residents of the nearby villages and the firefighting brigades, the symbol of Sveti Jovan Bigorski, the iconostasis of the 19th century, was saved. The damage has initially been estimated at 5.5 million euros. The Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Archbishop Stefan, President Gjorge Ivanov and Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska arrived at the monastery later on Wednesday. They all said efforts would be made to reconstruct the monastery as soon as possible.

Intellectuals and political parties from the Macedonian and Albanian political blocs, as well as international community representatives in the country, condemned the burning of the Macedonian flag in Pristina, assessing this as an unacceptable act that builds up tension. They all accentuate that all problems related to the recently published Macedonian Encyclopedia should be resolved through the institutions.

- PM Gruevski welcomed Monday Angela Merkel reelection as German Chancellor. He said Macedonia and Germany had excellent relations and Ms. Merkel was a friend of Macedonia, which was all the more so considering that her political party was part of the group of parties to which VMRO-DPMNE also belonged. He said he hoped Germany would therefore continue supporting Macedonia in its Euro-Atlantic integration.

The United Nations has excellent cooperation with Macedonia and it is a shame that one open issue burdens these relations, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon assessed at his meeting with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov in New York on Saturday.

On the other hand, Ivanov stressed in an interview for the Macedonian-language program of radio Voice of America that Macedonia hopes that, after the elections in Greece, a better atmosphere can be created for resolution of the name dispute, which has dragged on for 16 years due to the bad climate.

Thursday's assembly session dedicated to parliamentarians' questions to the government members passed in an argument over the Macedonian Encyclopedia. SDSM parliamentarian Vlado Buckovski called Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to account for the publishing of this encyclopedia, bearing in mind the fact that the prime minister promoted this publication. Buckovski assessed that the encyclopedia was prepared in a dilettantish manner, as reports from the Macedonian dailies were used as a source for the paragraph that states, "There were American and British special-forces members and sponsors in the camps of the National Liberation Army". He warned that this encyclopedia caused most damage to Macedonia's strategic partnership with Great Britain and the United States of America.

Following the recent reactions, the MANU Editorial Board decided to make certain corrections in some sections of the Macedonian Encyclopedia. The copies printed so far will not be withdrawn. A mitigating circumstance is that only 50 copies of the encyclopedia have been printed so far and the encyclopedia was not released for sale.

BDI leader Ali Ahmeti will wait to see whether Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will distance himself from the disputable parts in MANU's (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts) encyclopedia, before he decides whether his party should remain in the ruling coalition, Dnevnik has learned from party sources. Even though a number of political parties called on the prime minister to state his official position on this issue, there was no reaction from the Government or VMRO-DPMNE yesterday. They say that Gruevski remains on the position that he has "no comment".

- President Gjorge Ivanov will meet with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in New York today, at sidelines of 64th Session of UN General Assembly. Main topic of discussion will be name dispute between Macedonia and Greece.

The leadership of the MANU, following the four-day long strong reactions to the Encyclopedia, refused to comment the protests in front of its building. Daily UTRINSKI VESNIK published today that the sources from the Macedonian Academy are categorical that the Encyclopedia will not be withdrawn. "We did not print the Encyclopedia to withdraw and reprint it," editor-in-chief Blaze Ristovski says. "We will make e second edition and there is no need for reprinting the first edition only upon the request of some so-called politicians or political parties. We are a scientific institution that is absorbing all the scientific staff in the state. We want to elaborate Macedonia from all the aspects, and not just the historical or cultural and language aspects, and therefore we wanted everything that was relevant to find its place in these bindings, for which we had engaged the most authorized staff. In the role of editor-in-chief, I am not authorized in all the fields, but this is why we engaged people who can say the last word," Ristovski emphasizes.

  
A number of Albanian intellectuals, NGOs, and political parties have expressed these days their protest against the contents published in the "Macedonian Encyclopedia" related to the history of the Albanians in Macedonia and the way in which the Encyclopedia is treating the Albanian politicians in Macedonia. BDI, the coalition party in the Government, stated that it would not abandon the government coalition because of the contents of the "Macedonian Encyclopedia," but the Albanian political bloc would sue MANU (Macedonian Academy of Science and Art) for fostering inter-ethnic hate.

- Following a few-day visit to the US state of Vermont, President Gjorge Ivanov will arrive in New York on Tuesday where he will attend the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly. The Foreign Ministry informed that Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki will not accompany Ivanov in New York because he injured his leg.

- The civil association "Skopje inhabitant Mother Teresa" presented Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki with the honorary recognition "Humanist of the Year". Milososki stressed after the ceremony that he expects the talks on the name dispute to move forward.

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki will depart for the Vatican on Friday, accompanied by Macedonia's newly-appointed ambassador to the Vatican Gjoko Gjorgevski, to present an official invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to visit Macedonia. The invitation comes from President Gjorge Ivanov, but according to state protocol, it will be presented by the foreign minister.

- The European Parliament recommended at its session on Wednesday that the visa regime with Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro be lifted by 1 January year 2010.

- Greece should not block Macedonia's accession to EU, Eckart D. Stratenschulte, director of European Academy, and Johannes Bohnen, founder of think-tank Atlantic Community from Berlin, assessed on Tuesday. They presented to President Ivanov memorandum that they sent to EU member states as support for Macedonia's integration in EU.

 

The issues concerning the right to the name Macedonia and who has made bigger concessions provoked a fierce duel between Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Greek Ambassador to Germany Anastassios Kriekoukis following Ivanov’s address at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin on Monday. Responding to Kriekoukis’s accusations that Macedonia had not made any concessions, Ivanov said that he has a solution to the name dispute.

“The Republic of Macedonia is different from the region Macedonia. I gave the proposal Macedonia 39 percent. Greece has 51 percent. However, our 39 percent are 100 percent Macedonia, while their 51 percent are only 5 percent Macedonia. Who has the right to the name Macedonia?” Ivanov said.

- German President Horst Köhler believes that Macedonia will be given date for start of negotiations for membership in EU, Macedonian President Ivanov states at briefing with journalists in Germany, adding that he feels that Germany is Macedonia's lobbyist. "We are used to expecting negativity from Greece, but we expected support from Europe. The lack of this support was evident," Ivanov said in his address at Konrad Adenauer Foundation, commenting on events at NATO Summit in Bucharest in year 2008.

The biggest opposition party SDSM held a Congress on Saturday at which it adopted its new program "Solutions for Macedonia". SDSM Chairman Branko Crvenkovski said that this program reopens the state's Euro-Atlantic perspectives.

A senior VMRO-DPMNE delegation, headed by party Deputy Chairman Zoran Stavreski, also attended the SDSM Congress. 

 

 

Macedonia is ready to establish a separate industrial zone provided that Chinese companies decide to invest in the country, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski after meeting his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Dalian, China, on Thursday.

"Macedonia has a free trade agreement with the European Union, Ukraine, Turkey, Albania, the countries of the former Yugoslavia and a few others, including Switzerland and Norway," Gruevski said.

He also explained that investors in the free economic zones are exempt from profit tax and personal income tax in the first ten years and have to pay a 10 percent profit tax and personal income tax after that.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski rejected the speculation that new early parliamentary elections will be held. In an interview for Sitel TV, Prime Minister Gruevski negated the information that the recent government activities are an introduction to new elections. "No one in the Government is thinking about early elections. We are committed to realizing the priorities from our program. But we also implement other measures aimed at alleviating citizens' lives," Gruevski said.

Prime Minister Gruevski informed from China, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, that he did not accept Transport and Communications Minister Mile Janakieski's resignation,

- On the occasion of Independence Day - 8 September - President Gjorge Iavnov said all had the opportunity over the past 18 years to get accustomed to the idea that Macedonia is a reality in the Balkans and that they should accept Macedonia as an open country and a friend to whom friendship should be extended in return.

Macedonia is marking the 18h anniversary of its independence.

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.