The industry turnover in October increased by 4.2 percent compared to the same month in 2015, the data of the State Statistical Office of Macedonia showed. Domestic industry turnover in October increased by 0.7 percent and the non-domestic industry turnover increased by 5.0 percent. Industry turnover in section Mining and quarrying decreased by 3.8 percent, while in section Manufacturing it increased by 4.4 percent. The turnover by Main Industrial Groupings was higher in Capital goods by 19.2 percent and Durable consumer goods by 2.5…
As of Thursday, the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM) will release banknotes of MKD 200 and MKD 2,000 and withdraw the MKD 5,000 banknote from circulation. NBRM has said the issuance of these banknotes results from the perceived need for rebalancing of the existing structure of banknotes in circulation. "The existing structure of banknotes, introduced in 1996, has not been altered until now and the decision for introduction of these two banknotes has been passed on the basis of research and analysis", add…
With 2 mandates more than the others, VMRO-DPMNE has emerged as the winner of the early parliamentary elections in Macedonia. After a delay of almost a day, the State Election Commission came out with the initial official results, according to which VMRO-DPMNE has attained 51 mandates, while SDSM - 49. Basically, the SEC just confirmed its website data - showing the parties' vote count. So in line with the data, VMRO-DPMNE won 453,490 votes, SDSM - 436,604 votes. According to SEC, DUI attained 10 mandates, BESA-5, the Alli…
Macedonia’s tourist offer has been recently promoted before 40,000 visitors at the Tourism Fair in Izmir, Turkey which took place from Dec. 8 to 11. Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism organised country’s participation at the fair, which hosted 10.000 exhibitors, whereat great interest was shown for organizing tours to Macedonia and the Balkans. Agency’s officials held numerous meetings with Turkish tour operators including Pronto Tour, Ecc tour, Fides travel, Enka Tatil, Ephesus travel, Italtur, Ðœika tur, Сakra tur, Trav…
The 13. FINA World Swimming Championships in a 25m pool opened late Monday in Windsor, Canada. More than 1,000 swimmers from 176 countries take part, including Macedonia's Anastasija Bogdanovski, Gorazd Cepisevski, Damjan Petrovski, Marko Blazevski and Ljupco Angelovski. The Macedonian community in Windsor has supported the Macedonian delegation, covering the accommodation, transportation and other costs during their stay.
Interior Ministry informed that no explosives or suspicious materials were found in the vehicle parked near the Untied States Embasy, which sparked a security search on Monday afternoon. The Zastava pickup was left at the Embassy parking and an initial sweep by Embassy security personnel discovered traces of explosives. Subsequent Interior Ministry search showed that there are no explosives, and police determined the identity of the owner of the vehicle. The Embassy said that police responded appropriately to the request for assistance. …
As of December 17, Swiss airline "Germania Flug AG" will launch the Ohrid-Zurich flight, TAV Macedonia said on Friday. Flights will be operated by "Air Pristina" from Ohrid-based airport "St.Paul the Apostle". "We are pleased to start this cooperation, thus strengthening our efforts to promote Macedonia as an attractive tourism destination, especially Lake Ohrid", said TV Macedonia representatives. Germania Flug AG is headquartered in Glattbrugg, Zurich. The airline was founded in August…
Acclaimed Macedonian actor Meto Jovanovski and Serbian-Montenegrin producer/director Branko Baletic are in preparation with Fear and Love, a feature film set to shoot in September/October 2017. Branko BaleticJovanovski, who appeared in more than sixty films, wrote the script and is going to co-direct the film. Fear and Love is based on the eponymous book by Macedonian politician Stojan Andov. It follows a series of love stories in two Macedonian families of different religions, placed in different historical contexts, from the period …
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Macedonia totalled 199.08 million euro ($211.4 million) in the first nine months of 2016, higher than 154.72 million euro a year ago, central bank data showed. Most foreign investments were absorbed by manufacturers of motor vehicles and transport equipment, and by providers of financial and insurance services, according to the data published on Wednesday. The largest FDI inflow in the first nine months came from Germany and Turkey, which contributed 23.2 million euro and 23.1 million euro to the total, r…
The Under-21 national football team will face Spain, Portugal and Serbia in the group stage at the 2017 UEFA European Championship in Poland. The draw held on Thursday put Macedonia in Group B of the tournament. Macedonia plays its first match against Spain on July 17, followed by Serbia (July 20) and Portugal (July 23). Group A is comprised of Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and England, while Group C includes Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and Denmark. The top team from each group and the best second-ranked team advance to th…
Thirty-seven new HIV cases were registered in Macedonia over the course of 2016, two of whom passing away, said HIV/AIDS National Coordinator Zvonko Milenkovic on Thursday. Of the 37 HIV cases, one-third are under the age of 30, half between the ages of 30-40, while about 20 percent are above 40. Thirty-four are male and three female. “In today’s era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, we are lowering the number of severe manifestations of the HIV infection and the mortality rate”, said Milenkovic. According to him, the pro…
The Horn of Love, a novel by the Macedonian writer Bozin Pavlovski, after being nominated by the St. Clement of Ohrid National and University Library in Skopje, is vying for the International Dublin Literary Award for 2017. 147 novels in 18 languages, nominated by national and city libraries from 38 countries, are being considered for the prestigious international literary prize. The award is presented for a novel published or translated into English. In 2012, Macedonia was represented by Blaze Minevski and his work The Mark. Wi…
Macedonian Human Rights Movement International President, Bill Nicholov, met with US State Department officials on October 19, 2016 and called for the United States to immediately end its calls for Macedonia to change its name and to denounce the name negotiations. Nicholov called for the US to help end the oppression of Macedonians in neighbouring Balkan countries and, finally, to end its interference in Macedonia’s current political situation. Nicholov pointed out MHRMI’s long-standing position that Macedonia never should have engaged…
After the election of new president the US will continue to advance the good cooperation with Macedonia, Donald Trump's spiritual adviser Mark Burns says in an interview with the TV program 'People's Voice'. In regard to the name of your country, the one some want to change and deprive you of the right to call yourselves Macedonians, which is unheard of in the world's history - nobody can change your name and identity as you are born as Macedonians and will keep on living and refer to yourselves by that name, Burns s…
Sara Ristovska is the only Macedonian in the women's handball club Vardar, that currently competes in the Women's EHF Champions League, and a player who got a chance to score 10 goals during the matches of the first round. She scored nine during the two matches against Leipzig, and one in the match against Astrakhanochka. She is in good condition and she uses every opportunity permitted by the coaches. This season, Vardar implemented major bench changes, which ultimately affected the form of the players. According to Ristovska, …
The second archaeological conference "Neolithic in Macedonia II" organised by the Center for Prehistoric Research (CPR) will be held in the Archaeological Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. The conference is dedicated to the results of research Neolithic sites and material culture and will feature more archaeologists from Macedonia and abroad will present their research related to Neolithic sites in Skopje and Pelagonia region. The collection of papers “Neolithic in Macedonia: new perspectives and insights” presented at last y…
By introducing measures for support of economy and tax policies the Republic of Macedonia succeeded to promote itself into excellent business destination with enormous economic potential, Pascal Hughes, well-known business analyst writes in the column published in the US newspaper The Hill. A decade ago, the small Balkan country of Macedonia – relatively fresh from independence – was suffering from continental Europe’s highest rate of unemployment. Taxes were among the highest in the region and the business climate was hostile. The Worl…
The citizens should use public transportation, reduce their outings to the minimum, small children, pregnant women, chronically ill people and the elderly should mainly stay indoors. They should refrain from opening windows or doors, it is recommended by the City of Skopje following worsened air quality registered for five consecutive days in the Macedonian capital. The City of Skopje also recommends that vehicles should not be used unnecessarily and suggests more people share car journeys in a single vehicle. The citizens are als…
In the 10th week of the ABA league, Crvena Zvezda showed no mercy against Karpos Sokoli and prevailed 91-70 at home. With this new win, the Serbian team enjoys the top of the league’s standings. The visitors put pressure on Zvezda early on, leading 14-15 after the first 10 minutes and even expanded their lead in the second period to 19-27 before a reaction from the Red and Whites. At halftime, the score was even at 36 points. Crvena Zvezda entered the second half more prepared, yet the third period was equally difficult. It was…
The 6th edition of Skopje Design Week (SDW) under the motto Blooming Makers kicks off Wednesday and runs until Nov. 27 (Sunday). The event accentuates the modern design and creative potential, primarily young entrepreneurs and the country in focus is Austria which will present 28 exhibitors. In order to motivate their further development SDW2016 will give national awards in two categories, the best blooming maker, a young Macedonian brand and a best student design. The program will also include two workshops for children, music …
The City of Skopje has paid the subsidies for purchasing a pellet furnace in 2016. A total of 196 citizens met the criteria envisaged in the subsidy programme according to principle “first-come, first-served”. The public call for subsidies was released on October 12 and closed on November 4, including 343 applications. “All applications were reviewed, with 196 accepted as meeting the requirements, whereas others either did not fulfill the criteria or were filed after the programme funds were exhausted”, said the City of Skopje. …
Within the festival "Cinedays" on Saturday night, Macedonian audience had the opportunity to closely see the world-renowned actor Elijah Wood, known for his role as Frodo in the trilogy "Lord of the Rings". Wood was a guest in a slight different appearance, not in the role of an actor but as a DJ. He is part of the music duo "Wooden Wisdom", and Saturday's performance was accompanied by DJ Feetz. Two-hour musical set served by the Hollywood star could be heard in the Dancing hall at the Youth Cult…
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos underwent surgery on the lateral meniscus tear in his right knee and is expected to miss approximately four months, the team announced on Thursday. The Lightning said Wednesday that Stamkos was out indefinitely, but coach Jon Cooper said the center would be back in time for the playoffs in April. "If we put ourselves in a position to make the playoffs, he's going to be back," Cooper said Thursday. "And that'll be better than any trade deadline acquisition that anybo…
At about 2:44 am on Saturday morning in the southern parts of the country earthquake was felt measuring 3 degrees on the Richter scale with an epicenter in Greece. Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje said that the intensity of the earthquake on the territory of Macedonia was between three and five degrees on the European Macroseismic scale. This is the second earthquake in the past 12 hours with epicenter in Greece which was felt in southeastern Macedonia. The first was registered on Friday at 00:12 am with a magnitude of 5.1 …
A woman from Veles (36) was found dead Tuesday in her apartment in London. Her roommate, also from Macedonia, was reportedly unfamiliar with the cause of death as she briefly informed the woman's parents, who are Veles residents, that authorities will conduct an autopsy that will reveal why she passed away, Duma reports. Before her untimely death, the woman had been living and working in London for 15 years. She frequently visited Veles. Her father saw her last a month ago when he went to visit her in London. Macedonia's Fore…
Visitors and tour operators from Romania attending the Bucharest Tourism Fair have shown interest to visit Macedonia having in mind the proximity of the two countries, said Macedonia’s Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism on Friday. This fact has promoted Romanian tour operators to start offering packages, in which renting a car is included for family trips, while group bus trips were designed to target senior tourists. The tour operators who have already included Macedonia in their offers are detecting interest amongst Romania…
In the past year we introduced confidence building measures with Greece and we have completely new quality in bilateral relations, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said in the interview with the Austrian Die Presse daily. Poposki also underlined that since Macedonia’s independence there has never been a period of such intensified cooperation with Greece. Asked whether he expects Greece to lift the blockade in the EU against Macedonia, Poposki said he would be too optimistic to say when it would exactly happen. However t…
The Bitola National Theater is one of the country’s leading institutions of culture playing a significant role in the cultural history of Macedonia, Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska said Monday at an event marking the 72nd anniversary of the institution. The Bitola National Theater, she added, has managed to create a unique theater expression, rich and versatile theater program with irrefutable aesthetics. “Over the years, Bitola has assumed the role of a global stage, a host of memorable theater events and a place w…
Over 20,500 Macedonian nationals have registered to vote at the early parliamentary elections on December 11. Due to the large number of applicants, SEC decided Monday to open three additional polling stations in Bern, Switzerland, and two more in Venice, Italy. A polling station will also open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Over 4,000 Macedonian nationals registered in Bern, while almost 3,000 in Venice. There are over 1,000 voters each in Detroit, New York, Melbourne and Rome.
Earthquake measuring at III-IV degrees according to the European Macroseismic Scale jolted Macedonia's southeast at 10:15 am on Wednesday, said the Seismological Observatory within the Skopje-based Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics. The earthquake epicenter was located in neighboring Greece, at a magnitude of 4,1 on the Richter scale.
The Interior Ministry informed that two persons aged 23 and 24 were arrested a week ago over information that they were preparing acts of terror on Macedonian territory. The two were in contact with former fighters in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. "As part of a wider regional operative action aimed at fighting terrorism, the Interior Ministry conducted searches at two sites, in Skopje and in Aracinovo on November 4th. During the search, one 24 year old person from Aracinovo was detained, and the other was detained in Kosovo.…
Almost 60 per cent and 59.3 per cent by citizens think that Macedonia's membership in the European Union is a good thing, according to a poll conducted by the agency M-Prospect, a questionnaire prepared by the Macedonian Center for European Training (MCET). When asked about whether they think the EU has an active role in promoting democracy in Macedonia, 39.1 percent said yes, but with a reduction of more than two percent compared to 2015, when the percentage was 41.5 percent. Nearly 60 percent, or 59.9 percent believe that the EU s…
MZT Skopje Aerodrom lost 98:75 to Gran Canaria at a home field game on Wednesday. The Spaniards were especially strong in the first half, which ended 51:33. MZT held its own in the third quarter, which it narrowly won, but then lost its pace in the last quarter and allowed the visiting team to rake up points and improve the point difference further. Josh Smith was the best MZT player with 22 points and 11 rebounds. One bit of good news from the game were the comments from Gran Canaria player Lester Bo McCalebb that he is open to r…
The number of tourists in Macedonia in September 2016 got up to 84.018, a rise of 6,1 percent compared to the same month last year, informed the Statistics Bureau on Friday. There were a total of 197.122 overnight stays during the month. The Bureau informs that the number of domestic tourists rose by 22,7 percent, while foreign guests were up by 0,9 percent. Overall, in the first nine months of the year, the number of tourists grew by 4,3 percent, almost evenly among the domestic and foreign visitors. More about Tourism in Macedonia o…
Starting Friday, Skopje is hosting the fourth international scientific symposium dubbed “Days of Justinian I”, organized by the Euro-Balkan University and the University of Bologna in Italy in partnership with the Institute of National History and with support provided by the Ministry of Culture. “The unifying component, i.e. the international recognition of the symposium marking the Days of Justinian I, is best reflected this year with the fact that participants from 15 countries are taking part,” Mitko B. Panov, chairman of the intern…
The new ego shooter of EA Games, Battlefield 1, covers the traditional macedonian folk song Zajdi Zajdi.
Czech company Loko Trans will build a 20 million euro ($22.1 million) centre for maintenance and repair of railway rolling stock in Skopje, Nikola Gruevski, leader of Macedonia's ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, has said. Construction works will begin in the first half of 2017 and the new centre is planned to start operations within less than a year after that, Gruevski said in a statement published on the website of VMRO-DPMNE on Sunday. Loko Trans will create between 150 and 200 new jobs initially at its Skopje centre. The jobs are expe…
The Lear Corporation opened its first plant in Macedonian, located in the Tetovo industrial zone. The American based manufacturer of textiles used in the automotive industry invested 15 million EUR in the plant and has initially employed 520 people, while aiming for up to 3.000 people. Lear initially began operating at an older site in Gostivar with 300 employees. The new plant covers 12.000 square meters with room for 2.000 employees, and has latest textile producing technology installed. An expansion option would increase the nu…
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Thursday lowered its forecast for Macedonia's economic growth in 2016 to 2.1% from 3.2% growth projected in May, reflecting risks from the ongoing political crisis in the country. "The year 2016 as a whole is likely to see a significant drop in GDP growth to 2.1%, but with a likely rebound to 3.0% in 2017 on the back of continued robust consumption and investment," the EBRD said in its latest Regional Economic Prospects report. In the previous report publish…
An earthquake with a magnitude of two degrees on the Richter scale was registered early this morning at 3: 11 AM in Skopje. Seismological Observatory of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje said the quake was felt in Skopje and the surrounding i with intensity of three to four degrees Macroseismic European scale. The epicenter of the earthquake is located in the east of Skopje epicenter area.
Freedom and Love-Film Festival honoring 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight will open Monday evening with the screening of “Play Your Own Game” film at the Cinematheque of Macedonia. The festival will feature several historical movies among which Laszlo Nemes' Hungarian drama “Son Of Saul” that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015. "Hungarians in Krushevo" film will be screened Monday while “Children of Glory" podium discussion with Sándor Csányi will be held on Tuesday (Novembe…
The French film "A Fond" by director Nicholas Benamou is expected to be projected in cinemas in France on December 21. The main location of the filming took place exactly on the Skopje bypass. Last year, in the midst of filming, the bypass was closed from September 7-11 from 7 to 19 PM. Traffic was banned from the junction near Hipodrom to Saraj area. After filming on the bypass, the whole machinery of the movie moved at the Negotino- Veles highway, where the section was also closed during shooting until October 23. …
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