SKOPJE: Macedonia has never been closer to solving its 25-year name row with Greece, but even if it fails Skopje will continue to integrate with Europe, its premier says.
“I believe that we have never had better circumstances to find a complete solution that will last for centuries and will remain forever,” Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told AFP in an interview.
The long-running name dispute between Macedonia and EU-member Greece dates back to 1991 when Skopje declared independence following the collapse of communist Yugoslavia.
Athens objects to Macedonia’s name because it has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions.
“If the dispute is not solved, the world will not end,” Zaev said.
“We will bring Europe here to Skopje (the capital). And we will push an European agenda one way or another.”
Because of the dispute, Macedonia was forced to join the United Nations under the name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Greek veto threats have also hampered Skopje’s bid to become a member of the European Union and the NATO military alliance.
UN mediated talks to settle the row have resumed since Zaev’s Social Democrats won elections last year, ousting the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party of Nikola Gruevski after more than ten years in power.
The negotiations have made progress after Macedonia agreed in February to change the name of the capital’s Alexander the Great airport to Skopje International Airport, in a goodwill gesture to Greece.
Macedonia had also been accused of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered part of Greek culture, such as Alexander the Great.
The motorway linking Macedonia with Greece was also renamed the Friendship Highway.
Zaev said he was “satisfied” that “a huge part of the issues” between Macedonia and Greece had been solved and that he was optimistic about a final deal.
He has previously said an agreement could be reached by the summer. However, the 43-year-old declined to go into details about the ongoing talks, saying “it could destroy the entire process.”
Earlier this week the European Commission recommended opening EU accession talks with Skopje, an EU candidate since 2005, in a development Zaev described as “encouraging.”
“This is a message of open doors. That is very important for Macedonia,” he said, adding that more than 75 percent of Macedonians are in favor of the country’s integration into the EU and NATO.
However, “that does not mean that we should not improve cooperation with other countries, including the Russian Federation,” Zaev said.
Russia has openly objected to the aspirations of fellow Slavic countries in the Balkans to join NATO, most recently when Montenegro became a member in mid-2017.
“I want to improve cooperation with Russia,” Zaev said.
“(But) the Russian Federation should know that for us there is no alternative to NATO and the European Union. We will remain focused on that path. That is our absolute right, our expectation and how we view the future of this country and the people that live here.”
Macedonia getting closer to solving name row with Greece
Macedonia getting closer to solving name row with Greece
- Macedonian PM Zoran Zaev: “I believe that we have never had better circumstances to find a complete solution that will last for centuries and will remain forever.”
- Athens objects to Macedonia’s name because it has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions.
EU antiques import clampdown could gut trade, warn dealers
The regulation is a European response to developments spanning terrorism in the Middle East to changing attitudes to cultural appropriation
PARIS: New European rules designed to crack down on the trafficking of stolen antiques and art are causing alarm among gallery owners, with some dealers warning of suffocating red tape that will affect trade.
The sector is bracing for the implementation of Regulation 2019/880 on June 28 which will introduce strict new requirements for imports into the European Union from non-EU countries.
Dealers wishing to import goods such as archaeological treasures will have to provide documentation and proof that they have been exported from their country of origin legally.
Other items including artworks, coins or books that are worth more than 18,000 euros ($20,500) and are more than 200 years old will also be subject to the restrictions.
“We’ll end up buying nothing outside the European Union,” warned Antonia Eberwein, vice president of the National Union of Antiques Dealers (SNA) in France.
She warned that the markets for archaeological items, as well as pre-Columbian, Chinese or Indian art “risk being depleted, without putting an end to illicit trafficking, which by nature is invisible and undeclared.”
Pierre Valentin, an art and heritage specialist at London-based law firm Fieldfisher, believes the aim of the regulation is “laudable” but that implementing it could lead to an “evidential nightmare for collectors.”
In some cases, goods will have left their country of origin centuries ago before changing hands several times among collectors, with today’s owners left needing to prove their property was exported legally.
“We’re being asked to provide things that don’t exist,” said Eberwein, calling the regulation “absurd” and the evidence requirement “a total lack of understanding of the realities” of the market.
The regulation is a European response to developments spanning terrorism in the Middle East to changing attitudes to cultural appropriation.
The links between organized crime, terror groups and trafficking in cultural goods have been repeatedly raised by international police group Interpol and the United Nations.
Al-Qaeda and Daesh group were both found to have looted archaeological sites under their control in Iraq and Syria to help fund their activities.
The EU regulation, which was first proposed in 2017 following years of Daesh attacks in Europe, refers to the pillaging of archaeological sites reaching “an industrial scale.”
The European Commission estimated in 2017 that the illicit trade in cultural goods could be worth up to 6.0 billion euros a year, putting it on a par with drugs, arms or counterfeit goods trafficking.
“Money is the life blood of war for the terrorists who attack our continent or who fight in Iraq and Syria,” then EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said at the time.
There is also growing sensitivity in Europe about the continent’s colonial history and its role in looting artistic and cultural property.
Many major European institutions from the British Museum to the Louvre in Paris are analizing their collections and, in a small number of cases, returning items to their countries of origin.
Edouard de Lamaze, president of France’s Council of Auction Houses, which regulates auction houses, said the changes would have some positive effects and “will enhance transparency for buyers and collectors, and strengthen the role of auctioneers.”
But it also risks bringing “a heavy administrative burden and a slowdown in activity.”
Auctioneers “will now have to systematically rely on experts to trace the history of artworks — a task that is difficult, if not impossible,” especially in the case of inherited items with no documentation, he added.
Some countries, such as Mexico, “ban all exports and claim their entire archaeological heritage,” noted Alexandre Giquello, head of France’s Drouot auction group.
He views the regulation “very unfavorably” and warned of “significant economic losses.”
“While the aim is commendable, it could penalize a large part of the market by introducing a very convoluted process that is slow to implement and will drastically increase delays,” he said.
Paris-based gallery owner David Ghezelbash, who specializes in archaeological items from Greece, Egypt and Italy, said he was “not concerned,” however.
He operates outside the EU, including with American museums, and he already regularly commissions independent experts “to trace the history of each work, as far as possible.”
He acknowledged that “a grey area” would be formed for objects without documented provenance, however, especially inherited pieces which risk being discredited.
Indonesia’s health ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia
- Indonesia was among hardest-hit in the region during the pandemic
- Local cases have so far remained relatively low amid the latest wave
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia.
Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
The new spread of the coronavirus that brought the world to a standstill a few years ago has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19.
It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin met with President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday to report on the country’s COVID-19 situation.
“Cases are indeed increasing, but the rise is caused by variants that are relatively less deadly,” Sadikin told reporters after the meeting.
His statement comes after Indonesia’s Health Ministry issued a circular last week instructing regional agencies, hospitals, community centers and other medical service facilities across the country to monitor case trends and report unusual conditions.
Health quarantine facilities are also instructed to “step up surveillance on people, transportation and items coming from abroad, especially those from countries that are reporting surges in COVID-19 cases,” the circular stated.
Indonesia has confirmed 72 COVID-19 cases and reported no deaths in 2025, the latest data from the Health Ministry showed. The caseload was at seven from last week alone, with the positive rate declining to 2.05 percent from a peak of 3.62 percent the previous week.
Indonesia was among the hardest-hit countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cumulative death toll of around 162,000, it has the second-highest number in the region, after 533,000 recorded in India.
Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case
- Resolution was drafted by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency
- The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case
MANILA: A top Philippine senator has drafted a resolution seeking to dismiss an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, his office said on Wednesday, which could boost her chances of political survival after an acrimonious fallout with the president. The lower house in February impeached Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on accusations that included budget anomalies, amassing unusual wealth and an alleged threat to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and the house speaker.
Sara Duterte faces a lifetime ban from office if convicted in a Senate trial. She has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
The resolution was drafted, according to his office, by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency. A Senate source, who declined to be identified, confirmed the draft was circulating among senators.
The draft seen by Reuters says the Senate did not act promptly to begin proceedings upon receipt of the impeachment article, so the case was “de facto dismissed” as 100 days had already passed.
It was not immediately clear when the resolution would be filed or how much support it would have. If it succeeds, it could intensify an escalating battle for power between Marcos and former ally Duterte ahead of a 2028 presidential election that she is widely expected to contest, with Marcos limited to a single term and unable to run again.
At stake is the legacy and future influence of Marcos, who has waged a decades-long campaign to defend his family’s name from what he says are false historical narratives of plunder and brutality during the 1970s and 1980s rule of his strongman father and namesake. The effort to dismiss the case comes after a stronger-than-expected showing for allies of Duterte in last month’s midterm elections, demonstrating her popularity and unswerving influence, despite the row with Marcos, humiliating legislative enquiries and the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of her father in March.
The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case. A new Senate will convene in late July.
“The matter cannot cross over to the incoming 20th Congress,” the draft said.
Marcos has called for unity among all political camps and has distanced himself from the impeachment of Duterte, which was backed overwhelmingly by a lower house controlled by his allies. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dela Rosa’s proposed resolution.
Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear
- NATO chief: ‘I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details’
BRUSSELS: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit in The Hague this month, Mark Rutte, the military bloc’s chief, said on Wednesday, without specifying whether this meant Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky would attend.
“I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details,” Rutte told reporters before a meeting with defense ministers in Brussels.
Asked whether Zelensky personally had been invited, Rutte only said the program would be published in due course.
India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway
- The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan
- Indian leader set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long steel and concrete span that connects two mountains
SRINAGAR, India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday.
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947.
Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below.
“The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Modi is expected to flag off a special train.
Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.
More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.
The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing – a charge Islamabad denies.
Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
The 272-kilometer (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway – with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges – has been constructed “aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration,” the statement added.
Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the “world’s highest railway arch bridge.”
While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.
Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.”
The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods – as well as troops – that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air.
The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region’s key city, by half, taking around three hours.
The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China.
India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.
Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands.
The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.
