Macedonia charges 30 for weekend battle
KUMANOVO, Macedonia – Macedonian authorities Monday jailed 30 people captured in a weekend gun battle in a northern town that left 22 police and suspected ethnic Albanian militants dead, at a time of heightened political tension in the small Balkan country.
The suspects face terrorism-related charges. They are accused of participating in the fighting that killed eight police and also injured 37 people in the northern town of Kumanovo that has a mixed population of Macedonians and minority ethnic Albanians.
Most of those arrested came from neighboring ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo, where officials called for a “credible and transparent investigation into the killings.”
A court in Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, identified the suspects Monday as 18 Kosovo residents, 11 Macedonians – two of whom were living in Kosovo – and one Albanian. All 30 were ordered detained for 30 days, the maximum period allowed under Macedonian law, which can then be renewed until the suspects go to trial.
Greece finances approaching failure
BRUSSELS – Greece may have only a couple of weeks left before it faces real problems meeting its financial commitments, the country’s finance minister conceded Monday as talks with European creditors dragged on without agreement.
After a meeting with his peers in the 19-country eurozone, Yanis Varoufakis said Greece was being strangled by a liquidity problem that could become “binding” in a couple of weeks.
“The liquidity issue is an incredibly urgent issue,” he said. “Let’s not beat about the bush and pretend otherwise ... It seems to me that from the perspective of the timeframe that we are facing, we’re talking about the next couple of weeks.”
Greece is facing an acute cash crunch that many in financial markets think could see the country default on its debts, put up restrictions on capital flows and possibly leave the euro currency. It’s one of the great uncertainties surrounding the global economy.
Liberians celebrates end of Ebola threat
MONROVIA, Liberia – Liberians gathered in the streets of the capital Monday to celebrate the end of the Ebola epidemic in this West African country.
The festivities come after the World Health Organization declared over the weekend that Liberia was finally Ebola-free.
More than 4,700 people died during the Ebola crisis in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the outbreak. Ebola continues to claim victims in Sierra Leone and Guinea, where health officials have had difficulty tracing new cases.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf closed the celebrations by recommitting herself to helping the governments and people of Sierra Leone and Guinea to overcome the disease.
Associated Press
