Veles

Three suspects in the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Skopje and a 74-year-old man from Veles have been detained, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in North Macedonia announced late last night. Today, the Minister of the Interior, Oliver Spasovski, said that two more people are being sought, one of whom is said to have gone first to Belgrade and then to Bulgaria.

The Public Prosecution said on Monday that its teams are now analysing physical evidence from the scene of last Wednesday's fire in the town of Tetovo that claimed the lives of 14 people at a hospital for COVID-19 patients.

North Macedonia's police searched 11 premises in the capital Skopje and in the towns of Veles, Stip, Strumica and Valandovo on Wednesday, arresting six suspected members of a migrant-smuggling group.

Three more suspects are still being sought, police said.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told The New York Times on Thursday that Macedonia had become involved in the spread of fake news.

Discussing the scandal involving British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica obtaining access to more than 50 million Facebook users' data in 2014, he said: 

Several hundred people led by Gruevski and other high-ranking VMRO DPMNE party members protested on Tuesday amid a heavy police presence in front of the Skopje Criminal Court, where the suspects who were arrested in the morning were taken before a judge.

Police on Tuesday morning detained Cavkov, the former head of the uniformed police, and several VMRO DPMNE MPs over the storming of parliament in April.

They are being charged by the Organised Crime Prosecution with serious crimes against the state.

The Skopje Criminal Court sentenced "L.A". who holds dual, Macedonian and Turkish citizenship to a 400-euro fine which could be turned into a prison sentence if the fine is not paid, Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

The verdict says the accused was found guilty of having "published ironic statements and directed insults towards the leader of a foreign country".

Macedonia's ministry of interior said police had arrested a 67-year-old named as Lj. S., from the village of Dolno Kalaslari, near the town of Veles, shortly after he was believed to have fired two gun shots in the direction of former health minister Nikola Todorov.

Macedonia should investigate threats of violence made by 'patriotic associations' that support the right-wing VMRO DPMNE party's fight against a proposed new, opposition-led coalition government, warn security experts.

Protestors wearing the movement's signature vibrant clothes threw paint balls at the Justice Ministry and President's contact office in downtown Skopje as they marched along their usual route.