The Republic of North Macedonia's parliamentary elections, held聽amid the global COVID-19 pandemic on July 15, resulted in a hung parliament, write Atanas Grkov and Mark Tan.
Macedonia
French riot police fired tear gas as they began demolishing the Calais 鈥淛ungle鈥 refugee camp on February 29, .
Tear gas was reportedly used in response to stone-throwers at the shanty town, which is home to about 4000 people. Lines of police vans gathered on the perimeter of the camp's southern section and people were prevented from entering the site.
It is the single image that has crystallised the horror of the refugee crisis in Europe: On September 2, a photographer took a picture of the lifeless body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a Kurdish refugee from Syria, lying face-down on a Turkish beach.
The toddler was one of at least 12 refugees 鈥 including his five-year-old brother Galip, and their mother Rihan 鈥 who drowned during a desperate bid to reach the Greek island of Kos, joining more than 2500 refugees who have perished in the Mediterranean this year.
Syrian refugees on Greece-Macedonia border. Photo: Amnesty International.
鈥淎re we animals? Why? Why?鈥
Those were the words of one Syrian refugee to BBC's Channel 4 recently after Macedonian police attacked desperate families seeking entry into the country along the border with Greece.
The refugee crisis has grown to immense proportions. Tens of thousands of people have flooded into the Balkans in recent weeks.
Macedonia
The best way to assist the newly independent state of Macedonia would be to help fund independent news bureaus in the region, Labor Party lobbyist and journalist Richard Farmer