Gostivar: 1,200 sick, Vardar river water in the mains, nobody answering

More than 1,200 people in Gostivar ended up at the doctor within a few days with the same symptoms, and the inspection uncovered an unauthorised pump injecting water straight from the Vardar river into the main pipeline. The food agency banned drinking the water, the interior ministry is investigating under Article 219 of the Criminal Code, and the head of the waterworks and the mayor still insist there's no proof. Even without a lab, one thing is clear: somebody's fix for low pressure was to take untreated river water and pump it into a whole city's drinking supply. That alone tells you everything about the state of the infrastructure.

Bitola underwater again after one hour of rain

One hour of a downpour was all it took to turn Bitola into a city under water - flooded houses and yards on nine streets, services that respond only once the water is already inside. Experts aren't talking about a natural disaster, but about systemic failures in planning and maintenance. And while the drains clog up, the tender ledger says four million denars went on catering services. The priorities are clear - they're just not where they should be.

Sewage flowing into Lake Ohrid, but „safe for swimming"

The treatment plant at Sveti Naum has only a macerator for sewage, no filters, while hotels and entire villages discharge straight into Lake Ohrid. Both claims - that it's polluted and that it's safe to swim in - are true at the same time, and that's exactly the problem. Beauty on the surface covers the filth beneath it for a long time, until someone asks how long.

The Constitutional Court left without a quorum

Judge Naumovski resigned - but not from the court. He stopped showing up to sessions, stopped answering calls, and the court's president found out through Gashi. With seven judges instead of nine, the highest court will struggle to muster a majority for any ruling. The institution meant to protect the rules is left paralysed just when it's needed most.

Half of all workers live on up to 36,000 denars

Seventy-three percent of citizens earn below the average wage, half take home between 24,000 and 36,000 denars, and the minimum consumer basket costs around 70,000. The average wage has become a statistical illusion that fewer than a third of citizens ever clear. From Brussels, meanwhile, Azeski warns that over 90 percent of companies in the region point to corruption and the grey economy as the main obstacle. The message stings precisely because it comes from our own backyard.

Hospitality where the institutions stay silent

Against all of this, in Kavadarci one small town and one local company opened their doors to children from Ukraine for a ten-day holiday - ten days of peace from the war. And in Kisela Voda and towards Gorno Orizari, roads are being paved and a sports zone opened in places where the infrastructure was treated for years as if it didn't exist. Small things that won't solve big problems, but the real test is whether they'll be maintained.

The world: a seventh night over Iran, a tornado in France

Iran struck the American bases in the region, and sirens wailed over Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain - each side tells its own version, and the truth, as usual in war, waits until morning. In France, a violent storm took two lives, with thirty departments on alert and 53,000 households without power.

The day has one thread running through its heavier half: everywhere the citizen paid - with their health, a flooded house, a wage that doesn't stretch - those in charge ask for more time, more proof, one more lab. And the bill has already been delivered.