A 160,000-euro safe and ten months to connect the dots

The biggest hit in a series of burglaries across Polog was a safe full of gold jewellery, weapons and ammunition, carried out of a house in Dolno Palčište, worth around 160,000 euros. Police in Tetovo have filed criminal charges against four people for ten offences - four aggravated thefts and six attempts. The route runs from a betting shop in Tearce to a petrol station in Pirok, and the two houses in Dolno Palčište alone lost around 230,000 euros. The burglaries were the choice of people who are now named by their initials, and a court will decide who is guilty. But between the first and the last break-in in the same village, ten months went by.

Inspections: a report with a price tag and an inspectorate with no staff

In Skopje, an inspector from the Food and Veterinary Agency was detained, according to information that is still unofficial. The alleged scheme is simple: demand paperwork the procedure does not require, then make a clean inspection report conditional on cash. The amount has not been disclosed, and until a court rules she is a suspect, not a convict. Meanwhile, an audit of the State Market Inspectorate found a vehicle sitting in a scrapyard, an adverse opinion, and only 5 of 14 product-safety posts filled. The tests for safe products are paid for by foreign projects. If both of these watchdogs are limping, who is actually vouching for what sits on the shelf?

Kapištec and Prilep: complaints waiting for something to happen

A firecracker set a tree alight in Skopje's Kapištec park, and the fire very nearly reached the apartment blocks and transformer stations. Residents say they report the fireworks every single day - it took a burning tree for the case to become news. In Prilep, meanwhile, the neighbourhood dogs Liska, Poko and Šarka are gone: they were caught, but they are not in the shelter. The animal group "Anima Mundi" is demanding records from the municipal utility "Komunalec" and asking who decided their fate.

Sofia: the EU can sit at the table, but the conditions stay

Foreign Minister Timčo Mucunski asked for the EU to be present at every future round of talks with Bulgaria, because, in his words, trust is missing. The Bulgarian foreign ministry did not slam the door, but the answer is a familiar one: accession is a European matter with rules already set, and Macedonia has to meet its obligations. The key point is still writing Bulgarians into the Constitution. Skopje does not dispute the amendment itself - it wants guarantees that no new bilateral conditions will appear after it. Four years after the July 2022 consensus, the two sides agree on exactly one thing: they do not trust each other.

SDSM at war with itself

The "12.05 Conversations about the Future" platform publicly called on party leader Venko Filipče to step down, and he branded it "ZNAM 2.0", after an earlier breakaway party. Igor Ivanovski claims there is a pre-arranged deal between the government and the opposition, while Filipče says the platform wants "to take over the party in a coup". Neither side has put any evidence on the table. Former official Esad Rahić warns that SDSM could end up like Greece's PASOK. While the two camps accuse each other of secretly working for the government, the government can simply sit back and watch.

Mines, milk and the land that feeds people

At the public hearing in Strumica, the message was short: no mine, full stop. The draft national spatial plan to 2040 lists five sites for metal mines, among them Ilovica-Štuka and Kazandol, and civic groups have given the government until 29 September to revoke the Ilovica-Štuka concessions. The ministry insists it is only a draft. In Pelagonia, meanwhile, livestock farmers are heading out to protest: a litre of milk goes for 23 denars, and the premium owed since last July has not arrived. The minister counts 90 percent of subsidies paid out; the farmers say they have not received even half. On Wednesday near Topolčani we will see whose number is louder.

Two building codes in a city that remembers 1963

Experts are calling for a single rulebook for construction, because standards from the 1980s and the Eurocodes have been valid side by side for ten years now. In a city that remembers the 1963 earthquake, that should never be a merely technical question.

The world: Taiwan on the table, drones over Ukraine, Serbia staying in its seat

At the White House, Xi Jinping put Taiwan on the table: the trade truce was extended by two months, there is no big deal, and a 14-billion-dollar arms package sits frozen. In the Balkans we know what it looks like when great powers negotiate over someone's territory without that territory's people at the table. In Ukraine, a drone slammed into a 25-storey building in Kyiv and a medical centre burned in Zaporizhzhia, while the interception rate against Russia's jet-powered drones has fallen from over 90 to 60 percent. At the UN, as dozens of delegations walked out on Netanyahu's speech, Serbia's stayed seated - today Belgrade and Israel are also linked by a drone factory.

Science, and student transport without the paperwork

Macedonia is taking part in European Researchers' Night for the first time, with more than 85 free activities in four cities, and the minister boasted of 773 million denars for science. Whether one night is enough to keep young researchers here is another question. In Skopje, free public transport for students now runs through a QR code, with no forms and no stamps, because the city bus company JSP and the universities will exchange the data between themselves.

Sport: Bardhi, Klopp and the handball women

Bardhi wants a full arena against Switzerland and warns that nobody feels comfortable in Skopje, while Klopp's debut ended in a draw and Ronaldo, at 41, missed from six metres. Handball was more convincing: the women's team under new head coach Marković flattened Serbia, and the federation wants Macedonia to host the EHF EURO 2034. Vardar, on the other hand, got a final warning over objects thrown from the stands.

The heavier part of the day revolves around oversight: an inspector allegedly selling reports, an inspectorate with fewer than half its posts filled, complaints about fireworks that wait for a fire, and burglaries that get connected after ten months. Oversight exists on paper. The question is who does it when nobody is watching.