They killed four members of a Kosovar Albanian gang suspected of trying to smuggle large amounts of weaponry across Macedonia's borders, Macedonian police has said.

Radio Srbija reported on Wednesday that acting on a tip, police in the village of Radus on the border between Macedonia and Serbia attempted to stop a van believed to be carrying weapons when the occupants opened fire.

The Macedonian International News Agency has said that no police were killed or injured in the 15-minute exchange of gunfire.

MINA further reported that several other armed terrorists operating in and around Radusha surrendered to the police.

Berlin  - Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov is confident about the prospect of European Union membership talks after meeting this week in Berlin with German President Horst Koehler.

Ivanov said his visit came "at a time when our state is expecting a positive report from the EU," and that Macedonia was eagerly awaiting the setting of a date for membership negotiations to begin.

Skopje has drawn hope from recent plans to grant Macedonians visa- free travel to the so-called Schengen zone of countries within the EU by the start of 2010.

Skopje (Macedonia), Sep. 6 : At least fifteen tourists, all of them Bulgarians, drowned as their overcrowded pleasure boat sank in the Lake Ohrid in Macedonia on Saturday.

The boat named Iliden was 200 metres from shore when it capsized in the lake famous for its deep turquoise waters, reports Sky News.

"More than 70 passengers were on the boat. Fifteen perished, four seriously injured were taken to hospital in Ohrid and about 50 survivors are at a local hotel,” said Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska.

Skopje - At least 12 people died when a tourist boat sank Saturday in Ohrid Lake in Macedonia, local media reports said, and there were fears that five more people had drowned.

Fifty-three people were in safety after the vessel, with mainly Bulgarian tourists on board capsized some 200-300 metres off shore, the reports said.

Rescuers recovered 12 bodies and a further five people were known to be missing. Authorities said they feared the death toll could rise. (dpa)

Skopje  - Macedonian officials will have to prove by the end of September that they did not cooperate with the Communist secret police, as the lustration process in the country has officially begun Tuesday, media in Skopje, the capital, reported.

Some top 250 officials, beginning with the president and prime minister, will have to give notarized statements to the Lustration Commission and prove that they did not work for the Communists intelligence agency. The Commission will then verify the statements.

The Lustration Law was passed last year, but for months parties in the parliament postponed its implementation.

Skopje  - Several persons were injured Sunday in violent clashes in the center of the Macedonian capital of Skopje between Slavic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.

A number of vehicles and store windows were damaged by stones and metal pipes in the fray.

The clashes were triggered by more than 100 Macedonian fans of the local FC Vardar, broadcasters in the city reported. The vandals beat up Albanian ethnics who quickly organized their own defence.

Skopje/Sofia - A diplomatic row over a prison sentence Macedonia handed to a Bulgarian national could signal growing ethnic tensions and further burden Skopje's already stalled bid to join the EU and NATO, media said Thursday in both countries.

Macedonia recently sentenced 23-year-old mother-of-two Spaska Mitrova to three months in prison over her refusal to allow her Macedonian husband child visitation rights.

Skopje  - Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on Wednesday has proposed a double-name system to end a years- long dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia.

The two countries have been at loggerheads over the name since the 1990s break-up of former Yugoslavia. The country, which emerged from the break-up, shares its name with a province in neighbouring Greece.

Greece, Gruevski said, "shows no desire to discuss" the matter.

Skopje  - Macedonian archaeologists have discovered 17 tombs dating from the 5th century BC in Ohrid, southwestern Macedonia, local media reported Monday.

In one tomb, archaeologists found bones of a 15-year-old girl with a unique funeral mask made up of thin gold eye-covers, gold plate for the mouth and a plaque with an engraved sun placed on her chest.

"This kind of a mask is unique for the Balkans. Several gold plates were found in Aegean region, but this kind of combination in one grave is unknown," Pasko Kuzman, head of the Macedonian Department for Cultural Heritage, was quoted as saying.

Skopje - The European Union's top diplomat Javier Solana said Tuesday in Skopje the European Commission was about to scrap visas for Macedonian citizens as well as for Serbians and Montenegrans, local media reported.

"I bring good news for your country and the citizens," Solana told reporters in Skopje where he arrived as a part of his tour of western Balkans during which he promised improved travel conditions.

Solana arrived from Belgrade, where on Monday he also promised Serbian citizens "good news" about visa free traveling.

Skopje - A new Macedonian cabinet has received parliamentary approval, days after upheaval at the executive level left several key positions open, reported local media on Saturday.

Conservative Premier Nikola Gruevski sacked his finance minister on Wednesday. The same day, the education and agriculture ministers resigned, a move which followed the resignation of the deputy prime minister in charge of European integration.

Skopje - Macedonia's conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was facing up to rebuilding his cabinet after the resignations of several ministers, local media reported Wednesday.

Minister of Education Pero Stojanovski and Minister of Agriculture Aco Spasenovski resigned, while Gruevski asked Minister of Finance Trajko Slavevski to go as well.

A few days ago Ivica Bocevski, deputy prime minister in charge of European integration, also resigned.

Skopje - Macedonia's ruling coalition was plunged into a crisis Thursday after a diplomatic blunder in its relations with neighbouring Kosovo, local media said reported.

The Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu cancelled a trip to Macedonia scheduled for Thursday reportedly when Skopje downgraded his visit from "official" to "working."

Sejdiu is a leader of the largely ethnic-Albanian Kosovo, which declared unilateral independence from Serbia 15 months ago.

Skopje  - Presidential and local elections in Macedonia were an improvement over previous, violence-plagued polls, though some problems persist, the organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission said Monday.

The runner of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE, Georgi Ivanov, won by a landslide Sunday, after equally dominating the first-round vote two weeks earlier. He became the country's fourth president since it split from former Yugoslavia nearly two decades ago.

Skopje, Macedonia - Srecko Katanec has resigned as Macedonia national team coach, citing lack of discipline in the team, local news reports said on Monday.

Katanec was at the helm of the team since 2006. The Slovenian coach's last match was a 4-0 defeat at the Netherlands in World Cup 2010 qualifying group 9 on April 1. Macedonia rank fourth in the five-team group. (dpa)

Skopje  - The nationalist candidate Georgi Ivanov won the Macedonian presidential run-off with nearly twice as many votes as his rival, Ljubomir Frckoski, the state election commission said Monday.

Ivanov, put forward by the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, collected 437,000 votes while Frckoski, the runner of the opposition Social Democratic Union, collected 252,000.

Turnout was low, barely surpassing the 40-per-cent mark required by law for a legal election. With nearly all the ballots accounted for, the turnout was 40.8 per cent, the commission said.

Skopje - The ruling nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party's candidate Georgi Ivanov was leading his rival from the opposition Social Democratic Union, Ljubomir Frckoski, by a large margin in the Sunday's presidential election run-off, the state election commission said.

According to preliminary figures, Ivanov had 200,000 votes to Frckoski's 102,000, accoring to the commission. The figures were in line with pre-election surveys, which predicted Ivanov' would win two votes for every one to Frckoski.

Skopje - The ruling nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party's candidate Georgi Ivanov was heading to certain victory in the Macedonian presidential election runoff, after the vote barely survived a boycott by the Albanian minority.

While Ivanov was steadily collecting two ballots to each one won by his rival, the opposition Social Democrat's Ljubomir Frckoski, turnout met the legally required 40-per-cent threshold by a razor- thin margin.

Skopje  - The ruling Macedonian VMRO-DPMNE party appeared set to solidify its authority with the victory of its candidate in the presidential election run-off on Sunday.

The VMRO candidate, Georgi Ivanov, is an overwhelming favourite to win the ballot even before the first round on March 22. Surveys show him with a two-to-one edge over the Social Democratic candidate and law professor, Ljubomir Frckoski.

Skopje - Georgi Ivanov, the candidate of Macedonia's ruling party in the country's presidential elections, is heading to the second-round vote with a huge lead over his opposition rivals, results released one day after the first round of voting showed Monday.

With some 40 per cent of the ballots counted, Ivanov, nominated by the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, had more than twice as many votes than his nearest challenger, the Social Democrats' candidate Ljubomir Frckovski.

Frckovski overcame a surprisingly strong showing by former interior minister and VMRO official Ljube Boskoski, now an independent candidate.

The incumbent, Social Democrat Branko Crvenkovski, did not seek re-election in Sunday's polls.