SKOPJE, Macedonia — Macedonia will hold early elections next April under a tentative deal to defuse a political crisis that has been rocking the country for months, a mediator said.

STANOVC, Kosovo — The extended Cakaj family has built a few dozen homes here, along Tony Blair Street, between the Dubai supermarket and the French peacekeepers base, in a clannish faith that closeness would bring security.

Koha Ditore runs an opinion piece by Thomas L. Friedman that originally appeared in The New York Times.