Serbia's Military-Security Agency (VBA) has seized a large quantity of weapons in the southern parts of the country.

According to the daily Blic, the weapons were being transported illegally to Macedonia.

It is assumed that the weapons were intended for "the party infrastructure of the biggest Albanian parties" whose officials took part in armed conflicts in Macedonia, and in Kosovo and Metohija, the newspaper is reporting, citing "VBA sources."

The newly elected Macedonian Assembly President Talat Xhaferi has received the keys to the cabinet where the seals for certification of documents are located.

The new president of the parliament in Skopje can therefore officially take office and inform President Gjorge Ivanov that there is a new majority in parliament.

Immediately after entering the cabinet, Xhaferi held a meeting with Slovenian diplomat Samuel Zbogar, who is EU's special representative in Macedonia.

Friends of Serbia do not behave the way SDSM leader Zoran Zaev has done, says First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

The Macedonian politician earlier on Tuesday said that Serbs and Macedonians are "brotherly people" but that "nationalist leadership of Aleksandar Vucic" is in power in Serbia.

"Serbs are the biggest and best friends to Macedonians, while the way Zaev has acted is not the way friends of Serbia behave," Dacic said.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General of the UN Stéphane Dujarric said that UN is following developments unfolding in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia with great concern and call for restraint and calm. The statement notes that violence directed at democratic institutions and elected representatives of the people is unacceptable.

What is happening in Macedonia is not just a local problem, but one for the whole region, says Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

"Now it's the most obvious how right we have been when we pointed out that Serbia has an important lever in its hands, and that is political stability," Dacic told RTS.

Reporters Without Borders' latest World Press Freedom Index says media freedoms are diminishing in several Balkan countries, with Croatia and Serbia registering the worst declines over the past year.

A growing political crisis in Albania, fears over foreigners buying up land in Serbia and problems of youth radicalisation are among the top stories on Balkan Insight this week.

Hotting Up

The political scene in Albania seems to be getting more and more heated by the day. No accident, given that Parliamentary elections are only two months away, prior to which the country’s Parliament will need to elect a new President.

Macedonia gave the world Alexander the Great, who, legend has it, wept because he could find no more lands to conquer. Now, George Soros, the left-wing billionaire who also wants to rule the world, is meddling with events that could plunge Macedonia into chaos or civil war, and escalate U.S. tensions with Russia.

Kosovo and Albania have condemned Macedonia's President for refusing to allow the Social Democrat-led opposition to form a government in alliance with ethnic Albanian parties on the grounds that it could 'destroy' the country.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/tirana-and-prishtina-accuse-macedonian-president-for-ethnic-discrimination-03-02-2017

In a decision that is bound to inflame tensions further, Macedonia's President has refused to award a mandate to form a government to the opposition leader Zoran Zaev, claiming he might use it to destroy the country.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-president-rejects-awarding-pm-mandate-to-opposition-leader-03-01-2017