World
North Macedonia votes in presidential polls as EU membership bid looms
The vote is the first in a series of polls that could decide whether the diverse Balkan country will ever join the EU.
Voting is under way in North Macedonia to elect a president ahead of an upcoming parliamentary election as the Balkan country continues to ponder its European Union membership bid.
The results of Wednesday’s polls are due later in the day, shortly after the polling stations close at 18:00 GMT.
The country has 1.8 million registered voters in a population of 2.3 million, and the turnout must be at least 40 percent for the result to be valid.
The 61-year-old incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski is a candidate of the pro-European Social Democrats running for a second five-year term and is challenged by the 70-year-old Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova from the opposition VMRO DPMNE coalition.
The two offer different views on how to deal with neighbouring Bulgaria’s condition of securing a recognition of a Bulgarian ethnic minority in the constitution of North Macedonia, in exchange for its backing of Skopje’s EU bid.
Pendarovski and the ruling centre-left Social Democrats (SDSM) are prepared to make the amendments but lack the numbers to win a parliamentary vote.
The opposition coalition refuses to budge, saying any constitutional changes can come after North Macedonia joins the EU, a stance the government says is unrealistic.
EU membership talks for the Balkan state began in 2022 as part of a process expected to take years, and its candidacy for the 27-nation bloc dates back to 2005.
The country had already cleared another resistance to its membership bid from Greece in a 2019 move to change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia. The Balkan state joined NATO in 2020.
Voter Stavre Temelkovski told The Associated Press news agency that he had high expectations that North Macedonia would become a full-fledged EU member soon.
“I expect a civic movement to win, for us to be a part of all those pro-Western systems, and to start a process of healing for a state which has waited for almost three decades,” he said. “Many generations are exhausted.”
Parliamentary vote
The election on Wednesday comes ahead of a parliamentary vote on May 8.
If the presidential vote goes to a second round of voting, a possibility indicated by the results of state-released polls, a run-off vote will also be held on May 8.
The opposition’s Siljanovska-Davkova is expected to take 19.2 percent of the votes and Pendarovski 9.7 percent, according to state television. Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, a candidate for the DUI party, is forecast to come third with 6.6 percent of votes.
In total, seven candidates are running for the largely ceremonial position after less than a month of campaigning, with discussions also ranging from the rule of law, fighting corruption to reducing poverty.
World
Peru’s Sanchez visits jailed ex-president as votes are counted
Peruvian presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez visited jailed former president Pedro Castillo as officials counted ballots from the closely contested runoff election against conservative rival Keiko Fujimori.
Published On 8 Jun 2026
World
Lawsuit seeks to stop the UFC fight on the White House South Lawn for Trump’s birthday
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal lawsuit seeks to halt the upcoming UFC fight card on the White House South Lawn in a mixed martial arts show timed for President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The filing Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents contends the Trump administration’s authorization of the June 14 event was unlawful. The lawsuit says such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space and no environmental review was conducted before the construction.
“This is fundamentally a private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain,” said Brendan Ballou, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “And that is what is motivating this lawsuit.”
The White House said in a statement that the legal challenge was “an obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory” attempt to prevent Trump from hosting the fight and that the event was “no different than the various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall throughout the year.”
UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn. Trump has said the finished UFC project will feature “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House.” Additional large screens broadcasting the fights will be set up in a park at the nearby Ellipse, and the UFC has said it plans to issue as many as 85,000 free tickets to accommodate spectators at both locations.
The octagon and surrounding structures are the latest project in the White House building boom Trump is leading.
World
Suspected Hamas terrorist arrested in Greece for allegedly plotting attack on Israeli cruise ship
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A suspected Hamas terrorist, reportedly granted asylum a year from the Gaza war, was arrested by Greek police for allegedly plotting an attack on an Israeli cruise line.
The Gaza man, 37, was arrested on the Greek island of Crete on Sunday for his alleged ties to one of four suspected Hamas terrorists previously arrested in Cyprus, having traveled with him to Malaysia, where they allegedly received training in making explosives from commercially available chemical agents.
The Israeli cruise ship MS Crown Iris was the believed target of the attack before it was scheduled to arrive in Crete on Tuesday. Police did not publicly identify the man or name a target in their initial statement.
Searches in homes in both Crete and the Greek capital, Athens, turned up a number of mobile phones, a laptop, external hard drives and bank cards, The Associated Press reported.
3 ALLEGED HAMAS MEMBERS ACCUSED OF PLOTTING AGAINST JEWISH INSTITUTIONS IN GERMANY
A Wednesday protest at the port of Piraeus near Athens, Greece, opposing the arrival of the Crown Iris cruise ship was a prelude to the arrest of a suspected Hamas terrorist who is alleged to have plotted an attack. (Costas Baltas/Anadolu)
The suspect, an electrician who has been reportedly living in Crete for the past year and working at a hotel there after being granted asylum, will appear before a magistrate later Sunday.
The suspected terrorist had placed an online order for what police said were “chemical agents” that could be used in the manufacture of explosives, according to the report.
State broadcaster ERT, cited by Israeli and Greek media, reported that police also found laboratory equipment.
TWO CONVICTED OF TERRORISM IN DENMARK FOR GRENADE ATTACK NEAR ISRAELI EMBASSY
The case appears to be part of a broader regional counterterrorism probe. Cypriot authorities arrested two Palestinians on May 22 after intelligence led investigators to materials in two residences that police said could be used to manufacture explosives. Two more Palestinian men were detained May 29 as part of the same investigation, according to Greek police.
The Crown Iris has become a recurring flashpoint at Greek ports amid anger over the war in Gaza. Protesters gathered near the ship when it docked in Piraeus on Wednesday, June 3, and demonstrations against the vessel have followed it at Greek ports since last year.
Protesters allege that Mano Maritime, the owner of the MS Crown Iris, is profiting from the Hamas-Israel war by selling tourist services to Israel Defense Forces soldiers during breaks from active duty.
In July 2025, Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as demonstrators tried to block the ship at Agios Nikolaos on Crete.
Greek security forces were forced to protect Israeli tourists traveling on buses to board the Israeli-owned cruise ship MS Crown Iris at the port of Piraeus in Athens on June 3, 2026. (Aggelos Nakkas/AFP)
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The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not announced formal charges against the suspect.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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