Macedonia launches new government
After two years of a deepening political crisis marked by a corruption scandal and a violent confrontation with an angry mobin Parliament in April that left several officials bloodied, Macedonia has a new government for the firsttime in more than a decade.
Butthe government, elected on Wednesday by a slim majority in Parliament andled by Zoran Zaev of the center-left Social Democrats, faces the daunting task of restoring normality toa country racked by political divisions, a feeble economyand tense relations between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.
Mr. Zaev, the new prime minister, has promised urgentlyneeded changes and nationwide unification.
The stability of the country, formerly a republic in Yugoslavia, is strategically important because it is in thecenter of the so-called Balkan route taken by migrants fleeing war-torn countries.
‘Patriotic’ Russians
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that some “patriotic” individuals may have engaged in hacking but insisted Russia asa country has never done it.
“Hackers are free people, just like artists who wake upin the morning in a good mood and start painting,” hesaid. “The hackers are the same. They would wake up, read about something goingon in interstate relations and if they feel patriotic, they may try to contribute to the fight against those who speak badly about Russia.”
Shiite forces advance
While Iraq’s conventional military has been slowly clearing the Islamic State group from inside Mosul’s complex urban terrain, Iraq’s Iran-backed Shiite paramilitary forces have been working their way through less glamorous territory: vast deserts west and south of the city that run along and across Iraq’s border with Syria.
The territory is home to key supply lines into neighboring Syria and connecting Iraq’s north to the capital Baghdad. Control of the Iraqi-Syrian border would bea key strategic prize for the mostly Shiite paramilitary forces and their backer Iran, who also supports the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Gold trader case
Despite posing potential conflicts of interest, Rudolph W. Giuliani and another prominent lawyer were allowed on Thursday tocontinue to represent a Turkish-Iranian gold trader facing federal charges in Manhattan.
The businessman, Reza Zarrab, 33, faces trial on Oct. 30on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, bank fraud and violating the United States sanctions on Iran. He has pleaded not guilty.
Italy bank bailout
European Union regulators said Thursday that they had reached an agreement in principle on a draft plan that would allow Italy to inject capital into the troubled lender Monte dei Paschidi Siena.
Montedei Paschi is the first case in which the European Central Bank has exercised its oversight role under new bank bailout rules.
Also in the world …
Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that the country’s space organization is canceling a project to explore sending humans into space. ... Stormy weather thwarted SpaceX’s effort Thursday to launch its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station.