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By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Fed up with Macedonia's economic woes, Solomon Bicakcic will vote "yes" in a referendum on Sunday on whether to change the country's name to qualify for European Union membership and - many hope - usher in prosperity. "Something has to change, we cannot continue like this," Bicakcic, a 52-year-old pensioner, told Reuters. Macedonia's bids for EU and NATO membership were blocked by Greece until June when it struck a deal with Athens on the name of the ex-Yugoslav republic to end a 27-year-long dispute. Greece maintained that Macedonia's name implied territorial claims to its northern province of the same name. Skopje must now formally adopt the name of Republic of North Macedonia, replacing Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to emerge from decades of stagnation and instability. To secure popular support for the required constitutional amendments, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's government called a referendum with one question - are you for or against … [Read more...] about Eyeing EU, NATO, Macedonians set for referendum on changing state’s name

BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival tribe attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday. Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, generally over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year. That has compounded an already dire security situation in the country's north, where attacks by jihadist groups are common. Tuesday's raid on a remote desert village in the Menaka region near the border with Niger killed 16 people, Bajan Ag Hamatou, a member of parliament from the area, told Reuters. "Armed men entered a Tuareg campsite and killed all the men they found," Hamatou said. "They were attacked by their Fulani brothers." The mayor of the nearby town of Menaka, Nanout Kotia, said the attack killed 15 or 16 Tuaregs and appeared to have been motivated by inter-ethnic tensions. Islamist militants seized Mali's desert north in 2012. French forces intervened the … [Read more...] about At least 15 Tuaregs killed in tribal attack on Mali village

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday officials were laying the groundwork for the next summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but any meeting would likely occur after October. "We're working diligently to make sure we get the conditions right so that we can accomplish as much as possible during the summit. But we hope it will be soon," Pompeo said in an interview with "CBS This Morning." "It may happen in October but more likely sometime after that." Trump held an unprecedented summit with Kim in Singapore in June that yielded a broad pledge by Kim to "work toward" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Kim’s commitments and actions, however, have fallen far short of Washington’s demands for a complete inventory of North Korea’s weapons programs and irreversible steps to give up a nuclear arsenal that potentially threatens the United States. "It will take a while; there will be a process … [Read more...] about U.S.’s Pompeo says Trump-Kim summit more likely after October -CBS

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government hopes that the Saudi ambassador will return to Berlin soon, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, after a prolonged diplomatic row prompted the kingdom to pull its ambassador from the German capital. The spokesman said Saudi Arabia was an important partner in the region that Germany wanted to cooperate with. He added that the Saudi foreign minister had invited German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to Riyadh. (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Writing by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Michelle Martin) … [Read more...] about Germany says it hopes Saudi ambassador will soon return to Berlin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A woman who has accused President Donald Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault will present senators with sworn declarations from four people to corroborate her allegations, according to copies of the statements released by her lawyers on Wednesday. The declarations, first reported by USA Today, include signed documents from Christine Blasey Ford's husband and three friends that her lawyers sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday on the accusations, ahead of a vote Friday on Kavanaugh's nomination. If his nomination clears the panel, it must win confirmation from the full Senate, which Republicans narrowly control 51-49. A vote in the full Senate could happen as early as next Tuesday, senior Senate Republicans have said. The accusation, along with one from a second accuser, have imperiled Kavanaugh's lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court as Republicans work to … [Read more...] about Kavanaugh’s accuser offers four people to back accusation