North Macedonia’s newly elected lawmakers took their seats Tuesday for the first time after the country’s 15 July elections, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The formal first session of parliament starts a 10-day countdown for the leader of the party that came first in the elections to conclude complicated power-sharing negotiations with smaller parties in search of a coalition, news wires reported.

Government leaders and officials from six Western Balkan nations met on Wednesday for a virtual summit to discuss how to prevent and address economic stagnation and social impacts from the coronavirus pandemic that could derail or delay national efforts to join the EU, news wires reported. The summit “gathered” presidents, prime ministers and government ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Turkey's parliament on Wednesday voted a bill allowing stricter control over social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, news wires reported.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan joined thousands of worshippers at Hagia Sophia on Friday for the first prayers there since he declared the monument, revered by Christians and Muslims for almost 1,500 years, a mosque once again. Erdogan and his top ministers knelt on blue carpets at the start of a ceremony which marks the return of Muslim worship to the ancient structure, Reuters reported.

War crimes prosecutors in The Hague have called for questioning the veteran head of North Macedonia’s Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) party, Ali Ahmeti, who was a guerrilla fighter during the conflicts in both Kosovo and North Macedonia, news wires reported. He confirmed that he has accepted the request “without any hesitation”.

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday held their first face-to-face talks in 20 months under the EU-mediated dialogue process aimed at normalizing relations between the two Balkan neighbours. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo's PM Avdullah Hoti came away from the meeting still far apart on a host of issues but agreed to meet again in-person in early September, news wires reported. Technical-level talks will continue next week among officials.

The pro-Western Social Democrats narrowly win against the center-right opposition, the preliminary results of the parliamentary election in North Macedonia, held on Wednesday, show. The state election commission said early Thursday that with nearly 94% of the vote counted the Social Democrats (SDSM) have 36% and VMRO-DPMNE follow at more than 34%.

Voters began casting ballots in North Macedonia's snap parliamentary elections pitting the pro-European Social Democrats (SDSM) of former PM Zoran Zaev against Hristijan Mickovski's nationalist party VMRO, news wires reported.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci arrived at the Kosovo Specialist Chamber (KSC) on Monday for questioning about alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed two decades ago, news wires reported. "Today I am ready to face new challenges successfully, for my son, for my family and my people. This is the price of freedom. I believe in truth and freedom," he told reporters before entering, according to a report by Kosovo broadcaster Klan Kosova.

The Balkans, one of the poorest regions in Europe with the most fragile medical infrastructure, is bracing against a surge in coronavirus infections, AFP reported.