Italy to play Bosnia in 2026 World Cup playoff final, Kosovo face Turkiye
Elsewhere, Bolivia beat Suriname and Jamaica defeat New Caledonia in intercontinental playoff semifinals.

Elsewhere, Bolivia beat Suriname and Jamaica defeat New Caledonia in intercontinental playoff semifinals.



![Greece's culture ministry on July 8, 2025, ordered a partial closure of the Acropolis, the country's top monument, to protect visitors amid heatwave conditions. [File: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/000_663Z4G3-1751972969.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)


![Coffins are placed next to the graves as people gather at a cemetery for the funeral ceremony of the victims of a massive nightclub fire in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. [Armin Durgut/AP Photo] (AP)](/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AP25079377304888_cropped-1742483138.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)



Around 20 people have been arrested in connection with fire at an illegal nightclub in North Macedonia.








More than 100 people injured in the deadly fire at a nightclub in Kocani, 100km (62 miles) east of the capital, Skopje.
What drives the popularity of Hungary’s Viktor Orban is not his geopolitical game but his governance model.
Sentiments towards the EU expressed by some civil society actors increasingly overlap with those of anti-EU forces.
Right-wing party secures a parliamentary majority, and its candidate has become the country’s first female president.
The vote is the first in a series of polls that could decide whether the diverse Balkan country will ever join the EU.
As the war enters its 571st day, these are the main developments.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz makes appeal for unity at summit with regional leaders in Berlin.