A preliminary agreement under the US Visa Waiver Programme was among the deals signed during Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's three-day official visit to the United States, which ended on Wednesday, June 18.

Bulgaria signed a preliminary agreement with the United States taking an important step towards their eventual inclusion in the US programme for visa-free travel.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev called the agreement a "breakthrough" at the end of his official visit to the United States, which included talks with President George W. Bush.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin and US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff signed an interim declaration under the US Visa Waiver Programme. It outlines requirements Bulgaria must meet to join the 27 Asian and European countries currently in the programme.

"I look forward to [greeting] the first visa-free travelers from Bulgaria," Chertoff said, while refusing to speculate as to when this could happen.

Stanishev said his government was already working on the requirement for biometric passports.

"Today, because of the Prime Minister's hard work, there has been a breakthrough on the visa waiver," Bush stated after meeting Stanishev.

He also commended the Bulgarian leader for fighting corruption. "I reminded the Prime Minister that all of us have got a responsibility to deal with corruption," he said.

Bush thanked Bulgaria for the role it has played in the Western Balkans, for its, "strong contributions to helping others realise the blessings of liberty, whether it be in Afghanistan or Iraq," and for its sacrifices.

The two leaders also discussed nuclear power and diversification of energy supplies.

In talks with US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, Stanishev said US investors should pursue Bulgarian opportunities, particularly in energy.

Stanishev also voiced hope that the United States and other countries would strengthen their support for the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project, which would transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea via Turkey and the Balkan states.

The US Federal Aviation Administration certified Bulgaria's compliance with international safety standards, auguring the renewal of nonstop flights between the United States and Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian delegation signed two other deals on their trip: a treaty on nonproliferation of WMDs and defence co-operation, as well as a memorandum of understanding between the Bulgarian interior ministry and the US Energy Department on trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials.

Besides Kalfin, the Bulgarian delegation included Economy and Energy Minister Peter Dimitrov and Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev.

Stanishev also met with Defence Secretary Robert Gates and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among other US officials.

In a bizarre case of life imitating art, Macedonian journalist, Vlado Taneski was recently arrested for having committed two of the murders he was covering for the daily paper, Utrinski Vesnik in the town of Kicevo, southwest of Skopje.

The strange tale took yet another gruesome turn when Taneksi was found drowned in a bucket of water in the prison cell where he was being held upon his arrest. 

Initial police reports are calling the death a suicide, and claiming there is no evidence of foul play. There are some reports of two other inmates being in the cell at the time of Taneski’s death. 

Police also reported that a note was found in Taneski's prison cell, under a pillow, that stated, "I did not commit these murders."

Taneski was charged with the murder of two women and was the prime suspect in another murder. It is also suspected he was involved a case from 2003 of a missing woman who fits the description of his other victims.

Taneski’s victims were all brutally raped, tortured, and tied up in telephone cord. The bodies were found stuffed in plastic bags.

The victims were all from the same neighborhood as Taneski, and were cleaners, as was the suspect’s mother. Taneski had a troubled relationship with his mother, who bore some physical resemblance to the victims.

Police began to suspect the journalist because his reports contained facts about the crimes that had not been released to the public. Later, his DNA was discovered on two of the victims. Police also reported discovering, “biological matter,” upon searching the suspect’s home.

Yesterday, Taneski’s estranged wife told a local TV station that she had enjoyed, "an ideal marriage," with Taneski for 31 years. "He was always quiet and gentle. The only time I ever saw him get aggressive was when we were living with his parents," she said.

Taneski’s relationship with his mother worsened considerably after his father killed himself in 1990, according to the Guardian (London).

“All these women were raped, molested and murdered in the most terrible way and we have very strong evidence that Taneski was responsible for all three," said police spokesman, Ivo Kotevski, speaking from the capital Skopje. "In the end there were many things that pointed to him as a suspect and led us to file charges against him for two of the murders," he added. "We were close to charging him with a third murder, and hoped he would give us details of a fourth woman who disappeared in 2003 - because we believe he was involved in that case, too."

The following is an excerpt from a piece by Vlado Taneski, published in Nova Makedonija on May 19, 2008 – translation from the Guardian (London).

“The people of Kicevo live in fear after another butchered body has been found in the town. The corpse strongly resembles one discovered 20 kilometres outside Kicevo last year and there is a possibility that these monstrous murders are the work of a serial killer.

Both women were tortured and murdered in the same fashion, which rules out the possibility that this could have been done by two different people. The Ochrid serial killer murdered three people [in 2007] but his victims were all street-based money exchangers and his motive was to rob them.

The motive of the Kicevo monster remains unclear. Both women were friends and living in the same part of town. Police have a few suspects who they are interrogating.

The latest body was found in rubbish dump. It had been tied up with a piece of phone cable with which the woman had clearly been previously strangled.”

Taneski visited the families of some of the victims while researching his stories for the paper. "He came to our home, we talked, he asked for details," said the son of one of the victims, Zoran Temelkoski on local television. "Who could imagine that it would be our neighbor at the end?"

Macedonians have re-cast their votes in the areas of the country where there was voting fraud, intimidation and violence during the country’s elections on June 1.

The second round of voting occurred on June 15 and almost 10% of the population was invited to re-cast their vote following international criticism regarding voting irregularities.

While the outcome of the new round of voting will not influence the results of the election, the country was criticised internationally following OSCE reports of, "numerous serious irregularities," including intimidation, stuffing of ballot boxes and tampering with the results.

The outburst of violence following the first elections resulted in one death and several injuries.

Political observers were pleased with the results of last week’s elections but were adamant that reforms were needed in order to avoid any recurrence of the June 1 violence.

Sunday's elections, "showed remarkable improvement with regard to the key issue of security," said Pia Christmas-Moller, Vice President of the OSCE parliamentary assembly. "I hope and expect that this indicates that the country is willing to address the range of democratic challenges that remain."

"More needs to be done by the state institutions ... including the removal of party activists from senior police functions. Otherwise, the culture of impunity which prevails in the ethnically Albanian areas will continue and an overwhelming police presence will be required," in future elections, said American Robert Barry, head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term observation mission.

The US Embassy in Macedonia also weighed in. "We commend law enforcement authorities for their effective and professional conduct and for their readiness to enforce the law, regarding acts of violence or intimidation near polling stations," said US Ambassador to Macedonia, Gillian Milovanovic, in a written statement.

The second election solidified the landslide victory of the current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s VMRO party which took 63 of the 120 seats.

The MOST Citizens' Association, which brought the most observers to the polls, assessed the revote as peaceful, albeit with a heavy police presence. However, it reported serious violations of election rules.

"MOST observers noted a considerable number of cases of family voting and voting without proper documents, mostly in the sixth election unit," said MOST President Darko Aleksov.

Observed irregularities such as stolen ballots will force another revote on June 29th at four polling stations serving 3,000 voters. That revote potentially could determine one parliamentary seat.

The second round of voting was held at 183 of the country’s 2,976 polling stations.

Ethnic Albanian rebels fought a six-month insurgency in Macedonia in 2001. However, divisions have grown between the DUI, led by former rebel leader Ali Ahmeti and the DPA, led by Menduh Thaci.

Tension escalated between the parties after Gruevski's 2006 election victory, when he chose the DPA party as a coalition partner despite the DUI winning more votes.

According to state election commission projections released last Monday, after both voting rounds, Gruevski's VMRO party has secured 63 of parliament's 120 seats and the main opposition Social Democrats snatched 27. The DUI is projected to get 18 seats, DPA 11 and one seat will go to the small PEI party.

Ethnic Albanians count for about a quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million people.