HEAD coach of the Irish basketball team, Gerry Fitzpatrick, has announced his squad for next week’s friendly against England and the European Championship semi-final round games against Germany, Croatia and former Macedonia (FYROM).

A workshop set up by the Macedonian government to tackle violence by football fans broke up in chaos last night as the rivals fought over whose team had the better players.

Ethnic Albanian rebels have killed 10 Macedonian soldiers in an ambush this morning about 10 miles west of the capital, Skopje.

Macedonian officials today demanded that ethnic Albanian rebels disarm before a deal is approved by parliament, delaying a peace settlement that had seemed near conclusion after the sides agreed to overhaul the police.

A final peace deal for Macedonia appeared to be within reach today after Macedonians and ethnic Albanians reached a compromise on jointly running the country’s police forces.

A Macedonian police officer has died in a gun attack by ethnic Albanian rebels while peace talks continue.

Gunmen ambushed Macedonia’s interior minister yesterday, spraying his car with bullets as he travelled to visit refugees returning to their homes.

Macedonian Government officials and ethnic Albanian leaders have gathered in the southern city of Ohrid to resume high-level peace talks aimed at ending a rebel insurgency in the north of the country.