As Skopje 2014 nears completion, it continues to divide Macedonia over its cultural legacy and role in society. “The new area is just about making money – it isn’t anything about culture,” says one older merchant in the Old Bazaar, the heart of the former Ottoman city, dismissing the new development. “That is one thing, this is another.” Mr. Nikoleski disagrees. “Skopje 2014 will be great for Macedonia," he says. "With cheap flights and this new development more and more people will visit here and see our own culture.”

The recent meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Vatican, as well as the upcoming trip to Albania, shows a Pope putting the Catholic Church firmly back on the global political stage — a reboot of the John Paul II years.

Haitian President Michel Martelly and Albanian President Bujar Nishani sat down for separate interviews Friday at the VOA headquarters in Washington, where they discussed developments at home and their participation in today’s National Prayer Breakfast.

Meetings of high ranking U.S. diplomats with leaders of the countries will focus on issues on the bilateral agenda and the regional situation. They will meet with representatives of civil society and media in each of the countries, the State Department reports.

Albanians are by far the largest groups of foreign workers in Greece, estimated at 650,000 to 800,000, and have been among the first to feel the current turmoil. Since the onset of the global financial crisis, the woes of Albanian migrant workers in Greece and Italy, Western Europe and the United States have been reflected in the decline of their remittances, which sank to a five-year low last year.