Science and Technology: Macedonia's government receives new IT equipment

18/08/2008

The EU donates new IT equipment to Macedonia's Customs Administration. Also in science and technology: Slavonic experts take part in an Ohrid international seminar, and Romanian miners unearth a mastodon skeleton.

Macedonia's Customs Administration received new IT equipment worth 273,200 euros as part of a support project for its modernisation financed by the EU CARDS programme. The equipment consists of personal computers, printers, digital cameras, projectors, routers and equipment for simultaneous interpretation. Laboratory equipment is also part of this project.

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German Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Joachim Schmidt donated an X-ray device to the Balkan country's border police on August 11th. The equipment, worth 40,000 euros, will allow border police officers to quickly and reliably find explosives.

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Slavonic experts from around the world are participating in the International Seminar for Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture, which began on August 11th in Ohrid. The event, which ends on August 28th, has brought together experts from 21 countries.

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Archaeological facilities in Greece opened on Saturday (August 16th) for a full lunar eclipse. About 70 venues throughout the country, including the Acropolis, remained open until 1am for visitors to watch the natural phenomenon.

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Surgeons at the Clinical Centre of Serbia performed the country's first liver transplants, the health ministry announced on Wednesday (August 13th). They transplanted four livers last week from deceased patients to the recipients. Dr. Miroslav Milicevic led the surgical team.

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Miners in Romania unearthed the skeleton of a 2.5-million-year-old mastodon, considered one of the best preserved in Europe, local authorities announced on August 8th. The miners found the skeleton during excavations in June at a coal mine in the village of Racosul de Sus. Palaeontologist Vlad Codrea of Babes-Bolyai University said 90% of the mastodon's bones were intact, with damage only to the skull and tusks.

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Bulgaria's National Institute of Archaeology unearthed a 1,900-year-old, fully preserved Thracian chariot near Borisovo, Bulgaria. Along with the chariot, in a funeral mound, shields, table pottery and glass vessels turned up. Archaeologists believe they found the tomb of a Thracian aristocrat.

(Various sources – 11/08/08-18/08/08)