Energy Infrastructure: North Macedonia and Serbia have formally joined Greece-led Vertical Gas Corridor, signing a memorandum in Thessaloniki on Sept. 4 that brings NOMAGAS and Transportgas Serbia into the regional gas transmission network and aims to boost security of supply and bidirectional capacity. Market Setup: Skopje also tasked electricity market operator MEMO to prepare a plan for creating a natural gas market operator, covering organisational, technical, IT, legal and financial steps, as interconnectors with Greece (mid-2027) and Serbia (end-2028) move toward operation. Finance & Risk: Hungary opened a criminal investigation into Eximbank after an internal audit flagged irregularities, including a controversial €1bn loan to North Macedonia, with police seizing thousands of pages of documents. Industry & Trade: A report on EU fruit and vegetable residue checks highlights where third-country suppliers underperform, naming Turkey as the worst performer for interceptions and flagging Albania among those with notable issues. Gambling Regulation: Dutch authorities escalated action against unlicensed online gambling by targeting Skyhills, seeking to identify the offshore corporate control behind the platform, with links including North Macedonia. Film & Production: North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska is developing Petra Doesn’t Want to Die, while Kosara Mitić’s 17 was selected as the country’s Academy Awards entry.