Important Macedonia referendum fails

A bid to end the autonomy granted to Macedonia's ethnic minority Albanians has failed after too few turned out to vote in a referendum.

At 26.5 percent, the turnout fell on Sunday well short of the 50 percent required to make the vote valid.

The outcome is a relief to Brussels as the referendum has been strongly linked to Macedonia's bid for eventual membership of the EU.

Nationalists in Macedonia had called for the poll, which both the government and foreign countries had u...