Macedonia's deputy prime minister expressed optimism on Thursday over renewed efforts to resolve a decades-long dispute with neighboring Greece over the Balkan country's name that has kept it out of NATO. A NATO member, Greece has blocked Macedonia's bid to join the alliance because of the name dispute. Greece advocates a "composite name" solution, which would somehow qualify the word Macedonia. But that might cause a rift in Greece's left-led governing coalition, as the small right-wing junior coalition partner opposes any use of the word Macedonia. Greece's powerful Orthodox Church also opposes the use of the word Macedonia in the country's name, as the head of the Church of Greece noted in a letter to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Thursday.

Source: ABC News January 11, 2018 16:07 UTC