Body of Scottish independence champion Alex Salmond soon to be flown home from North Macedonia

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The body of Alex Salmond, Scotland’s former first minister who died during a conference in North Macedonia, will soon be returned by special flight to Scotland. Salmond, who as leader of the Scottish National Party took Scotland to the brink of independence in a 2014 referendum, died suddenly Saturday at the lake resort of Ohrid aged 69. He had been a panelist at a cultural forum and collapsed during a lunch event after apparently suffering a massive heart attack. Boris Josifovski, an aide to North Macedonia’s former president Gjorge Ivanov, who organized the forum, said Monday that procedures for the body’s repatriation are almost done.