SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s three-man presidency accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Spiric yesterday, signaling the start of difficult talks on a new cabinet and possible early elections in the divided country. Spiric will remain caretaker PM while the country’s three rival ethnic groups – Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims – try to find a compromise candidate for prime minister. If they cannot agree, the country must hold general elections.

PRISTINA (Reuters) – The West has promised to recognize Kosovo as independent after talks with Serbia end in December, said the ex-guerrilla leader narrowly tipped to be the breakaway province’s next prime minister. Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) told Reuters that independence was backed by the same powers that launched NATO’s first humanitarian war. “From the meetings I have had with world leaders, I can confirm that it is just a matter of setting the date for recognition of independence,” he said in an interview late Sunday.

A military pilot escaped with minor injuries yesterday after his plane crashed while on a training flight in central Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported. The F-5, which took off from an air base in Konya province, crashed close to Salt Lake, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) away, the report said. It was not yet clear what caused the crash. (AFP)

Croatia’s Social Democrats (SDP) will request more time from Brussels for reforms needed to join the EU if they win the November 25 general elections, a top party official said yesterday. Neven Mimica, a senior member of the main opposition party, told Reuters the SDP was just as committed to EU and NATO membership as the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) but would fight more to protect Croatia’s interests. “We have to analyze in detail what Croatia can do in the next four years and what it cannot do even several years after joining. The line ‘We cannot demand a lot because this may slow down the talks’ is unacceptable,” Mimica said in an interview. (Reuters)