TIRANA (AP) – Albania is edging toward early elections after the governing Democratic Party’s candidate failed to win enough votes to become the country’s next president amid an opposition boycott. In the vote held late Sunday, Bamir Topi, deputy leader of the governing Democratic Party-led coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, won 75 votes, just short of the 84 required to win the post. The Democrats have 80 seats in the 140-seat parliament, too few to overcome an opposition boycott. Former Prime Minister and opposition Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano was also nominated for the post and won just three votes.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Prosecutors refused to start the trial of the former leader of Bosnia’s Muslim army Rasim Delic at the UN war crimes tribunal yesterday, arguing they were not being allowed to question enough witnesses. Delic, one of the most senior Muslims to appear at the tribunal, is charged with responsibility for alleged rape, torture and the murder of Bosnian Croats and Serbs by foreign Islamic fighters under his command. Prosecutors had unsuccessfully sought a last-minute suspension of the trial and its transfer to a Bosnian court after the tribunal judges limited the amount of time to hear prosecution witnesses, as the court came under pressure to wind up its work by 2010.

Thousands of Turk aviation workers yesterday threatened to strike later this month over a pay dispute with the national carrier, Turkish Airlines. The move threatens to disrupt air travel at the height of the tourism season and further harm the sector, which is already struggling after a series of bombings at vacation resorts last year by separatist Kurdish rebels that scared away visitors. “If there is no improvement in the existing condition, we will most probably post our decision to strike in the middle of this month,” said Atilay Yalcin, who heads the 11,300-member aviation workers’ union. (AP)

Six people were injured during the emergency evacuation of passengers traveling from Kazakhstan in an Airbus belonging to the Turkish airline Atlas Jet after one of its engines failed during takeoff, rescue workers told AFP yesterday. The crew of the A-300, which was about to take off for Antalya in Turkey, had to execute an emergency braking maneuver Saturday after the engine failed, said a regional spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry. Six of the 213 passengers hurt during the evacuation are being treated in a hospital at Almaty, in Kazakhstan. (AFP)