PODGORICA (AP) - Montenegro’s government said yesterday it could agree to an eventual EU demand to delay a formal break with Serbia if its people vote for independence in an upcoming referendum. A postponement would provide time for the UN-mediated talks on the future of Serbia’s province of Kosovo, expected to begin next month, to get well under way, the Montenegrin government said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - The EU has an obligation to investigate whether Washington has run illegal prison camps in Poland or Romania, rights watchdog Amnesty International said yesterday. EU officials want to check reports that Washington operated secret “black site” camps for terrorism suspects in a former communist country in Europe. The Washington Post declined to name the country at the request of US officials, but Human Rights Watch has released what it says are flight data suggesting camps in Romania or Poland.

A Bosnian Serb court yesterday found ethnic Serbs guilty of war crimes for the first time since the end of the province’s 1992-1995 conflict. The county court here in the capital of the Serb-run part of post-war Bosnia sentenced three former Serb policemen to a total of 55 years’ jail for murdering Muslim civilians, a judicial official said. The men were found guilty of killing six Muslims, including two women, in the northwestern town of Prijedor in March 1994, and received the maximum sentence possible. (AFP)

Croatian health authorities shot down five swans in eastern Croatia to test whether the bird flu virus that had been detected in a migratory flock there about a month ago remains a threat, an Agriculture Ministry official said yesterday. A total of eight swans were discovered infected with the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus near a nature park in eastern Croatia last month. Experts said the birds most likely flew in from the northeast. (AP)

Thousands of striking teachers took to the streets of Bucharest yesterday to demand higher wages. About 6,000 demonstrators rallied in front of the Parliament building, chanting “Resignation!” and reminding government officials of last year’s campaign promises to raise teachers’ wages. (AP)