WHAT HAPPENED ON 10th April 1999?

9th April 1999

COOK THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET TO SERBIANS

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has urged the Serb people to question President Milosevic over his personal wealth. "Mr Milosevic should show the people of Serbia pictures of his villas in Athens and Crete & of his yacht " he said. Mr Cook claimed that Mr Milosevic's son has avoided the military draft by escaping to his villa in Greece. "Milosevic should tell his people how much wealth he has sucked out of Serbia " Mr Cook added.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

REFUGEES IN KOSOVO ESTIMATED AT 400 000

Up to 400 000 refugees are believed to be hiding from Yugoslav forces inside Kosovo Robin Cook has said. The Foreign Secretary said he had spoken to Kosovo Liberation Army spokesman Hashim Thaqi in the province. "He believes some 400 000 refugees are in hiding & are very short of food " Mr Cook said. Last night thousands of Kosovan villagers again crossed the border into neighbouring Albania.

9th April 1999

Perhaps the most ironic comment on the

war in Kosovo comes from theIrish Timesin Dublin. After visiting Pristina with other Western journalists in a tour organised by the Serbian authorities the paper sums it up in its headline: "The West destroys Pristina in order to save it". Spain'sEl Paissees it differently. Under a photograph of an elderly man being taken to hospital in a car boot its headline says: "Nato says Serbs destroyed Pristina".

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

DESPERATE CONDITIONS IN KOSOVO ` OSCE

The head of the OSCE monitoring agency says the situation for thousands of refugees inside Kosovo is "desperate". The director of the Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe said conditions must be "very bad indeed". William Walker added: "The food is running out and we know that water is in very short supply." He said stories coming out of Kosovo painted an horrific picture of what was being done to ethnic Albanians.

9th April 1999

GROUND TROOPS TO BACK ALBANIA AID DRIVE

Nato is to send 8 000 ground troops to Albania to provide "military support" to the humanitarian aid effort. Alliance spokesman Jamie Shea said Operation Allied Harbour would get under way by the end of next week. Fourteen Nato nations would contribute troops to the plan he said. Mr Shea added that Nato was concerned that Kosovo Albanian refugees trying to leave the province seemed to have been prevented from doing so.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

IRAN'S DEPUTY MILITARY CHIEF "MURDERED"

The deputy chief of Iran's armed forces has been assassinated ` according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Brigadier Ali Sayyad Shirazi was a senior army commander during Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq. The reported incident follows a series of attacks on senior officials in the country some claimed by the Iraq-based opposition group Mujahideen Khalq. Last year the group said it was behind the murder of Iran's ex-prison chief.

9th April 1999

YUGOSLAVIA

The National Photography Centre in Belgrade has urged all photography fans in Yugoslavia to snap shots of bomb damage & casualties. Tanjug news agency said the photos would be put on show to tell the world of the inhumane acts committed by the aggressor against Yugoslavia . FRANCE Around two-thirds of French people support the position of President Jacques Chirac & his prime minister on the Kosovo conflict. The opinion poll findings were reported by French TV.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

CHILEAN ANTI-PINOCHET CARDINAL DIES

Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez one of the most outspoken critics of General Augusto Pinochet has died in Chile. The Roman Catholic cardinal suffered a heart attack. He was 91. Five days of national mourning have been declared. Cardinal Henriquez was "a man of an indomitable spirit" said Chilean President Eduardo Frei. He aided politically persecuted opponents of the Pinochet regime and documented human rights abuses.

9th April 1999

xX@xX

NEW NATO TROOPS "NOT AN INVASION FORCE" Nato troops being sent to Albania to help deal with the refugee crisis will not be used to invade Kosovo Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has insisted. "They don't have the heavy equipment they don't have the tanks " Mr Cook told the BBC. "We have no intention of risking our troops in those circumstances. It's not going to happen " he added. Mr Cook was echoing comments made by the Prime Minister last night.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

NEW NATO TROOPS "NOT AN INVASION FORCE"

Nato troops being sent to Albania to help deal with the refugee crisis will not be used to invade Kosovo Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has insisted. "They don't have the heavy equipment they don't have the tanks " Mr Cook told the BBC. "We have no intention of risking our troops in those circumstances. It's not going to happen " he added. Mr Cook was echoing comments made by the Prime Minister last night.

9th April 1999

RUSSIA BELARUS YUGOSLAVIA SEEK UNION

A senior Russian MP Gennady Seleznev has said President Boris Yeltsin favours Yugoslavia joining Russia's union with Belarus Itar-Tass reports. The request came initially from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Mr Seleznev a communist deputy who visited Belgrade this week said Mr Yeltsin had told officials to draft a document on a union with Yugoslavia. But Mr Yeltsin said on Thursday such a union with Russia's traditional ally would be politically inopportune.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

RUSSIA

A suspected Turkish spy has been thrown out of the country after being discovered by federal security forces. The agent posing as a businessman had been on a "spying & subversive mission" for Turkish military intelligence a Russian agency said. FRANCE Some 20 000 protesters staged a right-to-hunt demonstration in the southern city of Toulouse. The protest was over the length of the hunting season for migratory birds. The hunters' banners read: "Our votes are also migratory " French radio said.

9th April 1999

AMERICAN PLANES BOMB IRAQI MISSILE SITE

US aircraft have bombed an Iraqi anti-ship missile site because it posed a "direct threat" to US forces in the Gulf officials claimed. A statement from US Central Command said the strike was triggered by the repositioning of anti-ship launchers. It did not say whether the strike had been successful. Most strikes in the Allied imposed no- fly zone recently have been in response to "provocation" says the US.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

HARRIERS HARASS SERBIAN GROUND TROOPS

RAF Harriers have resumed daylight air strikes against Serb ground troops. Groups of two or three jets armed with high explosive 1 000lb bombs have been involved in raids the RAF have said. The aircraft operate from the Gioia del Colle base in southern Italy which is to receive 18 US "tank-busting" A10s. RAF spokesman Grp Capt Travers Smith said the UK detachment commander was negotiating to ensure that the A10s did not affect the Harrier missions.

9th April 1999

xX@xX

NEW NATO TROOPS "NOT AN INVASION FORCE" Nato troops being sent to Albania to help deal with the refugee crisis will not be used to invade Kosovo Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has insisted. "They don't have the heavy equipment they don't have the tanks " Mr Cook told the BBC. "We have no intention of risking our troops in those circumstances. It's not going to happen " he added. Mr Cook was echoing comments made by the Prime Minister last night.

10th April 1999

COOK ASSURED BY RUSSIA ON KOSOVO THREAT

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says Russia has assured him that it will stay out of the conflict in Kosovo. Mr Cook's comments followed a 45-minute telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. The call came amid fears that pro-Serb Russia might re-target missiles at Western sites if Nato continued its military strikes against Yugoslavia. President Yeltsin had threatened action if Nato used ground troops. f

10th April 1999

HARRIERS HARASS SERBIAN GROUND TROOPS

RAF Harriers have resumed daylight air strikes against Serb ground troops. Groups of two or three jets armed with high explosive 1 000lb bombs have been involved in raids the RAF have said. The aircraft operate from the Gioia del Colle base in southern Italy which is to receive 18 US "tank-busting" A10s. RAF spokesman Grp Capt Travers Smith said the UK detachment commander was negotiating to ensure that the A10s did not affect the Harrier missions.