Refugee Camps

TONY BLAIR insisted yesterday that Nato's military action in Yugoslavia would continue until all its demands for a peace settlement were met by President Slobodan Milosevic. The Prime Minister announced "substantial reinforcements" of British troops in the region.

THE EXTRA 1,800 British troops being sent to Macedonia will double the number of frontline soldiers on the ground and bring the Army's presence there to full armoured brigade strength. This is a potent, self-supporting formation that could provide the perfect spearhead to an invasion of Kosovo. But it may not be fully in place for a month and would require huge back-up from other nation's forces before becoming a credible threat.

n A total of 16 RAF Harrier sorties were flown yesterday.

IT TAKES a few moments to work out what is strange about Nurish Zwiapi's house, for, from the outside at least, there is nothing unusual about it at all.

MACEDONIA RULED out use of its territory for an "aggressive" Nato ground invasion against Serbia yesterday, but said that Western troops could use it as a "staging post" before entering Kosovo to police an agreed peace deal. The statement came after a visit by Macedonian ministers to Nato headquarters in Brussels - the latest Western effort to woo the small, but strategically crucial former Yugoslav republic.

MACEDONIA RULED out use of its territory for an "aggressive" Nato ground invasion against Serbia yesterday, but said that Western troops could use it as a "staging post" before entering Kosovo to police an agreed peace deal. The statement came after a visit by Macedonian ministers to Nato headquarters in Brussels - the latest Western effort to woo the small, but strategically crucial former Yugoslav republic.

The Macedonian taxi driver pointed at some Albanians: `They have 10, 15 children so that they can outnumber us'

Nato air strikes continued against a wide range of targets around the clock.

SHE IS is a tired, pale, woman from a small village 30 miles from Pristina. Yesterday Hysnije Cerkine she became a footnote to the ongoing tragedy of Kosovo's refugees when she was the last person to be evacuated from the hellish refugee camp at Blace on the Macedonian border.

NATO ANNOUNCED it is sending 8,000 troops to the Balkans to aid the flood of refugees from Kosovo. The alliance said Operation Allied Harbour will be a co-ordinated military exercise involving 14 countries, controlled by a "mobile force land headquarters" based in Albania.

The timing

WEST EUROPEAN governments were warned to move urgently to ease the pressure on Macedonia yesterday amid signs that Skopje, determined to close its own doors to the tide of refugees, bused thousands of Kosovars and dumped them on the Albanian border on Tuesday.

WEST EUROPEAN governments were warned to move urgently to ease the pressure on Macedonia yesterday amid signs that Skopje, determined to close its own doors to the tide of refugees, secretly bused thousands of Kosovars and dumped them on the Albanian border on Tuesday night.