War in the Balkans: Briefing Day 57

t The International Red Cross announced the launch of a website to reunite families split up by the Kosovo crisis. Refugees will be able to search the site for missing members of their family or register their own details so they can be contacted by relatives. The address for the site is http://www.familylinks. icrc.org.

t Twelve Royal Air Force Tornado jets that have been flying missions over Yugoslavia from a British base in Germany are to be transferred to Corsica. Moving the planes will cut the travel distance to Yugoslavia by half, eliminating the need to refuel in the air.

t The European Commission adopted a proposal to extend both an existing freeze on Serbian assets and an investment ban, to cover state- controlled companies. It hopes the sanctions will help to weaken and isolate President Slobodan Milosevic's regime and bring an end to the conflict.

t Le Figaro, the Paris newspaper, said Frenchmen volunteering to help the Kosovo Liberation Army were flying to the Balkans from Switzerland. It reported meeting four Frenchmen in Zurich as they left for the Balkans with a group of 28 Kosovo Albanians. A Yugoslav newspaper earlier reported that three French paratroop officers had been killed at the weekend while with KLA guerrillas on the border between Albania and Kosovo.