Campaign:
NATO claims its most successful day to date in attacking Serbian forces. Air raid sirens sound in Belgrade from midday as the conflict enters its eighth week. Bombs hit what Serb media reports said were civilian targets in Kosovo, many of them in the northern part of the province. Numerous Nato planes reported to be in the skies over the provincial capital, Pristina.
The British Ministry of Defence confirms that "more than 600 sorties" were flown by NATO planes and claims that tanks, trucks, artillery, armoured personnel carriers and at least two artillery positions were hit.
The Adriatic fleet comprises several surface vessels - cruisers, aircraft-carriers and helicopter-carriers - and submarines.
Land forces stationed in the region comprise 16,000 troops in Macedonia and 10,000 in Albania, along with more than 30,000 troops implementing a peace deal in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Washington has also sent 24 Apache attack helicopters to Albania, though two of these have been destroyed in accidents.
Diplomacy:
Russian President Boris Yeltsin sacks his prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov. Warns he is ready to end Russia's efforts to find diplomatic solution to crisis, despite the presence in Moscow of US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott. Specifically, Yeltsin warns that Russia will withdraw its co-operation if its proposals and mediation efforts are ignored. But NATO says it does not expect the sacking of the prime minister to derail diplomatic efforts to resolve the Kosovo crisis. Talbott has talks with Russia's special envoy to the Balkans, Viktor Chernoymrdin. They report no new developments, but both describe the talks as helpful. Talbott, in the event, leaves Moscow for an overnight visit to Finland, but is to return today for more talks. French President Jacques Chirac is also in Moscow today for talks with Yeltsin.
Regions:
A plan to deliver economic aid to Balkans countries affected by the continuing crisis agreed by the World Bank and European Union in London yesterday. The package will include Serbia, without the conditions attaching to a peace deal. The meeting agrees on a three-tier package to deal with refugees, bomb damage and the longer-term needs of the regional economies. The cost of the aid package is unclear at this stage: much will depend on the length of hostilities; for Bosnia and Herzegovina the cost of reconstruction was estimated by the World Bank and IMF at $5.2 billion.
China:
The ashes of three Chinese journalists who were victims of the Belgrade embassy bomb attack arrived home to a nation in mourning yesterday, but authorities headed off expected explosion of public anger. Police sealed off the American and British embassies to avoid a repeat of weekend violence when enraged crowds unleashed a torrent of rocks and bottles at the missions.
Refugees:
A relieved UNHCR says new donations from the US and Canada will help it cope with cash shortage which threatens to disrupt its work for Kosovo refugees. It also says there are "encouraging signals" from the European Commission. The agency says it had almost run out of money for its relief operations involving more than 750,000 people who have fled the Serbian province.
The agency also warns of rising tension in overcrowded camps in Macedonia, currently home to more than 230,000 refugees from Kosovo. Macedonia and Albania, which have taken in nearly 430,000 between them, have been the main destinations for Kosovo refugees.
Quote of the day:
"We should stop apologising. We have made it perfectly clear that this was an accident." Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state, on the Chinese embassy bombing.