TAOISEACH Brian Cowen paid warm tribute to the work of Irish peacekeepers yesterday, as he became the first Taoiseach to pay a Christmas visit to members of the defence forces abroad.

IRISH troops serving in Kosovo will be paid a pre-Christmas visit by Taoiseach Brian Cowen as part of his one-day visit to the newly independent country.

Irish peacekeeping troops will remain in Kosovo and Afghanistan for another year, it emerged tonight.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea today begins a two-day trip to Kosovo and Austria.

NATO troops came under fire during Serb riots in the northern Kosovo flashpoint of Mitrovica yesterday, in the worst violence in the territory since the Albanian majority declared independence last month.

UN forces were attacked as they forced Serb demonstrators from an occupied court today sparking a running battle as they faced rocks, grenades and bullets.

Nato troops reopened two demolished border checkpoints between Serbia and northern Kosovo today as thousands of Serbs continued their protests against the country’s independence.

Nato troops closed roads between Serbia and northern Kosovo and armed UN police guarded wrecked border checkpoints today preparing for more protests by Serbs incensed by the country’s declaration of independence.

Britain was this evening poised to recognise the independence of Kosovo, as the Balkan province prepares to break away from Serbia tomorrow.

British troops are on standby to fly to Kosovo in the event of violence breaking out following the province’s expected declaration of independence tomorrow.

Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo took to the streets to celebrate the declaration of independence from Serbia expected to come this weekend.

AFTER months of frustration and haggling the EU’s military operation in Chad and the Central African Republic will finally be launched, though the operational commander of the Irish contingent Lt Gen Pat Nash has warned there are still gaps.

An Irish Brigadier General is due to take command of a key NATO post in Kosovo today.

Nato’s secretary-general today warned the alliance will not tolerate violence in Kosovo just days after clashes between police and ethnic Albanians left two dead.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea today begins a two-day visit to Irish peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.

A Nato military aeroplane crashed in Kosovo today, but two pilots onboard survived, Nato-led peacekeepers and police said.

THE army will be sent in to take over the running of the country’s prisons if current efforts at preventing a strike by prison officers fail, the Minister for Defence and Defence Forces Chief of Staff confirmed.

KOSOVO’S ethnic Albanian prime minister resigned yesterday after being charged with war crimes by the United Nations tribunal.

Irish defence forces must be allowed to participate in more peacekeeping missions, it was urged today.

Germany’s defence ministry is investigating reports that photographs of its troops taking part in torture in Kosovo are making the rounds among soldiers.

TWO Irish corporals going to Kosovo next week on a peacekeeping tour won’t have far to go if they’re feeling homesick.

NATO-LED peacekeepers in riot gear erected barricades, set up checkpoints and parked armoured personnel carriers at strategic locations yesterday to prevent unrest at the funerals for two ethnic Albanian boys whose drowning sparked violence in Kosovo.

Nato-led peacekeepers in full riot gear erected barricades, set up checkpoints and parked armoured personnel carriers at strategic locations today to prevent unrest at the funerals for two ethnic Albanian boys whose drowning sparked violence in Kosovo.

NATO is sending reinforcements to Kosovo following the outbreak of ethnic violence, officials said in Brussels.

FOUR soldiers killed at one checkpoint, three civilians at another.

IRISH soccer fans travelling to Albania have been warned about the country’s high levels of robberies, mobster assassinations and car-jackings.

The Defence Minister Michael Smith has visited the Defence forces serving in Kosovo.

Minister for Defence Michael Smith is today beginning a three-day trip to the Balkans to visit troops on peacekeeping missions.

British peacekeepers on patrol near a Kosovo village bordering Macedonia have struck a land mine, killing one soldier and injuring two others.

A British military helicopter with seven on board has crashed in Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanian rebels engaged Macedonian soldiers and police in isolated skirmishes early today ending the eerie silence of the previous 24 hours.

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has pledged Britain’s ‘‘full support’’ for the government of Macedonia in its struggle with ethnic Albanian separatists who have begun an armed insurrection in the north of the country.

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson said today the international force in Kosovo will move more troops up to the border with Macedonia to cut off the supply lines to ethnic Albanian rebels who have attacked government forces.

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson says the international force in Kosovo will cut off the supply lines to ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia.

Nato-led British peacekeepers have been fired upon as they challenged a group of armed men in Kosovo.