MORE than 400 servicemen and women will be representing Ireland on overseas missions this Christmas, the Defence Forces said yesterday.

In a scathing report, a leading human rights organisation blamed Nato and UN police today for failing “catastrophically” to protect minorities in Kosovo during ethnic violence earlier this year.

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

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

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