May 21, 1999 Published at 21:15 GMT 22:15 UK <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_350000/350040.stm>
World: Europe
Prison was Nato target
Nato insists that a prison which it bombed repeatedly in Kosovo was a legitimate military target.
The Serbs say the raids in the town of Istok killed up to 19 people. Nato spokesman Jamie Shea said the prison - where a number of Kosovo Albanian rebels are held - was a legitimate target because it was being used as a military barracks by the Yugoslav Army and special police.
He said that if prisoners were there as well, that was the responsibility of the Serbs.
The Serb authorities said 15 missiles hit the complex, severely damaging several buildings.
Jackie Rowland in Kosovo: Nato pounded the prison for two hoursJournalists taken to the scene saw the bodies of some of the victims lying in the prison grounds. It was the second time in three days that Nato had attacked the prison and, as the journalists left the complex, another raid was under way.
Pressure on Nato
Jackie Rowland: We saw two bodies in the prison groundsNews of the attack came as pressure grew on Nato to reconsider how it decides its targets in the air campaign against Yugoslavia.
The German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, at a meeting with the Swiss foreign minister in Bonn, said there was an urgent need to discuss Nato's bombing strategy, including damage to the Swedish, Spanish and Swiss embassies.
But alliance officials have insisted that there has been no request from its members for a change in Nato strategy, including its targeting policy.
The Swiss embassy and ambassador's residence in Belgrade were damaged during a raid on Thursday evening. The ambassador was holding a diplomatic reception at the time.
There were no casualties, but many of the residence's windows were blown in by the force of the blast.
US apology
Washington has apologised to the Swiss Government for the incident, which came a day after a stray missile struck a hospital in Belgrade, killing three people and damaging several other diplomatic buildings.
The Swiss mission in Belgrade currently represents the interests of several countries in Yugoslavia, including the United States.
But Nato is insisting that it will keep up its air campaign until President Milosevic of Yugoslavia complies with its demands. Divisions denied
Reports of divisions over how to pursue the campaign have been dismissed by the US and Britain.
American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and her British counterpart, Robin Cook, told the BBC that both governments were determined to maintain the bombing and were not, at present, considering an Italian proposal for an early suspension of the air campaign.
There have been differences between Nato countries about when to have a pause in the campaign.
Diplomatic marathon
In Moscow, marathon talks between the Russian special envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, and his US and European counterparts broke up with no clear sign of progress.
The American Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, said work was continuing, and he and the Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, would return to Moscow next week for further negotiations.
But the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, said Moscow and the West were still at odds over the composition of an international force for Kosovo. He repeated Russia's demand for an immediate halt to Nato's bombing campaign. In another development, residents of a town in Serbia's sister republic, Montenegro, have demonstrated against the deployment of Yugoslav army reinforcements in the area.
More than 1,000 people took part in the protest in the town of Cetinje. Yugoslav soldiers are reported to have set up checkpoints on all main roads into Montenegro, blocking imports of raw materials, confiscating humanitarian aid and preventing Westerners from entering.
Weather curtails strikes
Nato says that low cloud over Kosovo significantly curtailed its activities on Thursday - day 58 of the air campaign.
There had been only 40 specific strike sorties, and 17 missions against air defence targets.
Targets attacked included a surface-to-air missile support facility in Belgrade, petroleum storage facilities at Batajnica airfield, fuel stores on the outskirts of Belgrade and at Sombor and Smederevo, and ammunition storage depots at Vrdnik and Sremska Mitrovica.