While Russia’s contribution to the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo is growing with the arrival of new troops, the U.N. refugee chief says international funding for the humanitarian effort is dwindling. The Kosovo crisis has also drained away support for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, with tens of thousands of protesters marching yesterday to demand his resignation. NATO’s stalemate with Russia over the deployment of troops formally ended yesterday, when planeloads of Russian soldiers and equipment arrived in Pristina. More will arrive daily to work alongside NATO troops to quell the province’s treacherous continuing ethnic tensions.

Benjamin Nathaniel Smith bought the guns he used in his racist shooting spree from an illegal street dealer after he was turned away by a gun shop that did the required background check, this according to investigators yesterday. The background check showed that an ex-girlfriend of Smith’s had taken out a protective order against him because of abuse. Gun control activists said the case demonstrates the inadequacy of the nation’s gun laws, while the gun lobby said the problem is law enforcement. Smith was killed during a struggle with police Sunday night after a series of drive-by shootings of Jews, Blacks and Asians in Illinois and Indiana that left two people dead and nine wounded. A year ago, Smith was made a brother of the World Church of the Creator, an avowedly white supremacist group based in East Peoria, Illinois. Its leader, Matt Hale, has been denied a law license by the Illinois Bar because of his racist preachings. Smith apparently found acceptance in the group, whose members greet each other with the acronym, RaHoWa, which stands for “racial holy war.” Smith’s habit of littering the Indiana University campus in Bloomington with racist leaflets had become notorious at the school of about 30,000 students which Smith attended in 1998 before dropping out. He had been a criminal justice major.

Sierra Leone’s warring sides reached a peace deal today to end eight years of civil war, after the feared rebel movement backed down on key demands, this according to rebel and U.N. officials. The accord was to be signed later today by Sierra Leone’s president and the leader of the Revolutionary United Front, according to a U.N. mediator speaking on condition of anonymity. The signing is planned for a summit of regional leaders in Togo’s capital, Lomé.

The arrest of former Chilean leader General Augusto Pinochet has damaged Britain’s international reputation, this according to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher said the former Chilean leader was being victimized “because the organized international left are bent on revenge.” Thatcher said in a speech in Britain’s upper chamber of the House of Lords, “Our reputation sustains our interests. The Pinochet case has sullied that reputation.” Pinochet’s support during the Falkland Islands conflict between Britain and Argentina saved British lives, she said.

The United States and Britain are trying to head off any effort in the Security Council to permanently lift U.N. sanctions against Libya, arguing Tripoli still must comply with U.N. demands regarding the trial of two suspects accused in the 1988 Pan-Am bombing. The United States circulated a draft statement yesterday that said the council welcomed the progress Libya had made in turning over the suspects for trial in the Netherlands, but made clear it needed to do more to have sanctions lifted.

And this news from Seattle, Washington: Newspapers and broadcasters risk losing credibility if their staffs don’t reflect the diversity of the communities they cover, this according to panelists at the opening of a conference of journalists of color. Some 6,000 Black, Latino, Asian, Native American and other journalists from around the country are expected to attend the Unity Conference, which formally opens today. Democracy Now! we’ll be broadcasting from Seattle, Washington, at the Unity Conference on Friday. Juan González will be joining me then.