The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Dr. Bernard Kouchner made the announcement on Saturday in Vucitrn, northern Kosovo.

According to Dr. Kouchner, the date was set on the recommendation of Daan Everts, the Chairman of the Central Elections Commission and the Chief of Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and after consultation with Kosovo's Interim Administrative Council (IAC).

Kosovo residents will elect members of 30 municipal assemblies -- "the first major step towards implementing democracy inside a united Kosovo," Dr. Kouchner said. Nineteen political parties have been certified to take part in the elections, along with two coalitions, three citizens' initiatives and 15 independent candidates. The Kosovo-wide voter registration campaign ended in July.

"We are not satisfied, however, how long this took and this is once more proof of a international law violation by FRY authorities to which Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) strongly objects," OSCE spokesman Roland Bless said. "Under the Vienna convention counsellor access has to be granted immediately, which didn't happen."

Two of the detained are British nationals working with OSCE, the lead agency under UNMIK on democracy and institution-building in Kosovo.

Yesterday, in a meeting with the Yugoslav Chargé d'affaires at UN Headquarters in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, on behalf of the Secretary-General, demanded that Belgrade honour its obligation under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and grant immediate access to the detained persons by representatives of their governments.

A statement issued by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said the department will regulate all public utilities including natural gas, electric light, heat, power, water supply, and waste collection and treatment, provided by public, private and other enterprises.

In its meeting today, the IAC also discussed the draft regulation on the import, sale and distribution of pharmaceutical products, including narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as progress of a draft regulation amendment relating to Kosovo's consolidated budget for 2000.

This year, EAR is providing 30 million deutsche marks ($13.93 million) for the reconstruction of approximately 220 kilometres of roads, EU spokeswoman Irene Mingasson told the press in Pristina.

The works will cover three of the main routes in Kosovo -- Pristina-Blace, the Tetovo road and Pristina-Peya -- and will be finished by November. Contracts have been signed and work is already well under way in some areas, in particular on the Tetovo road, Ms. Mingasson said.

In a meeting with the Yugoslav Chargé d'affaires at UN Headquarters in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, conveyed the UN's deep concern over the arrest of two British nationals working with UNMIK, as well as two Canadian citizens arrested at the same time. The four have been detained since 1 August.

According to a UN spokesman, a military prosecutor in Podgorica has submitted a request to bring an investigation against the detainees for attempted terrorism, violation of Yugoslav national territory, infiltration of weaponry and armaments into Yugoslav territory and prevention of military officials from carrying out their duties.

On behalf of the Secretary-General, Mr. Miyet demanded that Belgrade honour its obligation under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and grant immediate access to the detained persons by representatives of their governments. He also demanded "similar access for the Government of the Netherlands to its nationals arrested by the Yugoslav authorities some time ago." He also insisted that all the detained be allowed access to a lawyer of their choice.

The Chargé d'affaires, Vladislav Jovanovic, undertook to convey those concerns to his Government. "He expressed his conviction that access to the Dutch nationals by their governments had already been granted and that access to the British and Canadian nationals to their Governments would be granted in a very short time," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, members of the Security Council today urged the Belgrade authorities to "fulfil all of the requirements of the relevant provisions of international law without any further delay."

In a statement to reporters following closed-door consultations, Council President Agam Hasmy of Malaysia expressed concern on behalf of the members over Belgrade's disregard of its international obligations with regard to the arrest and detention of two British, two Canadian and four Dutch citizens.

The appointments, made yesterday, included several members of minority communities, a UNMIK statement issued today in Pristina said. The number of local judges and prosecutors in Kosovo is now 405.

In making the appointments, Dr. Kouchner took into consideration recommendations made by the Advisory Judicial Commission and consulted widely in order to make a proper assessment of the need for professional, qualified judges and prosecutors to assist in re-establishing the rule of law in Kosovo, UNMIK said.

The appointments were made to the Supreme Court, the district, municipal and minor offences courts in each region of Kosovo, as well as to the Commercial Court in Pristina.

For budgetary reasons, the appointments will be valid only until the end of this year. Dr. Kouchner said a number of excellent candidates were recommended for appointment but due to budgetary constraints it was not possible to appoint all of them.

"It's been a very difficult case. Faced with new evidence, the judges acted professionally. We feel that with this verdict, the judicial system has shown progress towards becoming an objective, mature institution," said UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel.

The three members of the Momcilovic family were sentenced to a year in prison for the possession of weapons but they were released at 5 a.m. this morning because they have been in detention for a year, Ms Manuel said.

The Momcilovics -- a father and his two sons --had been accused of murdering an ethnic Albanian in a shoot-out last year in Gnjilane.

Mr. Haselock, who has been working as a media advisor since his arrival in Kosovo, will be responsible for establishing the criteria and procedures for reviewing license applications and issuing licenses. He has a range of sanctions at his disposal if a broadcaster goes on air without a licence, or if the Broadcast Code of Conduct is breached.

He can also impose a variety of sanctions on newspaper and magazine publishers if they violate the Code of Conduct of Print in Kosovo. The sanctions range from seeking an apology or imposing a fine to closing down the media outlet.

The Temporary Media Commissioner's post was created pending the establishment of an Interim Media Commission consisting of a majority of Kosovo members.

Mr. Haselock previously worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was responsible for formulating and implementing media policy as well as working on media reform and regulation.

Recent measurements have shown that the amounts of lead in the air in this area are more than 200 times the levels recommended as acceptable by the World Health Organization, UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel told journalists in Pristina today.

A programme to identify and assess the level of exposure by monitoring blood levels in vulnerable groups will follow the public awareness campaign, she said. The Zveca lead smelter, located in the area, is being blamed for the rising levels of lead in the air. The plant is in need of air pollution controls and filters.

Ms Manuel said UNMIK is acting on the recommendations of public health specialists who have been studying the situation. The mission is advising doctors and health professionals of the possible danger posed by the new levels of lead, particularly to pregnant women, children, people living in the areas of highest lead concentration and smelter plant workers.

Describing his talks in Ankara as "fruitful", he told the Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) meeting that the Turkish community will be able to use its language, along with Albanian and Serbian, in the municipalities in which they live.

However, Dr. Kouchner said it was not possible to make Turkish a third official language of Kosovo along with Albanian and Serbian.

He also informed the KTC of his upcoming meetings with the representatives of the Bosniac, Roma and Turkish communities starting today. Later in the week, he said, he will begin a series of visits to municipalities and communities in Kosovo "to speak directly to the people and listen to them."

Dr. Kouchner said he wanted to explain to the people directly what UNMIK was doing and planning to do in the future during the visits which will continue into September.

The Electoral Rule governing campaign financing adopted by the commission also requires all the parties and candidates contesting the elections to disclose donations in excess of 1,000 deutsche marks ($461).

A press release issued today by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- which overseas the building of democratic institutions in Kosovo -- said the Electoral Rule limits campaign spending to one deutsche mark (46 cents) per voter in the municipality in which the parties or candidates are contesting.

According to the rule, campaign spending refers to any costs incurred for the purpose of generating publicity materials designed to influence how voters vote in the election.

The rule also requires all those contesting to file disclosure reports to the Central Elections Commission on how much money they had at their disposal to mount their election campaigns, as well as how much they actually spent.

In addition, once the elections are over, all those who contested must file separate campaign spending reports to the Central Election Commission, declaring all outstanding bills due and the total amount of money already paid out by them during their entire election campaign.

Mr. Guinard, 59, has been working during the past eight years on security matters in the French prime minister's office, where he was in charge of relations between the army and civil service.