Conflicts were heightened in Kosovo, as ethnic retaliations continue. After this background report, Terrence Smith discusses the situation with Sergio Vieira de Mello, former U.N. administrator for Kosovo.

TERENCE SMITH: We begin with the chronicle of a week in the troubled life of post-war Kosovo: Three reports prepared last week by correspondents for Independent Television News.

JULIAN RUSH, ITN: Even as the world talks reconstruction, the destruction continues. This was a Serb home, one more house to add to the 120,000 the U.N. here says have been damaged. Most, of course, are Albanian.

The European commission task force in Kosovo estimates that 78,000 homes are seriously damaged. The total cost of reconstruction? Around 775 million pounds. The amount of reconstruction needed across Kosovo varies tremendously. But there is one place that will have to be completely rebuilt.

This is the village of Chabra. On March 29th, its Albanian population was expelled, and then over a three-week period, it was systematically flattened. Not a single house remains standing. This is an isolated place, the last Albanian village in a region dominated by Serbs. Three quarters of the families have returned in defiance to live in tents.

The immediate issue here, as elsewhere, is winter. It sets in September. It's brutal. Temperatures drop to minus 30. The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that up to 400,000 people need immediate assistance to avert another crisis. The E.U. believes it'll take five to ten years to get Kosovo on its feet. Over the last six weeks, they've been assessing what needs to be done. Bridges can and are being rebuilt; only 13 were destroyed. Officials here admit the bigger challenge is rebuilding society and the economy in a way that doesn't turn Kosovo into a place dependent on aid.

Over 500 schools are being repaired. New books, desks and chairs are coming, courtesy of charities and aid agencies. But Kosovo has no future if it can't pay its teachers.

ANDREA CATHERWOOD, ITN: A silent procession of tractors and tears. The Serbs of Gracko bury their 14 dead, the tractors bearing coffins of the farmers rounded up and shot in a field as they harvested wheat, the youngest just 17.

In a village of 80 Serb families, everyone is mourning. The whole Serb community in Kosovo feels under threat. They filed into the tiny graveyard under heavy British army presence, 100 soldiers now protecting the Serbs.

Fresh graves are all-too common a sight here in Kosovo. And in so many massacres, it looks unlikely that those responsible will ever be punished. But this time it's different. These killings have taken place in an area controlled by the British army, and now the army is determined to find the killers. They say they have strong evidence, and the military police detained four Albanian men in connection with the massacre.

Preparing for the harsh Winter

ANDREA CATHERWOOD: This is the second city of Kosovo, Pec. It's decimated, two-thirds of the buildings destroyed.

Reconstruction can't happen quickly enough -- 120,000 people lived here, without homes, jobs, or money. Those left are living on aid.

Like many, Nilchy Kilmande returned from a refugee camp with nothing. For a month she and her three children have slept in this car. She says it's the only place she can find with a roof.

When NATO troops arrived, Kosovo was producing no electricity. British soldiers now running the power station say it will take huge investment to give all of Kosovo 24-hour guaranteed power. But the priority is housing. Half the homes in Kosovo were destroyed this spring. Now people need shelter to survive the harsh winter ahead.