0 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 20, 2002 NATION/WORLD Witness cross- examined in war crimes trial NEWS UNBRIEF Eight Palestinians die in gun battles 0 THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the first witness in his war crimes trial yesterday, seeking to discredit a Koso- vo Albanian politician who accused the Yugoslav government of imposing a system of apartheid in Kosovo. At times sarcastic and patronizing, Milosevic read from a stack of hand- written notes as he vigorously ques- tioned the former head of the Communist Party in Kosovo, Mahmut Bakalli. The two engaged in a fierce political wrangle that lasted for nearly four hours. They tussled at length as Milose- vic pointed out contradictions in the witnesses' testimony over alleged atroc- ities in Kosovo, a province of Serbia. Trial spectators commended Milose- vic, saying his efforts appeared serious and legally relevant. The former Yugoslav president studied law, but yesterday's cross-examination was the first time he performed as a trial lawyer. He has refused to appoint a defense attorney, calling his trial ille- gitimate. Unlike his lengthy, often rambling opening statement, Milosevic remained focused, though aggressive. "What we have seen this morning was a very, very forceful, vigorous cross-examination," said Richard Dicker, head of the international jus- tice program at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. After a week of opening statements from the defense and the prosecution, Bakalli's testimony and cross-examina- tion initiated the evidentiary stage of the trial, which could last up to two years. Milosevic, 60, is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo and Croatia, and of genocide in Bosnia during the 1991-99 Balkan wars. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted on any one of 66 counts. In his 10-hour opening statement, he scorned charges that he was responsible for thousands of murders and nearly a million deportations, and accused Western countries of inflam- ing ethnic tensions to hasten the disin- tegration of Yugoslavia and assert their domination. Bakalli told the court Monday the Yugoslav leadership under Milosevic had planned to wipe out 700 Muslim settlements in Kosovo as part of a "scorched earth policy," but that the Serb security forces were unhappy with the plan. Milosevic confronted Bakalli on his testimony in which he said Milosevic had known of the killing of more than 40 members of the Jashari family in early 1998. Under tribunal precedent, the defendant may be convicted of war crimes committed by subordinates if he was aware of the crimes and declined to prevent them or punish the perpetrators. Describing one of his meetings with Milosevic in 1998, Bakalli said: "I told him: 'You are killing women and chil- dren,"' referring to the police action against the Jasharis in the village of Prekaz. AP PHOTO An unidentified undertaker's employee carries the body of a victim of a shooting in Eching near Munich, Germany, yesterday. 4 dead in school, factor s hooting Eight Palestinians, including a 14-year-old girl and three other civilians, were killed yesterday in gun battles and Israeli reprisals for a string of deadly attacks by Palestinian militants. Israeli warplanes and helicopters pounded Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. With nine Israelis killed over six days, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under growing pressure to take more decisive action. Among the dead were a 14- year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in a pizza parlor on Saturday. Later yesterday, an Israeli bus driver pushed a suicide bomber off his vehicle and the man blew himself up, police said. An army spokesman said the attacker died but there were no other injuries near the Jewish settlement of Mehola in the northern West Bank. In one strike yesterday, Israeli helicopter gunships fired three missiles at the office of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the crowded Jebalya refugee camp, killing two Palestinians and critically wounding four, including a 10-year-old girl, doctors said. In all, 25 Palestinians were wounded in the fighting, including five children. WASHINGTON Pentagon's next target: Global public opinion The Pentagon is working on a plan to influence public opinion in both hostile and friendly nations to help the war against terrorism - a still-developing effort that critics say could spreasd false information at home and abroad. The Office of Strategic Influence, set up after the Sept. 11 attacks, has come up with proposals including the placing of news items - false if need be - with for- eign news organizations, a defense official said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The office is considering having an outside organization distribute the information so it would not be apparent it came from the Defense Department, the official said. The Bush administration worries it is losing public support overseas, especially among Muslims who believe the United States is hostile toward Islam. "This is a battle for minds;' Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yes- terday in a speech to defense contractors. "Our victory on the ground in Afghanistan has already changed substantially how this conflict is perceived, even in the Muslim world." FREISING, Germany (AP) - A young German in army camouflage gunned down his former boss and a foreman at the factory from which he was fired then went to his old high school where he set off homemade pipe bombs and shot wildly yesterday, killing the principal. Most of the school's 400 students escaped after someone sounded a fire alarm. Police rescued 28 students and two teachers who had holed up inside the school in panic, as helicopters whirred overhead. The assailant, believed to be about 20 years old, ended the rampage by killing himself, making the death toll in the rampage four, police said. Several other people were wounded, including a teacher who was hospital- ized with a gunshot wound to the cheek. No students were hurt, police said. Unsure if the man was still inside, police sharpshooters ringed the school in Freising, about 25 miles north of Munich, and anxious parents gathered outside or in gymnasiums. Police commandos who combed the school discovered the suspected assailant's body several hours later. He had killed himself, Bavarian police spokesman Armin Ganserer said. "We heard two explosions and then there was a fire alarm. We went out, but we thought it was a false alarm," said Mike, an 11th-grader who gave only his first name. "We found out only gradually what had happened." Workplace and school shootings are rare in Germany, even though crime has risen in recent years. The rampage began when the assailant walked into a small factory that makes home furnishings in the town of Eching at about 8 a.m. and shot his former boss and a foreman, ages~38 and 40, with a "heavy-caliber gun," police spokesman Hans-Peter Kammerer said. One man died on the spot, the other shortly afterward. The company had fired the young man in the last few weeks, police said, though the reasons were unclear. After killing his co-workers, police said the gunman went to the school about 12 miles away in Freising - apparently by commuter train - where he opened fire and seriously wounded the principal, who later died. OSCR Open House! The Office of Student Conflict Resolution is hosting an Open House at its new location. Come and dialogue with OSCR staff about the ctate ment of RtudAeint SEOUL, South Korea Bush faces protests in South Korea President Bush said today a united Korea would bring freedom, prosperity and peace to a communist-dominated people mired in "stagnation and starva- tion," emphasizing a tone of unity rather than confrontation. The president's branding of North Korea as part of "an axis of evil" has reverberated throughout the region, and with his visit Bush sought to assure South Korea and other allies he is not rushing toward military action. "No nation should be a prison for its own people," the president said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Dorasan Train Station, which is a few hundred yards from the desolate demili- tarized zone that separates the free South from the North. "My vision is clear. I see a peninsula that is one day united in commerce and cooperation instead of divided by barbed wire and fear," Bush said. WASHINGTON Lay shifts blame for Enron's collapse Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay told company investigators that his successor, Jeffrey Skilling, knew the details of many of the partner- ship transactions that sent the ener- gy-trading company toward bankruptcy. In 17 pages of notes released yester- day, Lay was quoted as saying that Skilling presented board members with the idea for one of the key partnerships. In another instance, Lay said, Skilling would have been responsible for track- ing the financial performance of one of the deals. "Lay did not know who came up with the idea of LJM (a partnership) because Skilling and (former chief financial officer Andrew) Fastow pre- sented the idea together," stated the investigators' notes from a Jan. 16 interview. WASHINGTON Imported products may contain bacteria Dangerous bacteria are going to be a problem in America's food for a long time as disease agents arrive in imported products and microbes already here develop in new forms, scientists say. In a report for the Institute of Food Technologists, the scientists also say the increasing use of manure as fertilizer poses the risk of spreading harmful bac- teria to food, either by contaminating irri- gation water or contacting the crops. Manure, which harbors bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, substitutes for chemical fertilizer on both organic and conventional crops. In some foreign countries, chicken manure is fed to farm- raised shrimp. The report, which is being released today, also warns against the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, saying there is "growing body of evidence" that farm use of antibiotics is causing bacteria to become resistant to drugs. - Compiledfrom Daily wire reports. ~C>. Rights and Resr and possible an document. 0a oA, 0s 0Q ponsibilities (Code) mendments to this r.._.... Every Wednesday night from 6pm-9pm January 30th - February 20th G121 South Quad located at 600 East Madison Questions: 734.936.6308 or visit us at http://www.umich.edu/-oscr j ii iff~iqtn t UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY SUIMMER SESSIONS a' .4 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. 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