Wednesday, March 31, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Nation/World
Milosevic insists NATO attacks end
The Associated Press
BELGRADE Yugoslavia
BELGRADE. Yugoslavia — Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic insisted yesterday that NATO attacks stop before he moves toward peace, declaring his forces ready to fight "to the very end." NATO answered with new resolve to wreck his military with relentless air assault.
More than six hours of talks with Russia's prime minister yielded a statement by Milosevic that he was willing to rein in a harsh campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and resume peace talks if the NATO strikes stopped.
His proposal was rejected by NATO leaders including President Clinton, who warned that atrocities against ethnic Albanians would weaken Serbia's claim to the separatist province and increase NATO's determination
to destroy Milosevic's army.
"We will see that his military will be seriously diminished, key military infrastructure destroyed, the prospect for international support for Serbia's claim to Kosovo increasingly jeopardized," Clinton said, adding that the allies "must remain steady and determined."
NATO officials said that the number of ethnic Albanians who have fled Kosovo in the last six days has grown to 118,000, and Pec. a city of 100,000 in western Kosovo, almost has been totally destroyed.
kosovo Albanians kept up their exodus by foot, car and cart, pouring across the border and overwhelming Albania, one of the world's poorest countries.
At least eight elderly refugees, exhausted by the journey, died in a
hospital yesterday in Kukes, Albania. One woman had deep scratches on her knees, suggesting that she was dragged or crawled at one point during her flee to safety.
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who met with Milosevic in Belgrade, said upon his arrival later in Bonn, Germany, that the Yugoslav leader was ready for renewed negotiations if NATO stopped the bombing.
He said Milosevic wanted the talks to include "the interests of all groups in Kosovo" — a reference to the Serb minority in Kosovo.
military authority."
A statement from Milosevic's office read on state-run television said: "To open the space for negotiations, (NATO) aggression on Yugoslavia has to stop immediately."
The Pentagon ordered five B-1 bombers and additional air defense
jamming planes and refueling tankers to Europe for intensified air strikes.
In Bonn, German Chancellor Ger
hard Schroeder, the current president of the European Union, called Milosevic's offer unacceptable. He specifically rejected the condition that NATO stops its attacks first.
"The signal that the international community expects is the
Primakov: Says Milosevic will negotiate if bombings stop.
withdrawal of Yugoslav military and paramilitary units from Kosovo," Schroeder said.
Healthy economy helps Social Security, Medicare
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The healthy economy has boosted the fortunes of Social Security and Medicare, delaying the date when each will run short of money, trustees for the two retirement programs announced yesterday.
"The strength of our economy has led to modest but real improvements." President Clinton said.
It is the second consecutive year that stronger-than-expected economic growth has improved the outlook for the nation's retirement system.
Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, had been projected to run short of cash in 2001. Last year that date was moved to 2008, and yesterday's report moves it further to 2015.
The Social Security insolvency date,
extended last year from 2029 to 2032,
was moved yesterday to 2034.
Yet Clinton and Republicans in Congress both said they would continue to
"Now is the time to make those changes. Now, when we have time on our side." Clinton said.
press for changes to strengthen the retirement system this year.
Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee, said lawmakers should not lose focus or become complacent.
Some experts speculate that the latest good news could reduce pressure on lawmakers to make dramatic changes, and risk political backlash, before the 2000 presidential election.
So far, however, there is little agreement about what to do.
"It might give some impetus to the concept of a slower transition," said public policy researcher Marilyn Moon, one of two private citizens on the board of trustees for the retirement programs.
The other trustees consist of Clinton administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.
Water quality questioned
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — An environmental group petitioned the Food and Drug Administration Monday to tighten its regulation of bottled water after tests showed a third of 103 brands exceeded industry or state purity standards.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, said that most bottled water was found to be of good quality and that none of the test samples posed a health concern for the general public.
but the tests on nearly 1,000 samples involving 103 brands of bottled water raise questions about industry-wide marketing claims that bottled water is more pure and healthier than tap water, the group maintained.
"Most bottled water appears to be safe," the group said.
It said 22 percent of the samples exceeded California's health-based standard, the country's most stringent, for arsenic and cancer-causing synthetic organic compounds. Levels of bacteria in 17 percent of the samples exceeded the voluntary industry guidelines.
Bottled better?
Is bottled water really better than water from the tap? Recent studies report that only 1 percent of water from water bottles exceed California's health standards, which are the toughest in the country. The report also shows that 17 percent exceed the industrial guidelines.
Kvle Ramsey/KANSAN
The FDA, although not commenting on specifics of the NRDC report, said bottled water posed no significant public health risk and was, therefore, safe to consume.
The agency regulates bottled water as a food product. Industry spokesmen also insisted that the NRDC report showed that most bottled water was safe.
Americans drink an estimated 3.4 billion gallons of bottled water annually — about 12.7 gallons per person
- and the numbers have been increasing nearly 10 percent a year, according to the industry.
Tobacco giant ordered to pay record amount
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — In the biggest liability verdict ever against the tobacco industry, a jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million yesterday to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.
The victory by the wife and children of Jesse Williams was the second major hit against Philip Morris this year. A San Francisco jury awarded $51.5 million last month to a Mariborbo smoker who has inoperable lung cancer.
The jury awarded $1.6 million in compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages.
Although no smoking liability verdict against the tobacco industry has survived on appeal, Wall Street analysts had been watching the Portland case closely to see if huge damage awards against Big Tobacco were now a trend.
"It will make the stocks go down," said Gary Black, an industry analyst with the New York brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co."This will persuade the industry to start thinking the tide may be turning."
The Williams family, who sought $101 million, alleged that the company knew its cigarettes could cause cancer.
Testimony portrayed Williams, a former janitor with the Portland school system, as a three-pack-a-day Marlboro smoker who thought the manufacturer wouldn't sell a harmful product and who was heavily
addicted to nicotine.
Williams died in 1997. He was 67 and left behind a wife, Mayola, and six adult children.
Philip Morris attorney Walter Cofer said he would appeal. He noted that the tobacco industry has a 40-year history of prevailing in such cases.
"If you look at this verdict, it was not supported by the evidence," Cofer said. "It was a product of passion and prejudice."
The 12-member Circuit Court jury, which included three smokers and four former smokers, spent a little more than two days reviewing a month of testimony from experts in such areas as cancer diagnosis, radiology and the chemistry of tobacco smoke.
Besides the San Francisco case, U.S. juries have awarded damages in smoking liability cases only three times — twice in Florida and once in New Jersey. All three verdicts were overturned on appeal.
In the Portland case, attorneys for the Williams family cited internal Philip Morris documents to bolster its claim that the company long knew and hid information about the cancer-causing potential of cigarettes.
Raymond Thomas, an attorney for the family, called the tobacco company "willful, malicious, sneaky" in its efforts to keep smokers hooked.
Cofer said Williams was well aware that smoking could harm his health and had been warned of that by doctors and family members.
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