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built Thursday for the United Nations to deploy armed peacekeepers to East Timor, as Indonesian security forces failed to stop pro-Indonesian militia gangs from wreaking havoc on the territory. The violence in the wake of Monday’s independence referendum left two more local U.N. staffers dead Thursday and sent thousands of peo ple fleeing their homes in the provin cial capital of Dili. Automatic gunfire echoed across Dili, and houses were on fire in near by villages. The U.N. workers were killed in Maliana, 80 miles west of Dili, which has been the scene of recent violence by the militias, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. He had no other details. The killings came one day after fighting between pro- and anti-inde pendence supporters killed at least three people near the U.N. compound in Dili. The Maliana attack brought the number of local U.N. workers slain to four since Monday, when East fimorese swamped the polls to cast whether their territory would become independent from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975. Almost 99 percent of registered voters turned out despite a militia campaign of terror to keep them away. Independence activists say they will win the ballot by a landslide when the result is announced next week. The militias, which reportedly have links to Indonesia’s military, fiercely oppose independence for East Timor and claim the United Nations rigged Monday’s vote. As vote counting continued under tight security Thursday, many resi dents fled Dili, fearing reprisals from the militias. Some residents went to surrounding villages or the hills behind the ramshackle town. Others who stayed behind guarded their houses with machetes and sticks. “There is a lot of fear,” said Anisette Gutter Lopes of HA, a Timorese human rights group. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said planning already was under way “for a U.N. security presence to be brought in place in East Timor,” but only with •• The possibility is not closed for the government to allow the United Nations to deploy a U.N peacekeeping force in East Timor ” Indonesian Statu Secretary Muladi Indonesia’s consent. A coalition of electoral observer organizations called directly for a U.N. force to be sent in to stem the violence. “The Indonesian armed forces should be withdrawn from East Timor and replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force that must take immediate action to disarm and disband militias,” the coalition said. As calls for peacekeepers grew, Indonesia for the first time indicated it might allow a multinational force into East Timor. “The possibility is not closed for the government to allow the United Nations to deploy a U.N. peacekeep ing force in East Timor,” said State Secretary Muladi, President B.J. Habibie’s top aide. However, a peacekeeping foree would have to be authorized by the U.N. Security Council, and Western diplomats say there is not unanimous support for such a force at the moment. Eckhard said the United Nations had no immediate plans to send in a peacekeeping force. “(Indonesia) managed to keep perfect order on the day of the ballot ing. I think the task now for the inter national community is to pressure Indonesia to repeat that performance on a daily basis,” Eckhard said. Bush plan would alter federal school funding LOS ANGELES (AP) — Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush said Thursday that federal funds should be confiscated from the worst-performing schools and made available to parents for pri vate education, tutoring or “whatever offers hope.” “In my administration, federal money will no longer follow failure,” the Texas governor told the Latin Business Association, a Hispanic group. Under Bush’s plan, every school getting the Title I money would be required to test its impoverished stu dents on basic academics each year. A warning would be issued to schools failing to make progress toward state standards. After three years of no progress, the Title I money would be matched with other federal education money and given to the state, which would set up an education account — about $ 1,500 a year — for each affected student. The parents could choose how to spend the money. They could keep the money and their child in the orig inal school or opt for an alternative, including private school and tutoring — “for whatever offers hope,” Bush said. The government currently spends $7.7 billion on Title I to help educate poor children. ^ A Bush aide said the plan would require states to create mechanisms for ensuring parents spend the money on education. Bush said federal programs affecting teacher training, curricu lum research and school safety would have to prove results. Those that didn’t would be stripped of their funding. Bush also proposed shifting the $4.4 billion Head Start program from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Education Department, a step he said would return tlje program’s focus to prepar ing disadvantaged preschoolers for the classroom. Questions? Comments? Editor: josh Funk Ask for the appropriate section editor at Managing Editor: Sarah Baker (402) 472-2588 Associate News Editor: Lindsay Young ore-maildn@unl.edu. Associate News Editor: Jessica Fargen Opinion Editor: MarkBaldridge General Manager: Daniel Shattil Sports Editor: Dave Wilson Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, A&E Editor: Liza Holtmeier Chairwoman: (402)477-0527 Copy Desk Chief: Diane Broderick Professional Adviser: Don Walton, Photo Co-Chief: Matt Miller (402) 473-7248 Design Chief: JeffRandell Advertising Manager: NickPartsch, Art Director: Matt Haney (402) 472-2589 Web Editor: Gregg Steams Asst. Ad Manager: Jamie Yeager Asst Web Editor: Jennifer Walker Classifield Ad Manager: Mary Johnson Fax number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.daHyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sessions.The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St., Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN FBI finds more tear-gas assault ■ Footage taken at the. Davidian compound leads Reno to order an outside investigation. WASHINGT6N (AP) — More previously undisclosed video footage of the FBI’s 1993 tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian cult surfaced Thursday, and Attorney General Janet Reno asked an outsider to head an inde pendent inquiry into the siege. The FBI, meanwhile, made public an aerial infrared videotape that runs from just before 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on April 19, 1993 — covering the period during which the FBI assault on the Davidian compound began and captur ing radio traffic related to the use of combustible tear-gas canisters. That footage, which FBI officials said was discovered at the FBI Hostage Rescue Team’s offices in Quantico, Va. this week, was seized by fedefarinaf shals Wednesday at the direction of senior Justice Department officials. The Hostage Rescue Team was in charge of operations during the 51-day siege and the final tear-gas assault. A transcript of the radio traffic, released by the FBI, includes a conver sation in which an FBI field comman der granted permission for an agent to lob military incendiary tear-gas can')»*' ters at a concrete bunker 40 yards from the Davidians’ wooden compound near Waco, Texas. The FBI said the conversation took place at 7:49 a.m. — nearly two hours after the tear-gas assault began but hours before flames began racing through the Davidians’ wooden home at 12:07 p.m. The FBI and Roto, who have been ; heavily criticized over the Waco assault; have said there was no evidence to sug gest the blaze was set by the com4 bustible canisters. Cult leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died dur ing the inferno, some from gunshot wounds, others from the fire. The bureau’s admission last week that the combustible tear gas was used, reversing six years of statements to the contrary, provoked a furor on and off Capitol Hill. Congressional hearings will be convened this fall, and Reno also ordered an investigation to “get to the bottom” of why her orders to use only non-burning tear gas were ignored. After days-of leaning in favor of an independent inquiry, the Justice Department announced Thursday that Reno had ordered an outside investiga tion. The White House, FBI Director Louis Freeh and congressional Democrats and Republicans had sug gested Reno order an independent inquiry. % President Clinton “is deeply con cerned that the attorney general appears to have been misled and may have been lied to” about what went on at Waco, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Thursday. A Justice source said an offer had been tendered to an outsider who does not work for the FBI or Justice Department. Beyond the footage turned over to federal marshals Wednesday and made public Thursday, another aerial infrared tape has surfaced, House Government Reform Committee spokesman Mark Corallo said. The latest footage, cover ing the 8 a.m. to 10:42 a.m. period, was turned over to federal marshals. The newly discovered infrared tapes were turned up as part of Freeh’s Older that all files be searched for relevant information in advance of the investiga tion, bureau officials said. Bureau officials had previously insisted in swOm affidavits that they. didn’t have arty infrared video footage before 10:42 a.m.—hours after the tear gasassaultbegan at 5:55 a.m. ■ Sri Lanka Time-triggered bomb kills three in Sri Lanka office VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (AP) — A bomb exploded in the office of a former Tamil rebel group Thursday, killing a top leader and two others, police and witnesses said. Those killed included N. Mannikadasan, the deputy chief of< the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, and K. Elianko, a local leader. The identity of the third victim was not immediately known. Another two people were wounded. The bomb was hidden in the false roof ceiling and triggered by a time device, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Vavuniya, 130 miles north of Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, but police blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the killings. ■ Washington Journal reports advances in stem-cell research WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers have found a way to identify and isolate special stem cells in the bone marrow, a develop ment that could lead to new treat ments for blood diseases. Scientists at Jefferson Medical College report today in the journals Science that hematopoietic stem cells have a protein marker, called KDR, that can be used as sort of a beacon to isolate them from other, similar-looking cells. Researchers believe if the stem cell can be isolated and cultured in the laboratory, it could be used to grow red, white and platelet blood cells, all of which have important medical applications. For instance, it is believed the stem cell could be used to produce blood for transfu sions or cells for bone marrow transplants. ■ Russia Report prompts Russia to take network off the air MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian government took a televi sion network off the air Thursday over a report deriding a liberal party — the first sitfli action against a major media outlet since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia’s new Media Ministry suspended the license of the St. Petersburg Television and Radio Company because its report en-the Right Cause political movement violated laws on the media and voters’ rights, Ministry Chief Mikhail Lesin said. The report showed teen-agers stripping in the middle of the arena and claimed without any evidence that there was mass consumption of drugs among the audience. It also contained scathing personal attacks on liberal politicians Boris Nemtsov and Irina Khakamada, who lead Rigjit Cause and are cam paigning for December parliamen tary^elections.