Testimony

Answering questions in a composed monotone, a 36-year-old Muslim woman Wednesday became the first eyewitness to atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina to testify publicly before the United Nations war crimes tribunal here.

An 84-year-old former SS major fell from a hotel balcony Friday while trying to escape rather than testify against a fellow ex-Nazi on trial for Italy's worst wartime atrocity. Karl Hass, who was due to testify in the trial of former Nazi Capt. Erich Priebke on charges of organizing the 1944 Ardeatine Caves massacre of 335 men and boys, was taken to a hospital with a fractured pelvis and compressed vertebrae.

Prospects that President Clinton's chief accuser will testify during the Senate Whitewater Committee's final week appeared muddy Friday, though the panel's chairman said David Hale still was scheduled to appear. Late Thursday, the committee canceled plans to question Hale, a former Arkansas banker, behind closed doors on Friday.

Reiterating testimony that came under fierce attack in O.J. Simpson's murder trial, retired Los Angeles Police Det. Philip L. Vannatter said he suspected "something was wrong" when Simpson did not ask probing questions or show grief during an interview the day after his ex-wife and her friend were murdered.

A former Canoga Park man who was twice jailed on domestic violence charges testified Friday that he accidentally shot and killed an ex-girlfriend as they struggled over a gun the woman was pointing at him. Taking the witness stand in his own defense at his capital murder trial, Mark Bowersock, 40, said that although he fled the state after the woman's death, buried the weapon and altered his appearance before turning himself in to authorities, it was the victim who initiated the altercation.

Lawyers pressing wrongful death lawsuits against O.J. Simpson plan to confront Brian "Kato" Kaelin with alleged contradictions between testimony Kaelin gave on the witness stand in Simpson's criminal trial and taped statements that he provided to a man who wrote a book about him, attorneys involved in the civil case said Monday. Plaintiffs' attorneys are scheduled to start deposing the former Simpson guest house tenant Wednesday.

O.J. Simpson did not testify during the criminal trial that ended with his acquittal on charges of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman. However, Simpson's voice has been heard publicly since the murders were discovered June 13, 1994. Transcripts of his interrogation with police float across the Internet.

O.J. Simpson's performance in his as-yet incomplete deposition has created new problems for his own lawyers and new opportunities for the attorneys representing the families and estates of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in their wrongful death suits against the former football star, leading legal analysts said Saturday. The Times' publication Saturday of extended excerpts from Simpson's five-day interrogation by Daniel M.

Over the coming weeks, a number of other key figures are expected to be deposed as part of the civil wrongful death suits filed against O.J. Simpson. Among them are longtime Simpson friends Al Cowlings and Robert Kardashian; Brian "Kato" Kaelin; Cathy Randa, Simpson's personal assistant, and Simpson's grown children, Jason and Arnelle. Also set for depositions are Dr.