JUNE 26, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 25

Milestones
BY PENNY CAMPBELL

DIED. EMPRESS DOWAGER NAGAKO, 97, widow of Japan's late Emperor Hirohito and mother of current Emperor Akihito; in Tokyo. Nagako was Empress from 1926 until Hirohito's death in 1989. Her health had been failing since she suffered a heart attack in 1987, after which she stayed out of the public view.

DIED. RAJESH PILOT, 55, often dissenting member of India's opposition Congress Party and challenger to the party leadership of Sonia Gandhi, in a car crash; in Rajasthan state. A former cabinet member first elected to Parliament in 1980, Pilot was an outspoken critic of dynastic rule and political corruption.

DIED. ROBERT TRENT JONES SR., 93, preeminent American golfcourse architect whose huge bunkers and undulating greens challenge players from Alabama to Indonesia; in Florida. Jones worked on 500-odd courses in more than 30 countries, arguing that they had to become more difficult to compensate for improvements in golf equipment.

RESIGNED. ROSSO JOSE SERRANO, 58, Colombia's national police chief who arrested the leaders of the Cali cocaine cartel and purged the police force of thousands of corrupt officers; in Bogota. Serrano said he was resigning because he couldn't bear to go the funeral of anymore policemen killed in Colombia's fight against drugs and crime.

ARRESTED. VLADIMIR GUSINSKY, 47, head of Media Most, Russia's leading independent media group, in a move that has raised concerns about press freedom under President Vladimir Putin; in Moscow. Gusinsky's outlets have sharply criticized Putin, as well as the army's role in the war in Chechnya. Gusinsky was charged with embezzlement but released after three nights in jail.

ARRESTED. LINO CESAR OVIEDO, retired Paraguayan general wanted in connection with the 1999 murder of Vice President Luis Maria Argana and a failed coup in April; in Foz do Iguaçú, southern Brazil. Paraguayan authorities hope to extradite Oviedo, who fled shortly after Argana's murder last March.

RELEASED. ZHANG JINGSHENG, 46, veteran Chinese dissident, freed two years early from a 13-year prison sentence for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests; in Yuanjiang, Hunan province. Zhang was jailed for four years in 1981 for his activities in the 1979 "Democracy Wall" movement. His release comes as the U.S. Senate considers normalizing trade relations with China.

ACQUITTED. AUGUSTIN MISAGO, 56, Roman Catholic bishop, of charges of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda; in Kigali. The most senior of more than 20 clerics charged in connection with the killings, Misago had consistently been supported by the Vatican. If convicted he would have faced a death sentence.