JULY 24, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 3

Milestones
BY PENNY CAMPBELL

ELECTED. GNASSINGBE EYADEMA, 63, President of Togo, as head of the Organization of African Unity; in Lomé. A former general who has been in power in Togo since a bloody coup more than 30 years ago, Eyadéma has been accused by the U.N. of fueling the Angolan war through his support of rebel movement unita. His appointment led to a boycott by Angola and its allies of last week's oau annual summit, where he assumed the chairmanship.

ELECTED. BASHAR ASSAD, 34, mild-mannered opthalmologist, as President of Syria following a nationwide referendum in which he won 97% of the vote; in Damascus. The no-suspense referendum was the final step in formalizing Assad's appointment to replace his father, Hafez Assad, who died last month.

RESIGNED. EZER WEIZMAN, 76, hawk-turned-dove whose long public career was tainted at the end by financial scandal, as President of Israel; in Tel Aviv. A war hero and former air-force chief, he later advocated dialogue with Yasser Arafat's plo, and as Minister of Defense helped forge Israel's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. He stepped down from his second term as President three years early after being criticized by the Attorney General for accepting more than $300,000 in unreported cash gifts.

DIED. ROBERT RUNCIE, 78, outspoken former Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans; in St. Albans, England. His stance on social issues led to criticism by members of the Conservative Party for what they saw as his meddling in politics. A reformer who paved the way for ordination of women, Runcie worked for reconciliation with Roman Catholics, outraging some members of his own church by praying with the Pope. After retiring as archbishop in 1991, he was made a life peer by then Prime Minister John Major.

DIED. PEDRO MIR, 87, poet laureate of the Dominican Republic; in Santo Domingo. Forced to flee the country in 1947 because his attacks on social injustice angered dictator Rafael Trujillo, he returned only after Trujillo's 1961 assassination. Also a novelist, essayist and historian, he was named National Poet in 1982 and won his country's 1993 National Prize for Literature.

DIED. HENRI GAULT, 70, celebrated French food writer and pioneer of nouvelle cuisine; in St.-Sulpice-en-Pareds, France. Beginning his career as a food critic in 1955, Gault was co-founder in 1972 of the GaultMillau restaurant guide; one of the first guides to provide actual descriptions of the food and ambiance, its witty reviews made it the first serious rival to the famous Michelin.

ARRESTED. AUGUSTIN VASQUEZ MENDOZA, 28, suspected Mexican drug ring leader who has been on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's ten-most-wanted-list for four years because of his alleged role in the 1994 killing of an undercover U.S. drug agent; in Tehuacan, Mexico. American authorities, who offered a $2.2 million reward for his capture, have agreed to waive the death penalty in return for his extradition.