FEBRUARY 5 2001 VOL. 157 NO. 5

Milestones
BY PENNY CAMPBELL

RESIGNED. PETER MANDELSON, 47, British minister responsible for Northern Ireland, close confidant to Prime Minister Tony Blair and mastermind of Labour's landslide 1997 election victory, after allegations that he had improperly intervened to help secure a passport for controversial Indian businessman, Srichand Hinduja; in London. Mandelson's second resignation from the cabinet in two years -- in December 1998 he quit over a secret real estate loan from a wealthy fellow minister -- looks certain to end his political career, and is a blow to Blair coming shortly before the next general election, which is expected in May.

DIED. KIM KI-CHANG, 86, one of South Korea's leading modernist painters; in Seoul. Kim expired two months after meeting with his younger brother, a celebrated artist in North Korea, for the first time in 50 years during the family reunions that followed the inter-Korean summit in June.

DIED. BYRON DE LA BECKWITH, 80, white supremacist who escaped justice for 31 years before being convicted in 1994 of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers; in Jackson, Mississippi. Two all-white, all-male juries failed to reach a verdict when he was twice tried in 1964, despite the fact that his fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. The case was reopened twelve years ago and a jury of eight blacks and four whites convicted him in 1994. He was serving a life sentence at the time of his death.

DIED. FRANCISCO "CURRO" RIVERA, 49, Mexican bullfighter who triumphed in Spain, of a heart attack while practicing in the ring; in the western state of Jalisco. He retired eight years ago after completing more than 1,000 fights but was training for a comeback this year.

CHARGED. MOSTAFA TAJZADEH, 43, outspoken reformist Iranian deputy Interior Minister and close ally of embattled President Mohammad Khatami, on charges of vote-rigging during last February's parliamentary elections, at a closed-door hearing; in Tehran. Tajzadeh has come under renewed fire from hardliners following his appointment two months ago as supervisor of the presidential elections due next summer.

AWARDED. To MATTHEW KNEALE, 40, British novelist, the coveted Whitbread Book of the Year award for his tragicomedy, English Passengers; in London. The epic novel interweaves the voyage of a group of bigoted 19th century Englishmen searching for the Garden of Eden and the genocide of Tasmanian Aboriginals. Kneale won the $33,000 prize by the narrowest margin ever, on the chairman's vote.

SENTENCED. RAE CARRUTH, 26, American football player, to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for conspiring to kill Cherica Adams, his eight-months-pregnant girlfriend; in Charlotte, North Carolina. Carruth, who was accused of setting up the drive by shooting in 1999 in order to avoid paying child support, was acquitted of first-degree murder. Adams died after a month in a coma, but her baby survived an emergency delivery by caesarean section.