SEPTEMBER 20, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 11

Milestones

By HANNAH BEECH

HOSPITALIZED. ANWAR IBRAHIM, 52, Malaysia's imprisoned former Deputy Prime Minister, after his lawyers submitted medical tests that allegedly show high levels of arsenic in his body; in Kuala Lumpur. Attorney General Mohtar Abdullah cautioned people "not to jump the gun and accuse some people of conspiracy to kill" and instead suggested that Anwar could have been accidentally poisoned by tainted food brought to him in prison by family members. The ousted former No. 2 was sentenced to six years in prison last April for abuse of power. He is currently on trial for sodomy.

KILLED. SAYED HASSAN SULEIMAN, 40, disenchanted Egyptian clothing vendor, after allegedly trying to plunge a knife into President Hosni Mubarak, by presidential bodyguards; in Port Said. The politically moderate Mubarak has survived at least three assassination attempts. His predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was killed by Muslim militants in 1981.

DIED. MCWAYIZENI KA DINIZULU, 67, respected prince of South Africa's Zulus who served as regent before King Goodwill Zwelithini was crowned in 1971; in Johannesburg. Unlike the majority of Zulus who follow the nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party led by chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Mcwayizeni supported Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and proved to be a key force in diffusing the inter-party violence that has claimed thousands of lives in KwaZulu-Natal province.

DIED. ALLEN FUNT, 84, pioneering American prankster who bedeviled ordinary folks with extraordinary stunts in his hit television series Candid Camera; in Pebble Beach, California. Before springing his trademark line "Smile--you're on Candid Camera," Funt would startle unwitting passersby with hands waving out of gutters and talking mailboxes. The show, which aired on and off from 1948 to 1990, spawned numerous imitators, including America's Funniest Home Videos, and served as a precursor for reality-based programs like Cops.

PLEADED GUILTY. HENRY CISNEROS, 52, disgraced former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, to lying during a Federal Bureau of Investigation background check about the amount of money he paid an ex-mistress; at a Washington district court. By pleading guilty to the single misdemeanor count and paying a $10,000 fine, the one-time San Antonio mayor avoids prosecution on 18 felony charges that could have landed him in jail for up to 90 years--and brings to an end a four-year independent counsel investigation that has cost the government $9 million.

CHARGED. TA MOK, FORMER KHMER ROUGE CHIEF, and KANG KHEK IEU, ex-head of the notorious Tuol Sleng torture center, with genocide, for their complicity in Cambodia's killing fields, by a military court; in Phnom Penh. Although the United Nations has pushed Cambodia to set up a jointly administered tribunal to prosecute the leaders of the brutal 1975-79 regime that murdered up to 2 million people, Prime Minister Hun Sen has insisted that the court should be staffed by a majority of local judges--leaving critics worried that only a show trial will ensue.