HONG KONG: This Could Be the Last Time The 16,000 people who gathered in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on June 4 to remember the victims of Beijing's bloody 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square were painfully aware that the vigil might be their last. On next year's anniversary, Hong Kong will be caught up in the territory's imminent July 1 return to Chinese sovereignty. And in future years, many predict, China will try to quash such commemorations. Brandishing a blazing "torch of democracy," legislator Szeto Wah addressed last week's gathering. "This is for those who died seven years ago. The troops that butchered you will soon be on our soil. The tanks that crushed you will parade the streets of Hong Kong. But we have no fear. We are determined that China will have democracy, and we will fight to the end."

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Separation Anxiety A surge in crime has heightened alarm among Haitians dreading the scheduled departure of U.N. peacekeepers on June 30. During the past five weeks, the capital has been rocked by a succession of high-profile crimes: the shooting death of at least five police officers; the fatal wounding during a robbery of a visiting mayor from a northwestern town; the kidnapping of a prominent businessman's six-year-old grandchild; the abduction and severe beating of a former director of the disbanded domestic intelligence service. Many fear the violence will escalate when the new police force--U.S.-trained but still inexperienced--assumes full responsibility for national security. "The police can't even ensure their own security, let alone anyone else's," said a Haitian political analyst. "Understandably, we're all concerned about all hell breaking loose when the U.N. leaves."

BOGOTA: Day of the Devil A religious panic swept through devout Roman Catholic families in Colombia last week. Parents rushed their children to baptismal fonts across the country after word spread that the soul of any child not baptized by Thursday, June 6--the sixth day of the sixth month of a year ending in six--would be seized by the Antichrist, linked in the Bible to the number 666. Some 7,000 children were baptized in the capital in the first five days of June, more than twice the weekly average of 3,000. Seeking to dispel the anxiety, church authorities made public pronouncements dismissing the rumor as superstition, and bishops of at least three Colombian dioceses banned baptisms until after June 6. Those efforts merely intensified the desperation felt by some parents. "These people are victims of misinformation and their own religious ignorance," said parish priest Jorge Serpa. "And people tend to react more irrationally when something concerns their children."

SAN MIGUEL ISLAND: A Sea Lion's Deadly Overtures During the past five years some 200 female sea lions have died in unexplained circumstances in the seas off Southern California. Now marine mammal biologists believe they have identified the culprit, yet they may not be able to prevent more fatalities. When the corpses began piling up on San Miguel at a rate of up to 50 a year, experts initially suspected poisoning by pollution or attacks by fishermen. Then last June, Robert DeLong, a biologist at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, witnessed a mammoth male sea lion mating with a female a fraction his size. Crushed by the male's 700-kg weight, the 100-kg female did not survive. DeLong believes the giant is a hybrid of the large Steller sea lion and the smaller California species. A decline in the Steller population seems to be driving the hybrid to seek mates among his California cousins. When they struggle to escape, he instinctively restrains them by bearing down with his full weight. The result: death by suffocation. So as mating season begins anew, DeLong hopes the hybrid male won't reappear. If he does, DeLong will apply for a permit to destroy him next year, something the biologist is reluctant to do. "He's the product of a confused mating," says DeLong, "and he's just trying to carry on with life the best way he can."

DISPATCHES

FIE ON THE CHOCOCRATS

JAY BRANEGAN/BRUSSELS

Not far from the Belgian Royal Palace, the small shop called Mary, with its soft blue carpeting, Louis XVI furniture and careful lighting, has the feel of an elegant jewelry store or perhaps an art gallery. It is an appropriate setting for Mary's artistic, jewel-like wares: fine Belgian chocolates--many say the finest in a country where chocolate is taken very seriously. Mary is one of the last chocolatiers to make all its delicacies on the premises--simple bars with nuts, truffles and, of course, the famous Belgian bonbons known as pralines. The shop's more than 70 different types of pralines are filled with everything from caramel to Cointreau to hazelnut paste. Founded in 1919 and serving its fourth generation of clients, including the royal court, Mary, despite its renown among free-spending chocoholics, has no other branches or stores. "We want to maintain control of the quality," says co-owner Fanny Lamberty.

Just across town, in the headquarters of the European Commission, the Eurocrats have a rather different priority: commerce. At the bidding of the large industrial candymakers, they have approved a regulation allowing chocolate to contain up to 5% non-cocoa vegetable fats in place of genuine but more expensive cocoa butter, a substitution already permitted in seven of the European Union's 15 member states. Belgium, along with France, protested that the change, which awaits final passage by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, would hurt cocoa producers in developing nations and give other E.U. countries a competitive edge. "Belgium has a worldwide reputation for the finest and purest chocolate," says Lamberty, who with her husband Jean took over the Mary shop in 1980. If that cachet is lost because the country adopts the new rules, she fears, foreign visitors, who are an important source of business, may stop coming in. "It's sad. They want to standardize the taste of everything."

The original Mary was Marie Delluc, who adopted the y to gain an international flavor. She passed the business on to one of her shop clerks, Helene Landrin, who found in the Lambertys faithful successors to tradition. Jean, with two assistants, makes pralines every morning in the basement atelier, pouring hot liquid chocolate into small molds, toasting his own almonds and whipping his own creme fraiche filling. Such handcrafted care does not come cheap, and at $43 per kg for a standard assortment, sales are slow in these tough times, Fanny admits, "but we're keeping our head above water." She doesn't begrudge the big firms' cost cutting--"It's just a question of money for them"--but no matter what the outcome of the Eurolegislation, Mary will never compromise on ingredients. Says Fanny: "We have to live up to our name."

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

Eat VITAMIN E and stay perky? Studies on mice suggest that the nutrient, which is already thought to ward off cancer and heart disease, may also slow aging of the brain and the immune system.

Anti-inflammatories can damage the lining of the stomach. Now, however, ARTHRITIS patients who use anti-inflammatories like naproxen, ketoprofen and ibuprofen can halve their chances of getting an ulcer if they also take famotidine, a drug that reduces stomach acid.

Antibiotics may help the COMMON COLD. Although doctors usually discourage their use because most colds are caused by viruses, which antibiotics can't kill, a Swiss study finds that 20% of cold sufferers also harbor bacterial infections.

THE BAD NEWS

Women who undergo surgery for BREAST CANCER during the latter phase of the menstrual cycle--days 14 to 30--rather than during the first part of the cycle appear twice as likely to suffer a recurrence of the cancer, researchers have discovered.

Cyclists who sport HELMETS can still take it on the chin. A study of bicycle-accident victims brought to emergency rooms showed that helmets decreased by 65% the risk of injury from the forehead down to the nose but did nothing to prevent injury to the rest of the face.

Arkansas is AMERICA'S LEAST HEALTHY STATE, with Louisiana a close second, according to a survey that weighed factors like infant mortality, childhood immunizations and smoking.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; New England Journal of Medicine; Lancet. BAD NEWS: American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting; American Academy of Pediatrics meeting; Morgan Quitno Press

28 YEARS AGO IN TIME

The R.F.K. Assassination

"[Robert]Kennedy fell...The gun, waving wildly, kept pumping bullets, and found five other human targets. Eight men in all, including Rafer Johnson, an Olympic champion, and Roosevelt Grier, a 300-lb. Los Angeles Rams football lineman, attempted to overpower the slight but lithe assailant. Johnson finally knocked the pistol out of the stubborn hand [and together with Grier held the suspect] spread-eagled on the counter. Several R.F.K. supporters tried to kill the man with their hands. Johnson and Grier fended them off. Someone had the presence of mind to shout: 'Let's not have another Oswald!' Johnson pocketed the gun...[S]cores of people pressed in." --June 14, 1968