DIED. SHINICHI SUZUKI, 99, innovative violin instructor, whose bold approach encouraged millions of children to learn by imitating music rather than memorizing tedious lines of notes; in Matsumoto, Japan. Suzuki stunned audiences by teaching children as young as 2 to play Bach on the violin. He insisted that parents nurture their progeny's training; one of his quirkier recommendations: parents should play recordings of classical music near the crib.
INDICTED. CHARLIE YAH LIN TRIE, 49, longtime friend of President Bill Clinton, on charges that he obstructed justice and funneled illegal foreign donations into Democratic Party campaigns and the President's legal defense fund; in Washington, by a federal grand jury. More than $1.2 million raised by Trie was returned after allegations arose in 1996; Trie has since fled the U.S.
NOMINATED. GRO HARLEM BRUNDTLAND, 58, strong-willed former Norwegian Prime Minister, to head the United Nations' floundering World Health Organization (WHO); in Geneva by the who's executive board. A graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health, a medical doctor and an outspoken advocate of environmental causes, Brundtland would be the first woman to lead the global health agency. The who general assembly is expected to confirm her posting when it meets in May.
CONVICTION UPHELD. IMELDA MARCOS, 68, former Philippines First Lady, for entering the government into "grossly disadvantageous" contracts; by the Supreme Court, in Manila. Marcos, who can file a motion for a final appeal, would be barred from her congressional seat and all other public offices if that last-ditch legal maneuver fails. Also at stake: a $4.5 million fine and up to 12 years in prison. The high court overturned one other corruption conviction, but Marcos still faces other charges stemming from her husband's 20-year dictatorship. A popular revolt toppled the Marcos regime in 1986, and the couple escaped to the U.S. After the exiled President died in 1989, she returned to the Philippines in 1991.
STRIPPED. ALFREDO ASTIZ, 47, infamous Argentine death squad leader, of his naval rank and pension, after bragging in an interview with Trespuntos magazine that he was "the best trained man to kill a journalist or a politician"; in Buenos Aires, by President Carlos Menem. Human-rights groups say that 30,000 people "disappeared" from 1976 to 1983 during the military's Dirty War against leftist guerrillas. Astiz, who retired from active duty in 1996, faces sedition charges: he boasted that military officers regularly ask him to lead an uprising against the democratic government.
AWARDED. TED HUGHES, 67, Britain's reclusive Poet Laureate; the Whitbread Book Award, for masterfully reworking Ovid's Metamorphoses; in London, a week after Hughes shocked the literary world by releasing a volume of impassioned poetry about his late wife, Sylvia Plath. Hughes, who broke 35 years of silence on the subject, shed light on his relationship with Plath, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and tragic feminist icon who committed suicide at age 30 after her marriage disintegrated.
By Dan Erck
