Milestones

Monday, Jul. 25, 2005 By KEANE SHUM
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AGREED UPON. A PEACE ACCORD FOR ACEH, Indonesian province that has endured a bloody, 29-year separatist conflict; by the Indonesian government and leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (G.A.M.); in Helsinki. The Dec. 26 tsunami that killed up to 130,000 Acehnese provided an impetus for the two sides to end their fighting. Indonesian military chief General Endriartono Sutarto urged G.A.M. to abide by the pact, scheduled to be signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15, saying, "Now is the time for them to put their weapons down and jointly rebuild Aceh." President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to withdraw all non-Acehnese military personnel from the province when the rebels disarm.

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SENTENCED. FARYADI SARWAR ZARDAD, 42, former Afghan warlord; to 20 years in a British prison, for torture and hostage taking; in London. In the first trial in Britain for torture committed by a foreigner in another country, Zardad was convicted of human-rights violations while ruling the region of Sarobi outside Kabul from 1992-96. On hearing his sentence, Zardad, who left Afghanistan in 1998 to escape the Taliban and was arrested in 2003 while managing a pizza parlor in London, raised his fist and shouted "Allah is great!"

ABDUCTED. RUBEN OMAR ROMANO, 47, coach of Mexico's first-division soccer team Cruz Azul; by armed kidnappers; in Mexico City. Romano, an Argentine who led the club to a second-place finish this year, was ambushed while driving away from a practice session, according to eyewitnesses. A note found near a church demanded a $500,000 ransom. Sixty-seven people have been kidnapped in Mexico City so far this year.

DIED. GERRY THOMAS, 83, inventor of the TV dinner; in Phoenix, Arizona. Thomas came up with the idea as a marketer for poultry company C.A. Swanson & Sons, after seeing that Pan American Airways was developing a flat aluminum tray for hot in-flight meals. Since Swanson had a post-Thanksgiving bird surplus, he devised a multicompartment tray for the turkey and accompanying side dishes. Introduced in 1954, the dinners took off, selling 10 million that year and earning Thomas a raise and a spot on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

DIED. JAMES DOOHAN, 85, Canadian-born actor forever known, to his later dismay, as Montgomery Scott, level-headed chief engineer of Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise; in Redmond, Washington. With his exasperated Scottish burr ("We've got nuh powrrr, Cap'n!"), he repeatedly saved the ship from disasters, but the famous line "Beam me up, Scotty" was actually never spoken exactly that way on the original show.

DIED. ALAIN BOMBARD, 80, survivalist turned politician, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1952 in a 4.2-m inflatable dinghy to prove that long sea voyages had been possible in the past without freshwater supplies; in Toulon, France. Bombard made the journey with a sextant, fishing equipment, books and a plankton filter. He survived on raw fish, seawater, and plankton, which is rich in vitamin C, and drifted into Barbados from the Canary Islands 25 kg lighter after 65 days. He later served as France's State Secretary for the Environment before being elected to the European Parliament.

DIED. EDWARD HEATH, 89, moderate leader of Britain's Conservative Party who, as Prime Minister from 1970-74, brought the U.K. into the European Economic Community (now called the European Union); in Salisbury, England. His tenure was wracked with difficulties—an economy weakened by a global oil crisis and violence in Northern Ireland—and in 1975 a rising Margaret Thatcher ousted him from the party leadership. Though largely marginalized, he served in the House of Commons until his retirement in 2001.

DIED. WILLIAM WESTMORELAND, 91, consummate military man who oversaw the buildup of U.S. troops in Vietnam from 1964-68 and was later vilified for it; in Charleston, South Carolina. The strapping West Point graduate led battalions in World War II and Korea, and landed in Vietnam as the great hope of the Johnson Administration. But after the 1968 Tet offensive fueled opposition to the war, he was brought back home to the lower-profile position of Army Chief of Staff. A $120 million libel suit he filed in 1982 against CBS, over a story that said he misled the White House and public about enemy troop strength, also ended with a whimper, settled with both parties claiming victory. Still, Westmoreland inspired enthusiasm among many of those he commanded. "He was the storybook soldier, South Carolina Eagle Scout, a born leader," retired General Wesley Clark told TIME. "I've been hung in effigy. I've been spat upon," Westmoreland once noted. "I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best efforts."

Numbers $1.2 billion Estimated loss to Thailand's tourism industry this year due to the Dec. 26 tsunami

9.5% Growth of China's economy in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, despite government efforts to reduce growth to a steadier pace

85.59 years Life expectancy for Japanese women, whose fish-based, low-fat diet has helped them hold the world record for longevity since 1985

24,865 Number of Iraqi civilians killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to London-based NGO Iraq Body Count

109.7 m Length of a tunnel between Canada and Washington State built by drug smugglers unaware that authorities were monitoring the dig

49.9 kg Amount of marijuana found in the car of a man arrested for transporting drugs smuggled through the tunnel