APPOINTED. RAMZAN KADYROV, 29, son of assassinated former Chechen president Akhmad, as the troubled Russian republic's Prime Minister; in the capital Grozny. Allied to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kadyrov became Chechnya's de facto premier after Sergei Abramov—who quit as P.M. last week—was injured in a car crash last year. Human rights groups accuse militia commanded by Kadyrov of widespread abuses, especially "disappearances" of thousands of suspected rebels, charges the new premier denies.
RESIGNED. FLORENTINO PéREZ, 58, after almost six years as president of Real Madrid, the world's wealthiest soccer club; in Madrid. Although the Spanish team spent more than $300 million signing superstar players like David Beckham, Zinédine Zidane and Ronaldo, it has failed to win any major championships in nearly three years and has suffered a string of defeats in recent months. "I cannot ever regret having enjoyed the soccer of the world's best players," Pérez said upon announcing his resignation.
RESIGNED. TOSHIYUKI SHINMACHI, 63, as president and CEO of Japan Airlines, Asia's largest carrier; after less than a year in the post; in Tokyo. Four board members called for Shinmachi's resignation last month over a string of problems at JAL, including a projected $404 million fiscal-year loss, slumping seat sales and safety issues.
SENTENCED. PAUL FRANCIS GADD, 61, a.k.a. Gary Glitter, flamboyant British rocker famous for 1970s hits such as I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am!), who was convicted of molesting two underage Vietnamese girls, both 11 at the time; to the minimum sentence of three years in prison; in Vung Tau, Vietnam. Gadd, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted in 1999 of possessing child pornography in Britain and in 2002 was expelled from Cambodia after he came under suspicion of pedophilia. He will be eligible for parole as soon as November.
DIED. JACK WILD, 53, former child actor who starred as the Artful Dodger in the 1968 film Oliver!; of mouth cancer; in London. Wild's impish charms won him an Oscar nomination for his part in the Dickens adaptation and earned him a starring role in the surreal U.S. kids' TV show H.R. Pufnstuf in 1969. But adult acting roles dried up as he struggled with alcoholism in later years. After giving up drinking in the 1980s, Wild appeared in a series of bit parts, including a supporting role in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
DIED. OCTAVIA BUTLER, 58, novelist who was the first black woman to achieve major success in the white-male-dominated genre of science-fiction; of head injuries from a fall; in Seattle, Washington. A loner and self-described "oil-and-water" mix of "ambition, laziness, insecurity [and] certainty," Butler subverted sci-fi stereotypes to tackle issues like racism and poverty in books like Kindred, the tale of a black woman who time-travels back to the antebellum South. In 1995, she became the only sci-fi writer ever to receive a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.