Milestones

RETIRING. MIKE WALLACE, 87, after 38 years as the face of CBS' groundbreaking television news program 60 Minutes; in the spring; in New York City. Over a storied career begun on Chicago radio in the 1940s, the ex-game-show host helped invent the TV interview with a hard-charging approach to subjects from Eleanor Roosevelt to Yasser Arafat. He will become correspondent emeritus, a post he said entitled him to "longer vacations."

CHARGES DROPPED. Against ZHAO YAN, 44, New York Times researcher accused in September 2004 of leaking state secrets, which he denied; in Beijing. Zhao's detainment, which came days after the Times published an article correctly reporting that former Chinese President Jiang Zemin would step down as head of the military, drew criticism from human-rights groups and U.S. officials including President George W. Bush. The dropping of the charges against him comes as President Hu Jintao plans to visit the U.S. next month.

SENTENCED. CHENG CHUI-PING, 57, a.k.a. Sister Ping, leader of a Chinese-immigrant-smuggling ring who helped finance the 1993 voyage of the freighter Golden Venture, which ran aground off New York with 300 starving Chinese passengers aboard, 10 of whom died trying to swim to U.S. soil; to the maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, for money laundering, conspiracy, and trafficking in ransom proceeds; in New York City. Cheng, who reportedly arranged the transport of thousands of illegal immigrants from her base in New York's Chinatown, claimed she was an innocent victim terrorized by Chinese gangs—a defense the judge disputed.

CHARGED. JAMES KANYOTU, Kenya's former spy chief, and four others; with fraud, in connection with Kenya's largest ever corruption scandal; in Nairobi. Attorney General Amos Wako ordered the charges based on the findings of an official inquiry into the $600 million Goldenberg scandal, which involved payments for fictitious gold and diamond exports during the administration of President Daniel arap Moi in the early 1990s. Though the report also pressed for charges against former Finance Minister George Saitoti, who quit over the report, Saitoti was not charged and denies involvement. None of the five charged entered a plea.

DIED. LENNART MERI, 76, witty, charismatic first President of independent Estonia, following its 1991 split from the Soviet Union; in Tallinn. A survivor of a Soviet labor camp, he was a leader of Estonia's independence movement from the late 1980s until the Baltic state regained sovereignty. In his two terms as President, he pushed free-market policies and established close ties with the U.S.

DIED. MAUREEN STAPLETON, 80, brilliant, adamantly unglamorous actress who, despite an utterly unpretentious style—"The main thing is to keep the audience awake," she said of her craft—won awards and critical raves for astute, rich performances over her 60-year career; in Lenox, Massachusetts. She got her break in 1951 as a passionate Italian-American widow in Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo, for which she won a Tony Award. Later she created roles in such Neil Simon plays as Plaza Suite, and won an Oscar for her portrayal of anarchist Emma Goldman in the 1981 film Reds.

DIED. OLEG CASSINI, 92, Paris-born designer who convinced Jacqueline Kennedy she should have one chief couturier, then went on to create the elegant dresses and pillbox hats that made her the most stylish, most copied First Lady in U.S. history; on Long Island, New York. After dressing Marilyn Monroe and onetime fiancé Grace Kelly in Hollywood, the pioneer "celebrity designer" set up shop in New York City in the 1950s, launching still-popular trends such as A-line dresses before taking the White House position in 1961. His motto: "Be mobile at all times."

Numbers
$50 million Minimum amount in foreign aid expected to be withheld by Western donors from the new Hamas-led Palestinian Authority
50% increase in the proportion of Palestinians living below the poverty line next year if aid is withheld, according to the World Bank

844,717 Number of people jailed in China last year, according to the country's Supreme People's Court
2,162 Number of defendants found not guilty—a 98% conviction rate, among the highest in the world

1,067 Baby crocodiles found in the car of a man in South Africa who now faces prosecution for illegally possessing and transporting them
$10 billion Estimated annual value of the market for wildlife trafficking—the second-largest illegal trade in the world after drugs