Milestones

RELINQUISHING. Bill Gates, 50, Microsoft chairman and co-founder; his day-to-day responsibilities running the software giant, as of July 2008; in Redmond, Washington. The move will leave executives Steve Ballmer and Ray Ozzie, whom Gates named to succeed him as chief software architect, to face challenges from competitors such as Google that provide user-friendly software over the Internet. Gates, a 2005 TIME Person of the Year, said he plans to focus more on philanthropic work.

AGREED. Nepal's Maoist rebels, to join an interim government, following a historic meeting between guerrilla leader Prachanda and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala; in Kathmandu. The deal, which stipulates that a new constitution be written within a month, could lead to the end of the country's 10-year civil war, which has killed 13,000. Widespread demonstrations in the capital forced Nepal's King Gyanendra to relinquish absolute control of the government in April, boosting hopes of a return to democracy and settlement of the conflict.

RELEASED. Abubakar Ba'asyir, 67, Indonesian cleric convicted of criminal conspiracy in the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people; after serving 26 months in prison; in Jakarta. Upon leaving the city's Cipinang prison, Abubakar denounced the U.S. as a "state terrorist." Australian President John Howard, whose country lost 88 citizens in Bali, said millions of Australians were "extremely disappointed, even distressed" that the cleric had been set free.

DIED. Luis Jimenez, 65, who with his towering fiberglass sculptures of illegal immigrants, fiesta dancers and ruddy cowboys became one of the most important artists to depict Latino culture; after a piece of a 10-m-tall sculpture he was crafting for Denver International Airport fell as it was being transported, crushing him; in Hondo, New Mexico. The Chicano artist celebrated working life in energetic pieces like Man on Fire—based on the Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc, executed by Spanish colonists for his resistance—which is now in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Art.

DIED. Charles Haughey, 80, charismatic and durable Irish politician who served three terms as Ireland's Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, between 1979 and 1992; in Dublin. The son of an Irish Republican Army officer, Haughey's lengthy political career was marred by corruption allegations, including his trial in 1970 on charges of gunrunning for the I.R.A. (he was acquitted). As Taoiseach, his economic policies helped kindle Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" boom, but his last years in office were dogged by allegations of insider trading, conflicts of interest and tax evasion; he resigned in 1992 amid a phone-tapping scandal. In his farewell speech, borrowing from Othello, Haughey told the Irish parliament: "I have done the state some service and they know it." Numbers
7 Number of people whose deaths were attributed to excessive video-game playing last year, including a South Korean man who died after almost 50 straight hours of gaming
$442 Cost per night for a bed in a new center for online-game addicts in Amsterdam. Clinics in the U.S., China, France and South Korea now offer similar therapies

$26 million Total raised by an auction of the effects of the late Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, at Christie's, London. The sale of over 800 items had been predicted to make only $5.5 million
$21,000 Price paid for the original artwork from a 1949 TIME cover of Princess Margaret. The portrait had been valued at $2,200

80% Fall in the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver that can result from drinking four cups of coffee a day, according to a new study
3.2 Cups of coffee drunk by the average American each day

1,075 Number of boys repatriated last week from the United Arab Emirates—to which they had been smuggled as camel-racing jockeys—under a law requiring jockeys to be at least 18 years old
4 Age of the youngest jockeys

1 million Number of hybrid cars Toyota expects to sell annually after 2010. The Japanese carmaker plans to offer 14 hybrid models

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