Milestones

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DIED. Gillo Pontecorvo, 86, Italian director of The Battle of Algiers, considered a masterpiece of political cinema; in Rome. With its shaky camera work and mostly nonprofessional actors, the 1966 film offered a gritty, documentary-style portrait of Algeria's fight for independence. Banned for years in France, it was hailed by critics, nominated for three Academy Awards and lauded as a strategic model by militant groups like the Black Panthers.

DIED. Marc Hodler, 87, courtly Swiss lawyer who rocked the insular International Olympic Committee in 1998 by telling reporters that I.O.C. members had solicited bribes from cities vying to play host to the Games--prompting sweeping reforms in the organization; in Bern, Switzerland. The I.O.C. elder statesman said he was motivated by his concern for the "honor of the Olympics."

DIED. Alvin Weinberg, 91, nuclear scientist who, as director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, coined the term Big Science--a reference to impending scientific advances--and later advocated vigorously for commercial nuclear energy; in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

DIED. Jeff Getty, 49, AIDS patient and activist who agitated for experimental medical treatments; of cardiac arrest; in Joshua Tree, Calif. In 1995, after a loud two-year fight for FDA approval, Getty received bone-marrow cells from a baboon--the first animal-to-human bone-marrow transplant--to boost his immune system. Though his body rejected the cells and the FDA later banned such transplants, he used his visibility to fight on--most significantly and successfully to get more doctors to perform organ transplants on AIDS patients, whose prognoses were often deemed too bleak to justify such surgery.

LAWSUIT FILED. By Yoko Ono, 73, avant-garde, Dadaesque performer once described by her husband John Lennon as "the world's most famous unknown artist"; against EMI and its Capitol Records subsidiary for breach of contract by allegedly stealing royalties from Lennon's estate; in New York City. In a vague three-page filing, Ono accused the company--which is also being sued by representatives of the Beatles on similar grounds--of "abus[ing] the nearly half-century-old relationship of trust and confidence by willfully and knowingly underreporting royalties" from sales of Lennon's solo albums. Now all she needs is love. Well, not really. She is seeking $10 million in damages.