Milestones

CONVICTED. Sanjay Dutt, 47, Indian actor and star of more than 100 Bollywood films; of illegal-weapons possession, stemming from an investigation into the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed 257, the deadliest terror attack in the nation's history; in Bombay. While Dutt had been accused of obtaining an AK-56 rifle and a 9-mm pistol from an alleged conspirator in the bombing, the judge found there was insufficient evidence linking the guns to a cache of smuggled arms used in the Bombay attack. Dutt could still face up to 10 years in jail on the possession charge.

SENTENCES UPHELD. For Chen Guangcheng, 34, blind human-rights advocate who exposed forced sterilizations and abortions by family-planning officials in China's Shandong province; and Zhao Yan, 44, Chinese New York Times researcher accused of leaking state secrets; in Linyi and Beijing. While their cases were unrelated, irregularities in Chen and Zhao's trials—on charges of public disturbance and influence-peddling, respectively—drew international condemnation. Of the simultaneous announcements last Friday that the convictions would stand, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Mickey Spiegel said: "It's just a very bad day for justice in China."

DIED. Dave Cockrum, 63, illustrator whose characters such as the weather-manipulating Storm (pictured above), created with writer Len Wein, revitalized the comic book X-Men in the '70s and helped build the title into a lucrative colossus, spawning action figures, video games and a film franchise; in Belton, South Carolina.

DIED. Allen Carr, 72, onetime accountant and five-packs-a-day smoker who, in 1983, gave up cigarettes and fashioned himself into a smoking-cessation guru, penning the best-seller The Easy Way to Stop Smoking; of lung cancer; near Malaga, Spain. Carr believed smoking was less physically addictive than usually thought, and that the main obstacle to quitting was psychological. He later applied his fear-conquering strategies to other concerns, writing books on the easy way to stop worrying and to control alcohol consumption.

DIED. Bernard Rimland, 78, psychologist who pioneered modern autism research and advocacy; in El Cajon, California. Infantile Autism, Rimland's landmark 1964 book, argued autism had biochemical roots and upended the then-conventional wisdom that it was a child's response to inadequate parental affection. An adviser on 1998's Rain Man—his son was a model for Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-winning turn as an autistic savant—Rimland also controversially claimed food allergies and some metals could trigger autism, and vitamins could help treat it.

DIED. Robert McFerrin, 85, baritone who in 1955 became the first black man to sing in the New York Metropolitan Opera's company; in St. Louis, Missouri. Forbidden as a youth by his Baptist-preacher father from singing anything but gospel, McFerrin—later followed into music by his son Bobby (Don't Worry, Be Happy)—also dubbed the sung vocals for Sidney Poitier's Porgy in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess. Numbers
1 in 5 Number of British adults who regularly throw coins into wishing wells and fountains
$5.9 million Amount they throw into wells every year

$43.75 Average cost of a ticket to events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
$3.80 Price of the least expensive tickets to events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in an effort to make the Games more accessible to ordinary Chinese

406 Estimated death toll, as of Dec. 3, after Typhoon Durian devastated the central Philippines, according to the Red Cross. Hundreds are still unaccounted for
4 Number of typhoons to hit the Philippines in the past three months. Forecasters predict another before the end of the year

11 Number of programs featuring Japanese TV presenter Norio Minorikawa, a.k.a. Mino Monta, including news shows, game shows and a wildlife program
21 hr. 42 min. Amount of time per week Minorikawa appears on live television—for which he won a Guinness World Record