Milestones

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Died. Robert Palmer, 54, natty Brit-rock eminence of the '80s; of a heart attack; in Paris. In his crisp, sexy videos for Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible, leggy ladies would strike a pose as a fuzzy bass line growled under Palmer's knowing vocals. And there stood the star in jacket and tie, like an investment banker unwinding on karaoke night. He would rather be remembered for adapting a world of musical styles to the R. and B. he grew up loving. But for a legion of fans, Palmer will always fit his own ironic self-description: the "James Bond of boogie."
—By Richard Corliss

RETURNED HOME. Aung San Suu Kyi, 58, Burmese opposition leader; from a hospital stay and four months detention in an undisclosed location by Burma's military government; in Rangoon. Following a three-hour operation for a gynecological condition, the democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner returned to her lakeside home, where she reportedly will be kept under house arrest. After arriving there, she released her first public statement since her entourage was attacked by a pro-government mob in May: "I thank you for your warm concern and am confident that you have equal concern for my supporters." Up to 70 party members were killed in the attack.

DIED. George Plimpton, 76, founding editor of the Paris Review, author and occasional film actor; in New York City. Though he wrote and edited almost 30 books, Plimpton also found time to lead one of the more interesting lives of the 20th century. At the Paris Review he championed the work of Philip Roth and Jack Kerouac. As a journalist he tried out for the Detroit Lions (an experience he described in Paper Lion). He also guest-starred on The Simpsons, danced at Truman Capote's Black and White Ball and witnessed the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

DIED. Franco Modigliani, 85, Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Jewish former law student who fled Mussolini's regime in 1938, he was best known for his influential theories on the way people save money. Previously it was widely assumed that only the rich saved; he proposed that people at all income levels save money and spend it in old age.

DIED. Edward Said, 67, Columbia University professor, literary critic and prominent advocate for Palestinian independence; in New York City. A fierce critic of Israel and American Middle East policy, the Jerusalem-born author and scholar advocated a single, binational state for "dispossessed" Palestinians. Though he generally repudiated terrorism, he drew ire for his refusal to condemn specific violent acts by Palestinians. Still, the author of Orientalism, which argued that Western writers had demeaned Arabs and Asians with stereotyping, lived most of his life in the U.S., married a Quaker and for a time wrote music reviews for the Nation, acknowledging that he often felt like an outsider living "two quite separate lives."

DIED. Mark Fineman, 51, fearless foreign correspondent who in a 29-year career was drawn to hot spots around the world with a concentration on Asia; of a heart attack while on assignment; in Baghdad. Fineman, who worked for the Los Angeles Times for 17 years, combined a passion for news with the grace of a feature writer. As a colleague recalled in the (London) Independent: "He was an intelligent and generous colleague, willing to share contacts and sources, but only after he had scooped you."

DIED. Akila al-Hashemi, 50, one of three women in the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council; of gunshot wounds suffered in an ambush five days earlier; in Baghdad. Al-Hashemi eschewed marriage for a career in Saddam Hussein's foreign service. She was the only member of the U.S.-backed government from the deposed regime and was tipped to become Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations. Her assailants have not been apprehended.

DESTROYED. Galileo, unmanned spacecraft whose 14-year mission to Jupiter revolutionized understanding of the giant planet; in Jupiter's atmosphere. Operated by a version of the same computer chip used to run the Pong video game, Galileo beamed down more than 14,000 photos during its life span, providing evidence that a vast subterranean ocean exists on Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Galileo was running out of fuel and NASA worried the craft might spread microorganisms from Earth if it crashed into Europa.

Numbers

49% President George W. Bush's approval rating in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll—the lowest of his presidency

48% Approval rating for former President Bill Clinton at the same point in his first term

53% Percentage of South Koreans who oppose sending troops to Iraq, according to a newspaper poll

90% Percentage of CDs sold in China that are pirated, according to an industry federation

1.7 million Increase in the number of Americans living in poverty from 2001 to 2002

42% Percentage of two-year-old blood samples in Beijing that tested positive for SARS antibodies. Researchers say this suggests the disease has been in the human population for years

41,000 Number of residents who were advised to evacuate their homes on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido after an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, the strongest in 2 1/2 years worldwide