Milestones

FIRED. STEVEN HATFILL, 48, biological warfare expert named by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in August as a "person of interest" in connection with last year's deadly anthrax mailings; from his research job at Louisiana State University; in Baton Rouge. Hatfill, who has not been indicted or even named as a suspect, says his "life has been completely and utterly destroyed by Ashcroft and the FBI." The university insists that in sacking him it is "making no judgment as to Dr. Hatfill's guilt or innocence regarding the FBI investigation."

DETAINED. WAN YANHAI, 38, Chinese activist whose aggressive campaign to bring the country's AIDS crisis to light has long made him an object of official suspicion and surveillance; by police at an undisclosed location. A colleague at Wan's Aizhi (AIDS) Action Project reports being informed by the Ministry of State Security that Wan, who was last seen on Aug. 24 at a Beijing film screening, is under investigation for leaking "state secrets."

ACCUSED. OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, 65, Nigerian President; of ordering soldiers to massacre civilians; by lawmakers from his own ruling party, in Abuja, Nigeria. The accusation is the latest in a series of attempts by the legislature to impeach the beleaguered leader. Obasanjo, a former general whose election in 1999 brought an end to more than 15 years of military rule, has described the impeachment efforts as "a joke taken a little bit too far."

CONVICTED. RUDOLF FISCHER, 52, German nightclub owner; of incitement to hate and anti-Semitism after he canceled a pro-Israel fund raiser involving the granddaughter of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; in Munich. Fischer argued that he simply didn't want to host political events; the prosecution claimed he had said he "wanted nothing to do" with Jews and would rather host a right-wing organization. He was fined $2,480 and sentenced to two months' probation.

DIED. LIONEL HAMPTON, 94, jazz vibraphone virtuoso whose exuberant performances and impeccable sense of swing won him the adoration of critics and crowds alike; in New York City. Originally trained as a drummer, Hampton first tried his hand at the vibraphone—an electronically enhanced xylophone—during a 1930 recording session with Louis Armstrong. Offstage, Hampton was an energetic campaigner for the Republican Party and a developer of low-income housing in Harlem.

DIED. FELIX SVETOV, 74, former Soviet dissident known both for his writings and his political activism; in Moscow. Although Svetov suffered imprisonment and internal exile under communism, his books were printed by the Soviet underground press and also published in the West. After the Soviet Union's collapse, Svetov remained active as a human-rights advocate and a scholar of Russian Orthodoxy.

DIED. SHELDON HARRIS, 74, historian who overcame decades of Japanese and U.S. government obstruction to describe biological and chemical warfare experiments by the Japanese army during World War II; in Los Angeles. Days before his death, a Japanese court had given the first official acknowledgment of the experiments but rejected victims' claims for compensation.