Milestones

ACQUITTED. JAFAR UMAR THALIB, 40, Muslim cleric and leader of the Indonesian militia Laskar Jihad, of charges of inciting his followers to commit violence against Christians; in Jakarta. The prosecution said Jafar had made incendiary remarks in a speech last April in Ambon, capital of the Maluku Islands, just two days before a gang of Muslims attacked a Christian village and killed 12 people. The court ruled that the speech was insufficient evidence, leading some observers to question the country's commitment to combating Islamic militancy. In recent years, Laskar Jihad has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Christians.

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ACQUITTED. ROLAND DUMAS, 80, former French Foreign Minister convicted in 2001 for accepting lavish gifts from oil company Elf Aquitaine through his mistress; in Paris. Dumas, who received such presents as a $1,500 pair of boots, was sentenced to six months in jail. But the appeals court ruled there was no proof he knew the gifts were bribes. His mistress, Christine Deviers-Joncour, and Elf-Aquitaine's then-president are in jail.

SIGNED. PAUL GASCOIGNE, 35, former star English footballer, a one-year contract as player–coach for the Chinese second-division team Gansu Tianma (Heavenly Horses). Better known as Gazza (Jia Jia in Chinese), Gascoigne has been plagued by weight and drinking problems in recent years and failed to sign with an English club this season. He will move to his new club's home, Lanzhou, near the Gobi Desert, this month. "It's a great challenge," he said.

DIED. HISASHI SHINTO, 92, the first president of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.; in Tokyo. One of Japan's leading industrialists, Shinto was responsible for transforming NTT from a government utility into one of the world's largest privately owned telecommunications companies.

SENTENCED. RICHARD REID, 29, would-be shoe bomber and self-proclaimed al-Qaeda member, to life in prison, for trying to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001; in Boston. He pleaded guilty to the charge last year and at his sentencing shouted at the judge, "Your flag will come down and so will your country."

AWARDED. CLAIRE TOMALIN, 69, British biographer, the 2002 Whitbread book-of-the-year award and its purse of $48,000, for Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, a portrait of the 17th-century patrician playboy and diarist; in London. Tomalin beat her husband, novelist and playwright Michael Frayn, who won the best-novel prize for his thriller Spies.

EXECUTED. LOBSANG DHONDUP, 28, pro-independence activist and former Tibetan monk convicted in a secret trial for inciting separatism and carrying out a string of bombings; in Sichuan province. Dhondup was held incommunicado for several months and denied adequate legal representation, according to Amnesty International.

PROMOTED. ASASHORYU, 22, 136-kilogram ethnic-Mongolian sumo wrestler, to yokozuna, the highest rank in Japan's ancient sport; in Tokyo. Asashoryu is the first Mongolian, and the third foreigner, to win the title. With only four years of professional sumo experience, his rise is the fastest in the modern history of the sport.

Numbers
$99 Billion reported by AOL Time Warner for 2002 was the largest-ever annual loss by a U.S. company

6.6 Million people in the world's tourism industry have lost jobs since 2001 due to the global economic downturn and terrorism-related anxieties

40 U.S. Nobel laureates have signed a statement warning that a war with Iraq would harm U.S. security and standing

3 billion condoms a year are made in China. Only Britain, the U.S. and Japan make more

77 percent of Chinese people do not know condoms offer protection from HIV, according to a joint US–China study

40 million cases of Coca-Cola have gone unsold in the Middle East due to anti-U.S. sentiment

75 percent of Palestinians survive on an average of $2 a day, says a report by Christian Aid $33,000 has been charged by a restaurant in Changsha, China, for a banquet cooked with human breast milk Omen
Sperm banks are giving deep discounts to U.S. soldiers eager to store their sperm before departing for Iraq, where fertility risks include possible exposure to chemical weapons