Milestones

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SURVIVED. KIRK JONES, 40, unemployed clerk who deliberately plunged over Niagara Falls protected by nothing more than the street clothes and parka he was wearing; becoming the first human to survive the drop without a vessel or a safety device; in Niagara Falls, Canada. Jones clambered over a fence and calmly floated on his back toward the 53-m-high Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the cataract, then slipped over the precipice. His only injuries: a few bruised ribs. Jones, who had lost his job after his parents closed the family auto-equipment business, said he was suicidally depressed but his friends told reporters he also said he could survive the drop and gain fame and riches. "After hitting the falls," he said in an ABC News interview, "I feel that life is worth living." Local law officials said Jones drank vodka and Coke with a friend before entering the water. They have charged him with mischief and illegally performing a stunt.

DIED. ELLIOTT SMITH, 34, folk rocker known for spare, moody songs about depression, turmoil and lost love; from an apparently self-inflicted stabbing; in Los Angeles. Smith recorded five CDs, which impressed critics and inspired a cult following. In 1998 he won an Oscar nomination for Miss Misery, one of five songs he wrote for the film Good Will Hunting.

DIED. MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK, 106, partner-in-power of former Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek; in New York City. Madame Chiang and her husband were TIME's Man and Wife of the Year for 1937. (See Eulogy.)

		LATEST COVER STORY Eating Smart November 3, 2003 Issue Past Covers Bollywood Oct. 27, 2003 ----------------- Tomb Raiders Oct. 20, 2003 ----------------- Bali Remembered Oct. 13, 2003 ----------------- What Went Wrong? Oct. 6, 2003 ----------------- What's Next Sept. 29, 2003 ----------------- Japan's Koizumi Sept. 22, 2003 ----------------- The Saudis Sept. 15, 2003 ----------------- Dyslexia Sept. 8, 2003 ----------------- U.S. in Iraq Sept. 1, 2003 ----------------- Asian Journey August 18-25, 2003 -----------------   ASIA  Philippines: Elevated Threat  Best Friends: Phil. and U.S.  Eulogy: Mme. Chiang Kai-shek  Mme. Chiang: Worldly ambitions ARTS  Books: Leaving Mother Lake  Movies: Blind Shaft digs deep NOTEBOOK  Cambodia: Bullets & Ballots  N. Korea: Gulag nation  Japan: Time to panic?  Milestones  Verbatim  Letters GLOBAL ADVISOR  Giving the kids a break  Paris' food markets  To spank or not to spank? CNN.com: Top Headlines

DIED. JACK ELAM, 84, character actor who played mean hombres in hundreds of movies and television episodes; in Ashland, Oregon. Elam, who said his rolling, blind left eye was the result of a childhood fight, appeared in several classic westerns, including Rawhide, High Noon and Gunfight at the O.K Corral.

DIED. JEAN HELENE, 50, veteran West Africa reporter for Radio France Internationale; after a police officer shot him in the head following an apparent argument as Hélène waited to interview arrested opposition leaders; in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Authorities arrested the officer believed responsible and the government fired the chief of the national police force.

DIED. CORPORAL SOK KHAK UNG, 22, U.S. Marine who received a Purple Heart in Iraq and helped in the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in Nasiriyah in April; after being shot by an unknown assailant at a family cookout 12 days before his scheduled discharge from service; in Long Beach, California. Ung, a Cambodian immigrant, suffered shrapnel wounds in Iraq in early April. "My son is a hero for what he did in Iraq, but for him to die in America like this makes no sense," his mother told the San Francisco Chronicle. Investigators say Ung may have been shot mistakenly by a gang member.

DIED. ALIJA IZETBEGOVIC, 78, former Bosnian President who steered his country to independence—provoking a 43-month war, which left 250,000 people dead or missing—but couldn't stop the later fragmentation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; in Sarajevo. Izetbegovic was a devout Muslim who backed Bosnian statehood after Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. A spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for war crimes said an investigation into possible war crimes by Izetbegovic ended with his death.

Numbers

300 Number of illegal workers rounded up by federal agents at Wal-Mart's headquarters and 60 of its stores in the U.S.

$2 Daily income of the lowest paid—mostly illegal migrants from Eastern Europe, Central America and Asia—of the rounded-up workers

52,000 Number of stranded Australian sheep that landed in Eritrea after 80 days at sea, having been rejected by Saudi Arabia in August because 6% were said to be suffering from scabby mouth disease. Eritrea got the sheep for free, with a $700,000 donation from Australia for "handling fees"

$33 billion Amount of aid pledged to rebuild Iraq by the U.S. (which is donating $20 billion) and 72 other countries

$56 billion Amount the World Bank says is needed to rebuild Iraq over four years

40¢ Price per day of AIDS drugs for each patient in 13 developing countries, thanks to a deal negotiated by Bill Clinton. Previously a patient's daily dose cost $1.50

100,000 Number of private militiamen Afghanistan aims to disarm within two years. There are an estimated 400,000 across the country