SWORN IN. MAUMOON ABDUL GAYOOM, 65, for a sixth term as President of the Maldives; in Male. Gayoom, who was the only candidate on the ballot, has been President since 1978 and is Asia's longest-serving elected leader.
ACQUITTED. ROBERT DURST, 60, New York real estate heir who admitted to accidentally killing his neighbor and dumping the dismembered body in Galveston Bay, on grounds of self-defense; in Galveston, Texas. Durst said he shot 71-year-old Morris Black during a struggle after Black threatened him with a gun; then he disposed of Black's body in a drunken panic. Durst, who had been living in the Gulf Coast town disguised as a mute woman, said he left New York to escape publicity following the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, who has never been found.
SENTENCED. WISUT BOONKASEMSANTI, 50, one of Thailand's top in vitro-fertilization experts, to death for murdering his estranged wife, chopping up her corpse and flushing the pieces down toilets in a hostel and luxury hotel; in Bangkok. Police said Wisut invited his wife to lunch, then drugged her before the killing.
DIED. REV. CANAAN BANANA, 67, Zimbabwe's first black President, who was convicted of sexually assaulting male aides in 1998; in Harare. Banana said his convictions for sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault were politically motivated, but he faced nearly a dozen accusers.
DIED. ART CARNEY, 85, Academy Award-winning actor immortalized in the role of Ed Norton, the lean, dim-witted "subterranean sanitation engineer" (or sewer worker) on the 1950s television show The Honeymooners; in Chester, Connecticut. A teenage impressionist for Horace Heidt's band, Carney quit that job in 1941 after he was too drunk to spell Tums, the sponsor's name, on a radio broadcast. With no formal acting training, Carney got his Honeymooners role through variety-show appearances and became a cheery foil to Jackie Gleason's blustering bus driver, Ralph Kramden. Carney originated the role of neatnik Felix Unger in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple on Broadway (opposite Walter Matthau) but dropped out to battle alcoholism. When he won an Oscar for his role as a widower in 1974's Harry and Tonto, he refused champagne, saying he wanted to savor his victory in sobriety.
Numbers
7% Mortality rate for SARS patients in mainland China. Researchers say a Chinese herbal medicine used to treat SARS has properties similar to the antiviral drug ribavirin
17% Mortality rate for SARS patients in Hong Kong, most of whom were treated with ribavirin
60,000 Number of computer viruses in existence, according to Microsoft Corp.
$3.5 million Amount paid by Disney to convicted murderer Jimmy Boyle—once known as Scotland's most violent man—for film rights to his latest novel, A Stolen Smile
14,000 Number of children fighting in Columbia's guerrilla armies
40,000 Number of Liberian soldiers the U.N. hopes to disarm—15,000 of whom are children—now that a peace deal brokered earlier this year has ended the country's civil war
20,000 Number of children abducted in the past five years by Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army to be used as child soldiers or sex slaves
14% Average pay increase in 2003 for salaried workers in India—the highest in Asia. India's economy is growing at an annual rate of 6%
100 years Average life expectancy for humans in 2050, as predicted by German longevity experts