DIED. ROGER STRAUS JR., 87, sharp-tongued and fiercely independent co-founder of publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux, whose roster of authors has included T.S. Eliot, Flannery O'Connor and Tom Wolfe; in New York City. A critic of the publishing industry's overcommercialization, Straus, who started the business with John Farrar in 1946, sold out to a European conglomerate in 1994 but managed to retain a high degree of editorial autonomy. Publishing houses run by conglomerates, he said, "could just as well be selling string, spaghetti or rugs."
ARRESTED. ABU HAMZA AL-MASRI, 47, Muslim cleric accused by the U.S. of helping al-Qaeda and the Taliban; by British police acting on a U.S. extradition order; in London. The British citizen is wanted by the U.S. on 11 terrorism-related charges in connection with a 1998 hostage taking in Yemen, an alleged attempt to set up a terrorist-training camp in Oregon and other incidents. He could face the death penalty if extradited, but British officials have said that they will not surrender Abu Hamza unless the U.S. promises to waive capital punishment.
DIED. SHINSUKE HASHIDA, 61, veteran Japanese war correspondent, and his nephew KOTARO OGAWA, 33; after their car was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade by unknown assailants; near Baghdad. Bodies believed to belong to Hashida and an Iraqi translator were found in the car; Ogawa escaped the vehicle but is thought to have been captured by the attackers and shot to death. The two were returning from a visit to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces camp in Samawah.
ARRESTED. B.S.A. TAHIR, 44, Sri Lankan businessman; on allegations that he conspired with Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to manufacture and sell nuclear weapons components; in Kuala Lumpur. Tahir allegedly duped Malaysian company Scomi Precision Engineering, which is partly controlled by Kamaluddin Abdullah, the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, into making parts for a centrifuge intended for Libya.
INITIATED. The first human-based trial of a SARS VACCINE; by Chinese biotech company Sinovac; in Beijing. If the trial is successful, the vaccine could be ready for production in two years.
CLEANED. Michelangelo's DAVID; in preparation for its 500th birthday celebration later this year; in Florence. The five-meter-tall marble nude had not received a thorough cleansing in more than a century. Despite worries that the process could damage the masterpiece, the restoration team insists David is "the same as ever."
Numbers
105 million Number of votes cast in the 2000 U.S. presidential election
65 million Number of call-in votes recorded last week for the two finalists in American Idol 3. (Some people voted more than once)
150 Number of North Korean refugees repatriated by China per week in 2003, according to an estimate by the U.S. Committee for Refugees
18,000 Number of al-Qaeda militants believed to be living in 60 countries, according to London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, which says the group is growing due to the war in Iraq
$322,000 Value of a 108-carat diamond lost during the Monaco Grand Prix, when the car in which it was embedded as a publicity stunt crashed
70 Number of Catholic parishes the Boston archdiocese may close due to its financial problems, which stem in part from pedophilia scandals