Milestones

REUNITED. HITOMI SOGA, 45, a Japanese woman abducted by North Korean agents in 1978, and her husband, CHARLES ROBERT JENKINS, 64, a former U.S. Army sergeant accused of deserting to the Stalinist state in 1965, and their daughters MIKA, 21, and BELINDA, 18; in Jakarta. Soga, who was kidnapped so she could teach Japanese to North Korean spies, hadn't seen her husband or daughters since October 2002, when Pyongyang let her and four other abductees return to Japan. When the family arrived at a Jakarta luxury hotel swarming with journalists, Jenkins, who has lived in North Korea for four decades, simply said he was "very happy." The North Carolina native has refused an offer to live in Japan for fear he might be handed over to the U.S. for trial as a deserter. (Indonesia doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.S.) Where Jenkins goes next has not been disclosed.

RESIGNED. YEOH ENG-KIONG, 58, Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food; to take responsibility for last year's sars outbreak, which killed 299 people in the territory. Yeoh stepped down after an official report criticized him for failing to contain the virus because of lax supervision and poor planning. His departure was followed by that of the head of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, Leong Che-hung.

DEDICATED. The CORNERSTONE OF THE FREEDOM TOWER, which, at 540 m, will be the tallest building in the world when completed in 2008; at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York City. Nearly three years after a terror attack leveled the Twin Towers, New York officials gathered at a ceremony at ground zero as the 20-ton granite block was lowered into place. Its inscription reads: "To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom."

ANNOUNCED. The permanent burial of CHIANG KAI-SHEK, former Kuomintang leader and Taiwan's first President; in Taipei. Chiang's body will be transferred from the temporary grave where it has lain since his death in 1975 to a permanent site in a military cemetery outside Taipei in early 2005. Interred alongside him will be his son and presidential successor CHIANG CHING-KUO, who died in 1988. Both men had asked to be buried in mainland China if the Nationalists ever wrested control of the country from the Communist Party.

DIED. ANDRIAN NIKOLAYEV, 74, Russian cosmonaut whose 1962 space flight set an endurance record; in Cheboksary, Chuvash Autonomous Republic. Nikolayev circled the earth 64 times in 96 hours in his record-breaking flight, during which he also became the first man in orbit to appear live on television. In 1963 he married Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, reportedly to help the Soviets study the effects of space travel on human reproduction. The couple bore two children, but divorced in 1982.

DIED. THOMAS KLESTIL, 71, Austrian President; two days before the end of his second six-year term; in Vienna. After three-and-a-half decades as a diplomat and public official, Klestil was elected to the post that had been tarnished by the Nazi past of his predecessor Kurt Waldheim. In contrast, Klestil spoke out against Austrian complicity in the Holocaust, paid the first visit by an Austrian President to Israel, and opposed the Austrian nationalist Freedom Party's participation in the government. Klestil, shown below, is succeeded by Heinz Fischer, who was elected in April.

KILLED. PAUL KLEBNIKOV, 41, editor of Forbes Russia magazine; by multiple gunshot wounds; in Moscow. A former senior editor with Forbes in the U.S., Klebnikov was the author of a 2000 biography of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky called Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia. Klebnikov was gunned down outside his office and died en route to hospital.

WON. TAKERU (TSUNAMI) KOBAYASHI, 26, title of world hot-dog-eating champion; by gulping down 53-and-a-half hot dogs in 12 minutes; in New York City. Kobayashi broke his own 2002 record by three hot dogs in his fourth consecutive victory at the annual July 4 wiener-eating contest organized by the legendary hot-dog stand Nathan's.