Milestones

CONVICTED. JAIME HUMBERTO USCATEGUI, 52, retired Colombian general, of standing by as assassins flew into a remote airport and spent five days slashing the throats of suspected leftist sympathizers in 1997; in Mapiripan. It was the first conviction of a high-ranking military officer of human rights abuses in the decades of violence that have plagued Colombia. Uscategui was sentenced to 40 months in prison. Progress by the government in punishing military officers accused of paramilitary ties is a condition of Colombia receiving $1.2 billion in U.S. aid.

CONVICTED. KAZYS GIM-ZAUSKAS, 93, former member of the Lithuanian security police that cooperated with the Nazis during World War II, of genocide for his role in handing over Jews to German death squads; in Vilnius,Lithuania. Gimzauskas, a former U.S. citizen who was deputy head of the Vilnius police, was not sentenced as he had been tried in absentia due to ill health. His conviction is the first time that a Lithuanian court has confirmed that its own police forces collaborated in the Final Solution, in which 90% of Lithuania's Jewish population died.

DIED. TIBERIO MITRI, 74, Italian former European middleweight boxing champion whose gritty 1950 title fight against Jake La Motta was immortalized in the film Raging Bull, after falling under a train; in Rome. Known as the "Trieste Tiger," Mitri held the European title in 1949 and 1954. After he retired in 1957, his boyishly handsome face won him a number of film roles, but he spent the latter part of his life in destitution.

DIED. KRISTINA SüDERBAUM, 88, Swedish-born actress who became a star of Third Reich propaganda films; in Munich. Süderbaum's movie career took off in 1930s Germany, where her blond, Nordic looks encapsulated Nazi racial ideology. Married to Veit Harlan, one of the main film directors of the Nazi era, Süderbaum starred in a number of his works, including the profoundly anti-Semitic Jud Süss in 1940.

APPOINTED. LAURA CHA, 50, a senior Hong Kong-based securities regulator,as vice chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission, the first time Beijing has filled a senior government position with someone from outside the mainland; in Beijing. A U.S.-educated lawyer who was born in Shanghai but moved to Hong Kong as an infant, Cha had to renounce her American citizenship to take the job.

APPOINTED. DONALD TSANG, 56, as Chief Secretary of Hong Kong's civil service, replacing Anson Chan, a vocal defender of the territory's autonomy who announced her resignation a month ago because of alleged differences with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa over the pace of democratic development; in Hong Kong. The appointment was made by Tung with the approval of the Chinese government. Although Tung has been criticized for subservience to Beijing, the choice of Tsang, Financial Secretary since 1995, is seen as a nod to continuity.