DECEMBER 6, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 22

Milestones
By HANNAH BEECH

SENTENCE UPHELD. For ABDULLAH OCALAN, 51, fiery Kurdish guerrilla leader sentenced to death in June for treason and separatism, by a Turkish appeals court; in Ankara. Dozens of death sentences have previously passed through Turkey's courts, but since 1984, none has acquired the requisite endorsement by both parliament and the president to be carried through. The Western world has condemned Ocalan's sentencing, suggesting that Turkey's desired admission to the European Union may be hampered if Ankara takes a pro-death penalty stance.

SENTENCED. WAH KUOK-KOI, 45, Macau's most notorious gangster, to 15 years' imprisonment for a string of gangland crimes including money laundering, loan sharking and telephone tapping; in Macau. Known more commonly as "Broken Tooth," the triad leader reportedly helped orchestrate the chronic violence that has convulsed the Portuguese colony in advance of its Dec. 20 handover to China after 440 years of European rule.

KILLED. ABDELKADER HACHANI, 43, conciliatory third-ranking leader of Algeria's banned Islamic Salvation Front, amid government overtures to bring peace to the strife-ridden North African country, by an unknown gunman; in Algiers. Hachani's militant Muslim party was predicted to win a 1992 election when the army-led government abruptly canceled the polls, leading to a sectarian insurgency that has claimed 100,000 lives.

DIED. QUENTIN CRISP, 90, flamboyant English writer and actor whose 1968 book The Naked Civil Servant chronicled the derision and other abuse suffered by the self-labeled "stately homo of England"; in Manchester. Armed with a cutting wit--his memorable quips included, "Never keep up with the Joneses; drag them down to your level. It's cheaper" and "If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style,"--Crisp opined on topics far beyond mundane drag-queen fare in his one-man show, gleefully dissecting the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of British and American life.

DIED. AMINTORE FANFANI, 91, Italy's indestructible Christian Democrat, whose spectacular political setbacks were matched only by his inevitable comebacks; in Rome. Fanfani's long postwar career was unparalleled: he served as Italy's Prime Minister six times, head of the Senate five times and, beginning in 1965, leader of the United Nations General Assembly, where he tripped and broke his foot--prompting him to joke: "It's not the first time I've fallen, and it won't be the first time that I've pulled myself back up again."

Then and Now

Dec. 31, 1967
Evel Knievel ends up in a coma for 30 days after attempting to jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace.

Nov. 19, 1999
Evel Knievel takes a 30-year-old bride in a structure erected over the fountains at Caesars Palace.

April 11, 1994
"We're making a fundamental mistake tying China's ability to trade with the U.S. to its record on human rights." --Editor in chief Steve Forbes in a Forbes magazine editorial.

Nov. 12, 1999
"I will never sacrifice American security or values on the altar of trade." --G.O.P. presidential candidate Steve Forbes in a speech at the Richard Nixon Library and birthplace.