Milestones

HANNAH BEECHDIED. AARON BUNNY LAPIN, 85, quirky inventor, who filled a spray can with whipping cream and created an American gastronomic institution; in Los Angeles. Lapin's Reddi-wip, used to top countless brownies and ice-cream sundaes, depended on a special aerosol valve that Lapin's Clayton Corp. originally developed in 1948 to create shaving cream foam.DIED. SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS, 54, lyrical American writer, whose evocative novel Dessa Rose took a proud place in the African-American literary canon; in San Diego. The daughter of migrant workers, Williams drew from her youth spent laboring in the dusty orchards and cotton fields of California's San Joaquin Valley to portray the desperate poverty and limited opportunities endured by American blacks.

CAPTURED. OSCAR RAMIREZ DURAND, 46, elusive commander of Peru's murderous Shining Path guerrillas, by army commandos; near the mountain city of Huancayo. The last leader of the Maoist insurgency still at large, Ramirez Durand--better known by his nom de guerre Feliciano--served as a military strategist, helping orchestrate village ambushes, assaults against the army and lethal car-bomb attacks. Although political violence instigated by the Shining Path rebels has claimed some 30,000 lives since 1980, the terror years have largely tapered off and Peru is once again attracting healthy tourism and foreign-investment revenue.

GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS. MERHAN KARIMI NASSERI, 54, stateless Iranian native who, by a twist of fate, was forced to live for 11 years at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport while awaiting a change in his citizenship status; by Belgium. Nasseri was previously granted a refugee passport by Brussels but lost the document in a 1988 Paris mugging and was thrown into a French prison for lacking proper immigration papers. After his release he tried to board a plane out of France but was refused for lack of documents and then denied exit from the airport by French authorities, obliging him to make his home on a bench in Terminal One.

ARRESTED. LIM CHANG YUEL, 56, disgraced Governor of South Korea's Kyonggi province, on bribery charges; in Inchon. The arrest of a close associate of President Kim Dae Jung shook an administration that prides itself on a clean image. Lim's wife, Joo Hye Ran, who is one of South Korea's best-known socialites, was also arrested on charges of accepting $333,000 from a local banker in exchange for the Governor using his influence to keep an indebted bank open. (Despite Lim's alleged lobbying, the bank was still shut down last year.)

ELECTED. MEKERE MORAUTA, 53, respected leader of the People's Democratic Movement, as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea; in Port Moresby. The ex-central banker replaces Bill Skate, who resigned after corruption allegations and a controversy over diplomatic recognition of Taiwan discredited his premiership. Morauta will have to finesse several thorny issues, including stalled loan negotiations with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

DIED. AARON BUNNY LAPIN,DIED. SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS,CAPTURED. OSCAR RAMIREZ DURAND,GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS. MERHAN KARIMI NASSERI,ARRESTED. LIM CHANG YUEL,ELECTED. MEKERE MORAUTA,