Milestones

HANNAH BEECHCONVICTED. PETER TATCHELL,46, Australian-born gay rights activist, of disruptive behavior in Canterbury Cathedral, after interrupting an Easter sermon by Archbishop George Carey to denounce the Church of England's attitude toward gays and lesbians; by the Canterbury Magistrates Court. Tatchell was fined a symbolic 18.60 ($30) under the 1860 Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act, which secularists have decried as offering religious institutions undue protection.DIED. MARGARET WALKER,83, captivating American writer, whose historical novel Jubilee brought black American literature beyond the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance; in Chicago. Often compared to Gone With the Wind, the 1966 bestseller chronicled the life of the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner, but it dispensed with exotic descriptions of the deep south in favor of grittier portrayals of forced servitude.DIED. FREDDIE YOUNG,96, deft cinematographer, whose skillfully composed films include Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter; in London. A triple Oscar winner, Young dazzled filmgoers with an unforgettable three-minute scene from Lawrence of Arabia in which a burnoosed figure slowly appears out of the desert haze, giving Western viewers their first glimpse of future sex-symbol Omar Sharif.RESIGNED. CASEY SILVER,43, embattled Universal Pictures chairman, after presiding over a 19-month string of costly film flops; in Universal City, California. Despite big budgets and star-studded casts, Primary Colors, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and last month's Meet Joe Black and Babe: Pig in the City failed to entice moviegoers. Silver is the second corporate casualty at the ailing entertainment empire: Universal Studios chief Frank Biondi Jr. was ushered out just three weeks ago.SENTENCED ZAINUR ZAKARIA,49, defense lawyer for sacked Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, to three months' imprisonment for contempt of court, by the presiding judge in Anwar's corruption and sexual misconduct trial; in Kuala Lumpur. Zainur, an ex-head of Malaysia's Bar Council, filed a motion calling for the removal of two trial prosecutors for allegedly trying to coerce false testimony, but judge Augustine Paul said such an action projected an impression that the prosecution is anchored on fabricated evidence. Under a temporary court reprieve, Zainur is free from prison until his appeal can be heard.EXECUTED. CHEUNG TSE-KEUNG,43, flamboyant Hong Kong gangster, along with four henchmen, immediately after a court rejected their appeals of convictions for several violent crimes; in Guangzhou, southern China. Known as Big Spender for his reckless ways with money, Cheung kidnapped two Hong Kong tycoons for more than $200 million in ransom. Legal experts fretted over the precedent of China executing a Hong Kong resident for crimes committed mostly in the territory, which lacks the death penalty.AND STALIN HAS THE FLU Official statements that the hospitalized Boris Yeltsin is merely susceptible to colds hark back to a bygone era:FEBRUARY 1985: The Kremlin assures a CNN reporter that President Konstantin Chernenko's five-week absence is due to a winter vacation. A month later, he dies.JANUARY 1984: The Kremlin says Yuri Andropov, absent from public view for more than 120 days, is feeling better after suffering from a cold. A month later, he dies.APRIL 1982: Kremlin officials attribute a four-week absence by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to a routine winter vacation. Within the year, he dies.NEXT: HITLER'S HAIKUS Looking for something for that hard-to-please war criminal on your list? A new collection of ethnic-cleanser Radovan Karadzic's poetry is coming out soon. For now, it's available only in Greece, but here's a taste of his work, from his 1970 poem Sarajevo.I hear that misfortune truly marches like an insect
And when time nears
Crushed will be the insect, like the singer
Crushed by silence transforming him to sound
I know that all this foretells mourning
What is being prepared in the garage by that black metal?Reported by Anthee Carassava/Athens