Milestones

HANNAH BEECHDIED. JOHN D. EHRLICHMAN,73, bristling ex-presidential aide, whose unflinching loyalty to Richard Nixon during Watergate landed him an 18-month prison sentence; in Atlanta. To some, Ehrlichman--who was convicted of conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice--was merely a fall guy for the President. Others accused the abrasive domestic-affairs adviser of fanning the paranoia that pervaded the Nixon White House. Whatever the case, Ehrlichman accepted his share of the blame: I went and lied, and I'm paying the price for that lack of willpower.SENTENCED. SURET GUSEINOV,40, former Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, to life imprisonment for his role in a foiled 1994 coup against current President Geidar Aliyev, by Azerbaijan's Supreme Court; in Baku. Prosecution of more than 200 coup plotters has proceeded swiftly in recent months, as Aliyev has successfully pushed Russia to extradite fleeing putsch members back to the former Soviet republic.EXTRADITION GRANTED. Of IRA EINHORN,58, American counter-culture guru, who hid in France to evade a 1993 conviction in absentia for the 1977 bludgeoning death of former girlfriend Holly Maddux; by a court in Bordeaux. The court's decision to return the ex-hippie to the U.S. carries two conditions: Einhorn cannot face the death penalty, which has been abolished in France, and he must be given a new trial.RELEASED. GAO YU,55, crusading Chinese journalist, after serving more than five years in prison for providing state secrets to parties outside the borders; in Beijing. Arrested just two days before she was to start a fellowship at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Gao was hustled through a secret trial on ambiguous charges most likely connected to articles about politics she wrote for Hong Kong publications. Eleven other Chinese reporters are still languishing in jail, despite Beijing's recent signing of two international covenants on human rights.CASE DROPPED. Against ELMER GERONIMO PRATT,ex-Black Panther turned self-styled folk hero, who spent 27 years in prison for a 1972 murder conviction that was later overturned when word leaked out that the prosecution had concealed evidence; by Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti. During Pratt's trial, prosecutors failed to mention that their star witness, ex-Panther Julius Butler, was a police informant, a lapse that could have swayed the jury against Pratt.ARRESTED. MIRON COZMA,44, Romanian coal mine unionist, after defying an 18-year prison sentence in order to lead 3,000 workers on a strike protesting countrywide layoffs and mine closures; in Bucharest. The charismatic union leader was convicted last week of undermining state authority by spearheading deadly 1991 protests, in which he and his followers commandeered trains, rampaged through Bucharest and forced Romania's first post-communist Prime Minister, Petre Roman, to resign.By RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI KandaharWhere's Osama bin Laden? Washington wants Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia to surrender the Saudi millionaire, whom it blames for last August's U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. Earlier this month, the Taliban announced that bin Laden had disappeared. In Kandahar, the militia's top leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, spoke with TIME about his country's guest:The Taliban cannot afford to damage Afghanistan's traditions and history by betraying someone who sought refuge in his hour of need... I cannot definitely say that he has left Afghanistan. We have lost track of bin Laden and the 10 Taliban guards I had deployed to monitor his movements. I told the guards there was no need to inform me or other leaders about bin Laden's--or their--whereabouts. Thus we won't be required to tell lies.