Milestones

HANNAH BEECHRESIGNED. YURI SKURATOV,46, Russia's much-maligned chief prosecutor, whose inability to clean up the country's chronic corruption proved his downfall; in Moscow. Skuratov's three-year tenure was marred by countless examples of lax law enforcement, including the assassination last year of liberal parliamentarian Galina Starovoitova.CONVICTED. CHEE SOON JUAN,36, defiant Singaporean opposition leader, on charges of speaking in public without a permit; in Singapore. Ordered to pay an $830 fine or face a week in jail, Chee chose prison, his wife says, because detention represents how any democrat will be treated in an authoritarian state.REHIRED. DAVID HOWARD,44, embattled Washington mayoral aide, whose use of the word niggardly in a budget meeting prompted his rapid resignation and a national debate on race, by Mayor Anthony Williams; in Washington. Williams, who has endured criticism for hiring too many whites in a largely black city, conceded that he acted too hastily in accepting Howard's resignation. SENTENCED. MIKE TYSON,32, volatile ex-heavyweight boxing champ, to a year in jail, for pummeling two motorists after a 1998 fender-bender; by a Maryland court. Despite his wife's tearful testimony that Tyson is loving and misunderstood, Judge Stephen Johnson lambasted the pugilist as someone who repeatedly speaks and acts compulsively and violently.DIED. PAUL MELLON,91, self-effacing American philanthropist, who used his family's fortune to expand U.S. public parklands and fortify national art collections; in Upperville, Virginia. Except for a short stint as a bank clerk, Mellon avoided contributing to his family's financial empire, protesting he was too busy with philanthropy to hold a nine-to-five job. DIED. JOHN SERVICE,89, first member of the U.S. State Department's Old China Hands to be fired for purported communist sympathies during the McCarthy era; in Oakland, California. Service's 1944 description of Mao Zedong as a man universally spoken of with respect was seen as evidence of a treasonous plot to aid Chinese communists. Although he was eventually cleared by the Supreme Court, Service's career never recovered, and he suffered an obscure posting at the Liverpool, England consulate before retiring.DIED. KURSHIAH BURHANUDDIN,87, Malaysia's first Queen, whose prodigious charity work made her more than a royal figurehead; in Kuala Lumpur. Crowned after the nation was granted independence in 1957, Kurshiah wielded no official power but quietly improved women's lives through the Malaysian Islamic Women's Welfare Board, which she established in 1961 to promote equal rights for women.AWARDED. To LULU,plucky pig whose quick thinking saved her owner's life, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Trooper Award for bravery; in New York. After JoAnn Altsman suffered a heart attack, Lulu squeezed her 68-kg bulk through an undersized doggy door and urgently oinked at passing cars. When no one stopped, the porker planted herself in the middle of the road and played dead--all four hoofs sticking straight up in the air--before someone pulled over to help.