Milestones

HANNAH BEECHSWORN IN. MAHENDRA CHAUDHRY,56, adamant trade unionist and former Finance Minister of Fiji, as the South Pacific nation's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister; in Suva, Fiji. Chaudhry profited from a constitutional revision first used in this election allowing non-indigenous Fijians to hold the prime ministership. He replaces the autocratic Sitiveni Rabuka, who took office in a 1987 military coup that followed an eruption of ethnic tension between native Fijians and the wealthy Indian minority.SUNK. SUN VISTA,30,440-ton luxury liner on the last leg of a six-day round-trip cruise from Singapore; in the Strait of Malacca. Ferry boats and naval vessels rescued more than 1,100 stranded passengers and crew members after a fire broke out in the engine room and cut off the ship's power supply. No fatalities were reported.ARRESTED. JEAN-PHILIPPE WISPELAERE28, naive ex-Australian intelligence analyst, on charges of trying to peddle U.S. defense secrets to an unnamed nation; in Washington. An elaborate joint sting by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian Federal Police nabbed Wispelaere, who pocketed some $180,000 by allegedly leaking classified maps, photos and documents to an undercover agent. If convicted in the U.S. of nuclear espionage, he could face the death penalty.HOSPITALIZED. ASIF ALI ZARDARI,46, imprisoned husband of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; in Islamabad. Police allege that Zardari, who has been implicated on corruption and murder charges, tried to commit suicide. But Bhutto maintains he was tortured; she has appealed to U.S. President Bill Clinton to lobby on behalf of her husband.INDICTED. ALI MOHAMED,46, former U.S. Army sergeant, for allegedly training members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist cabal on how to carry out last August's bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; by a New York grand jury. The Egyptian-born Mohamed, who is the second U.S. citizen to be implicated in the African blasts, made his militant Islamic beliefs known even while training American soldiers headed to the Middle East. He reportedly took leave from the U.S. Army in 1988 to help Muslim militias expel Soviet forces from Afghanistan.DIED. ALFREDO DIAS GOMES,77, prolific Brazilian writer, who penned everything from convoluted soap-operas to a Palme d'Or-winning screenplay for the 1962 The Payer of Vows; in So Paulo. In addition to his lighter ventures, the versatile wordsmith also voiced disapproval of Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship, earning him both repeated censorship and the respect of his beleaguered countrymen.Twenty-two years ago Star Wars, with its spectacular special effects, took the movie-going world by storm. Now the first of three prequels, The Phantom Menace, is set to open around the world to long lines of loyal fans. What can a punk kid, a has-been general and a comedy team of robots do against the dark, illimitable powers of the Galactic Empire? A universe of plenty--as audiences can discover ... in Star Wars, a grand and glorious film that may well be the smash hit of 1977... Star Wars is a combination of Flash Gordon, The Wizard of Oz, the Errol Flynn swashbucklers of the '30s and '40s and almost every western ever screened... The result is a remarkable confection: a subliminal history of the movies, wrapped in a riveting tale of suspense and adventure, ornamented with some of the most ingenious special effects ever contrived for film.
--TIME, May 30, 1977