Milestones

5 minute read
Tara Kilachand

DISCOVERED. An ancient city believed to date from the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220); near the Chinese city of Ji’an, on the border with North Korea. Workers discovered the submerged ruins, which government officials say include 2,360 tombs from the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo, while making repairs to a local reservoir. Archaeologists found evidence of a moat and city walls, partially destroyed by water from a nearby river, but said they need to carry out further excavations to determine the city’s precise age.

ACQUITTED. Jacob Zuma, 64, former South African Deputy President, of charges that he raped an HIV-positive woman in 2005; by a Johannesburg High Court. Zuma, one of South Africa’s most powerful politicians, said at the trial that he did have unprotected sex with his accuser but that it had been consensual. His admission and his erroneous statement that taking a shower afterwards reduced his risk of contracting HIV outraged AIDS activists in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of HIV infection. He faces trial on unrelated corruption charges in July.

ELECTED. Giorgio Napolitano, 80, as the 11th President of Italy; in Rome. Blocked by outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative coalition, which saw the former communist as too left-wing, Napolitano secured a majority backing for his appointment by Italy’s Parliament after three failed ballots. As head of state, one of his first tasks will be to invite incoming Prime Minister Romano Prodi to form a new government.

RESIGNED. Franco Carraro, 66, Italian football federation president, amid a growing match-fixing scandal; in Rome. Carraro is under investigation along with some 40 other officials and referees and four Serie A football clubs, including Juventus and AC Milan. On May 4, Italian newspapers sparked the scandal by publishing telephone taps of Juventus director Luciano Moggi discussing referee assignments for club matches with a refereeing official. Juventus’s board of directors, including Moggi, resigned en masse last week.

INDICTED. Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, 53, South Korean scientist who last year said he had created the world’s first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells, in a claim that raised hopes for treatment of numerous debilitating diseases, including Alzheimer’s; after he was alleged to have fabricated key data, and later acknowledged lying; on charges of fraud, embezzlement and bioethics violations; in Seoul. Five of his research assistants were indicted on lesser charges.

DIED. Soraya, 37, Colombian-American singer-songwriter who traveled to Latin America to educate women about early detection of breast cancer; of breast cancer; in Miami. Soraya infused her eclectic brand of pop with rock, flamenco and Colombian folk, and won a Latin Grammy for her self-titled 2003 CD. But the mission of the young artist—who lost her mother, aunt and grandmother to breast cancer—was her war on the disease. On her website, she recently told fans: “I have not lost this battle, because I know the fight was not in vain.”

DIED. A.M. Rosenthal, 84, combative New York Times editor credited with reinvigorating the paper during the financially strapped 1970s; in New York City. Over 55 years, the onetime foreign correspondent presided over the winning of 23 Pulitzers—most famously for publishing the classified Pentagon papers that detailed the U.S.’s secret involvement in Vietnam. While his temper and management style drew critics, few questioned his dedication to the news.

DIED. Floyd Patterson, 71, gentle and beloved legend of boxing; after years battling Alzheimer’s and prostate cancer; in New Paltz, New York. The undersized high school dropout from Brooklyn, New York, won Olympic gold in 1952. Four years later, at age 21, he knocked out Archie Moore to become the world’s youngest heavyweight champ—and the most conflicted. The Hall of Famer, who said he had “no self-esteem” as a kid, was so stung by a 1959 loss to Ingemar Johansson that he left the arena in disguise. Yet when he regained the title from Johansson a year later, he was disturbed by his “hate” for his rival. After retiring, he grew easier on himself. When a reporter said Patterson had been downed more than most fighters, he replied, “But I also got up the most.”

Fakewatch
When a team at China’s Shanghai Jiaotong University announced in 2003 that it had developed a sophisticated microprocessor for mobile phones and MP3 players, it was hailed as a major step forward for a nation eager to move beyond low-cost manufacturing and piracy. But following an investigation, the school announced last week that the capabilities of the Hanxin—or “China chip”—were exaggerated, and that it relied on copied technology. The university dismissed Chen Jin, above, the project’s head and dean of its microelectronics school, accusing him of “serious falsification.” The technology may have been a dud, but the willingness to punish fakery is a real advance.

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