Starting Time

Person of the Week
FADING OUT Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has cut off communications with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, calling him “no longer relevant.” Can the overshadowed former freedom fighter re-energize his moderate power base and scrape his way back to the negotiating table?

Noted
“The gun has to stop ruling the country.”
Hamid Karzai, interim leader of Afghanistan, pledging to end 20 years of chaos

Prime Number
1.75 percent is the new U.S. federal funds rate. Last week’s cut was the 11th this year, dropping the interest rate to its lowest point since 1961

Omen
Escalating a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Malaysian officials want expanded powers to whip foreigners entering the country without valid travel documents

Winners
DAVID SOUL
Hutch wins libel suit against journalist who called his play the worst ever without seeing it. Funny, we almost made that call
AIR VICE-MARSHAL “JOHNNIE” JOHNSON
British WWII ace’s medals posthumously sell for $345,200. Sensing an opportunity, Werner Klemperer’s family auctions his monocle
TEOFILA MARTINEZ
Mayoress of Cadiz is offered a role in the new 007 movie. Rudy Giuliani was passed over despite a fresh waxing and skimpy bikini

Losers
CARLY FIORINA
HP CEO in trouble as Hewletts and Packards oppose Compaq merger. Undoubtedly both of them once owned Presarios
MARTHA STEWART
Ms. Do-It-Right gets in copyright trouble over her show’s theme song. What’s the correct etiquette for totally screwing someone over?
COURTNEY LOVE
Cobain’s widow sued by surviving Nirvana members. Apparently, the tiff involves her plan to market Kurt-ables chocolate biscuits

Milestones
By ERIN KILLIAN

NAMED. SYED SIRAJUDDIN SYED PUTRA JAMALULLAIL 58, the ruler of Perlis, Malaysia’s smallest state, as the country’s 12th King since 1957; in Kuala Lumpur. Syed Sirajuddin, trained at Britain’s Sandhurst, served in the army before succeeding his father as Sultan of Perlis last year. His election has no political significance; the ceremonial crown is rotated among royalty every five years.
RETIREMENT ANNOUNCED. Of DICK ARMEY, 65, the House of Representatives Republican majority leader since 1995; in Washington, D.C. Armey, extolled by fellow Texan George W. Bush for his tax-cutting agenda, will step down after completing his term in January 2003.
AWARDED. SHAHNAZ BOKHARI, 45, a Pakistani psychologist and publisher, the Weimar’s Human Rights Prize for sheltering and tending to victims of domestic violence; in Weimar, Germany. Bokhari, outspoken about women’s rights, is seeking to abolish the Pakistani tradition of condemning to death women who commit adultery.
DIED. LARRY COSTELLO, 70, a five-time All-Star guard for the Philadelphia 76ers and former Milwaukee Bucks coach; in Fort Myers, Florida. Costello, known as among the last to lob the two-handed set shot, clinched NBA titles alongside Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 and when coaching the Bucks in 1971.
DIED. ASHOK KUMAR, 90, Indian screen legend who dazzled audiences in more than 250 films and won Indian cinema’s highest honor, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 1989; in Bombay. Kumar starred in mega-hits such as Achhut Kanya and Jewel Thief (see eulogy).
DIED. DON TENNANT, 79, the creative advertising whiz who conceived Kellogg’s lovable Tony the Tiger, dreamed up the Marlboro Man concept and composed such jingles as Pillsbury’s Nothing says lovin’ like something from the oven; in Chicago.

Eulogy
By MAHESH BHATT

Three days before ASHOK KUMAR died, he had consented to commemorate a postage stamp for the late Raj Kapoor, great showman of Indian movies. It was going to be a glitzy Bombay function and illness was not going to deter the 90-year-old actor from celebrating a colleague’s life. But a cardiac arrest did. And thus ended the six-decade career of a film laboratory assistant who became one of Bollywood’s most celebrated heroes. My fondest memory of Kumar is from 1958 when he acted in one of my father’s films, Mr. X, playing a man who discovers a secret brew that makes him invisible. Mr. X could sit in on conspiracies and expose the bad guys to make the world a better place. Years later, Ashok Kumar said to me: “In the worst moment of pain, man needs a dream. Cinema should do the job of a good dream.” I was already a filmmaker by then, and he had it right. Kumar gave India very sweet dreams.