APPOINTED. BILL CLINTON, 58, former U.S. President, as the United Nations' special envoy for tsunami relief; by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan; in New York City. Clinton, along with fellow former President George H.W. Bush, has been making appearances at President George W. Bush's behest to raise private tsunami- relief funds in the U.S. As leader of the U.N.'s reconstruction efforts, he will also be called upon to help mediate conflicts with rebels in the two hardest- hit countries, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
ENDED. A 100-day hunger strike by JIYUL, 48, Buddhist nun and environmentalist who has battled Korean authorities for four years over a high-speed train tunnel through the ecologically sensitive Mount Cheonseong area; after the government agreed to a three-month suspension of construction and a new environmental impact assessment; in Seoul. Severely weakened by the fast, her fourth since Feb. 2003, Jiyul will enter a hospital to recover.
DIED. ZURAB ZHVANIA, 41, influential, reform-minded Prime Minister of Georgia and close ally to President Mikhail Saakashvili; of carbon monoxide poisoning, apparently from a space heater in the apartment of an acquaintance, who also died; in Tbilisi. The incident was a shock, but not unheard of in Georgia, where 45 others have died under similar circumstances in the past three years. A key advisor to the president, Zhvania was a leader in the popular 2003 uprising that ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze.
DIED. EPHRAIM KISHON, 80, Hungarian Holocaust survivor and satirist whose novels sold more than 43 million copies in 37 languages; in Switzerland. After surviving the Nazi death camps, Kishon fled to Israel, where he wrote news columns, novels, plays and films. Although he never found a wide audience in the English-speaking world, his works were widely read in Europe and Israel; his 1980 novel, Sefer Mishpahti, is the best-selling book in Hebrew after the Bible. Kishon appreciated the irony of his success in post-war Germany: "It is a great satisfaction for me to see the grandchildren of my executioners queue up at my readings," he once said.
DIED. MAX SCHMELING, 99, world heavyweight-boxing champion who became a reluctant symbol of Nazi might in the years leading up to World War II; in Hollenstedt, Germany. Schmeling became the first European to win the world title in 1930, and launched a famous rivalry when he knocked out American challenger Joe Louis in 1936; his loss in a 1938 rematch in Yankee Stadium became emblematic of the coming struggle with Nazi Germany. But he was miscast by Hitler as an Aryan superhero. He refused to join the Nazi Party and after the war, it was disclosed he had saved two Jews from attack in the Kristallnacht violence of 1938. A quiet philanthropist, he befriended Louis later in life, even paying for the impoverished former champ's 1981 funeral.
Numbers
57% Estimated overall voter turnout in Iraq's elections
10% Estimated turnout in the northern city of Mosul, a hotbed of insurgent violence
$67.5 million Amount allegedly embezzled from a bank in northeastern China by 46 of its staff
$42 million Amount the staffers are alleged to have lost gambling at casinos and on soccer matches
67% Percentage of U.S. voters who say they oppose amending the Constitution to allow a foreign-born President, according to a Gallup poll
58% Percentage who oppose it when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is mentioned as a candidate
60% Estimated percentage of all e-mails that were unsolicited "spam" messages in January 2004, when the U.S. Congress passed the anti-junk mail Can-Spam Act
80% Estimated percentage that are "spam" messages today
Fake Watch
Brand-name cigarettes are hazardous enough, but illicit counterfeits are even worse for your health. According to a University of St. Andrews' study in December, counterfeits contain up to five times more carcinogens such as cadmium and arsenic. One hundred million counterfeit cigarettes are made in China each year (about 85% of the world's total), according to the country's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which is now trying to snuff out the fakes. Last week, officials in Henan, China's second largest tobacco-growing province, torched $360,000 worth of contraband cigarettes.