Milestones

By Melissa August; Val Castronovo; Matthew Cooper; Ellin Martens; Julie Rawe; Flora Tartakovsky and Josh Tyrangiel

EXPELLED. JOSE IMPERATORI, 46, Cuban diplomat in Washington; because of alleged ties to an immigration official charged with spying for Havana. Imperatori had threatened a hunger strike to combat the "major slander" and clear his name, but the FBI moved swiftly to deport him on Saturday night.

PARDONED. PRESTON KING, 63, Georgia native who fled the U.S. in 1961 rather than enlist in the Army because an all-white draft board refused to call him "Mister" once it learned he was black; of draft evasion; by President Clinton. King told the draft board he would enlist if it addressed him with the same title reserved for whites.

INDICTED. SEAN ("PUFFY") COMBS, 30, rap mogul already indicted for illegal gun possession after a nightclub shooting in New York City; on charges of trying to bribe his driver to claim ownership of the gun.

SUSPENDED. MARTY MCSORLEY, 36, Boston Bruins defenseman who is under police investigation for hitting an opposing player on the head with his hockey stick; for the season, a record NHL penalty for on-ice conduct; in Vancouver, B.C.

DIED. FRIEDENSREICH HUNDERTWASSER, 71, Austrian painter and architect best known for designing a brightly colored Viennese apartment building lacking any straight lines, which the artist considered to be "the tool of the devil"; of a heart attack, on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship.

EXECUTED. BETTY LOU BEETS, 62, a.k.a. "the Black Widow," convicted of murdering her fifth husband and indicted but never tried for murdering her fourth husband; by lethal injection; in Huntsville, Texas. Beets, who claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse, was the fourth woman put to death in the U.S. since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume.

DIED. OFRA HAZA, 41, Israeli pop star whose dance remixes of traditional Yemenite Jewish poetry and techno beats became international club hits; of massive organ failure; in Tel Aviv.