Person of the Week

Person of the Week
THE NEW, NEW BUST He built one of the world’s biggest long-distance carriers the old-fashioned waygobbling up all the companies he could. But when classic overreaching killed Worldcom’s stock price, ex-CEO Bernard Ebbers was left owing more than $366 million in loans to his own company

Noted
“Given the exceptional atmosphere of the event, we must face the possibility of unwanted babies fathered by foreigners who rape our women.”
TAKAYOSHI KONNO,
Local politician, on Japan’s fears of British hooliganism at the World Cup

Prime Number
6 percent is the U.S. unemployment rate for April, the highest proportion of jobless Americans in nearly eight years

Omen
It’s virtually impossible to make buildings strong enough to withstand Sept. 11-style attacks, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency report

Winners
MICHAEL JACKSON
Pop king to codirect first film. The cast is not set and the script needs a rewrite, but he’s already got a title: Dude, Where’s My Nose?
CHARLOTTE CHURCH
Heavenly soprano wins Britain’s Rear of the Year award. Parents everywhere dream, of course, of their daughter becoming Miss Ass
ERIK LINDBERGH
Flier replicates his grandpa’s epic transatlantic flight. As a follow-up, he’s planning to have his son kidnapped and then join the Nazi party
Losers
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS
Singer booed for showing up late and lip-synching at a concert. For those keeping track, this is the “hubris” segment of Behind the Music
ROBERT BLAKE
Jailbird actor denied bail on killing charge, sued by murdered wife’s children. And why do we care? He played a TV detective in the ’70s
MADONNA
Material Girl’s film pulled from Cannes for awfulness. Just when you think it’s safe to like Madonna, she manages to appall all over again

Milestones
By SARA RAJAN

DIED. ALEXANDER IVANOVICH LEBED, 52, governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarski region, ex-army general and a 1996 Russian presidential contender, in a helicopter crash; in Siberia. An Afghan war veteran, Lebed protected Boris Yeltsin during the hard-liners’ coup in 1991, ended bloodshed in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniester region in July 1992 and signed the peace accord that ended the first Chechen war, in August 1996.
DIED. LUNG SI-HUNG, 72, known for his portrayal of the master-chef dad in the 1994 Taiwanese hit, Eat Drink Man Woman; in Taipei. Lung achieved international acclaim for his roles in Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, all helmed by Oscar-nominated director, Ang Lee. (See Eulogy).
DIED. RUTH HANDLER, 85, co-founder of the Mattel toy company and creator of the world’s most popular doll, Barbie; in Los Angeles. The blond-haired, blue-eyed Barbie was named after Handler’s daughter Barbara, and since its introduction in 1959 more than 1 billion dolls have been sold in more than 150 countries.
INDICTED. JAYSON WILLIAMS, 34, the former NBA forward, for his role in the Feb. 14 fatal shooting of a limousine driver at his estate; in Flemington, New Jersey. If convicted of all the charges levied against him, Williams faces nearly 45 years behind bars.
ARRESTED. CHEE SOON JUAN, 39, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, for attempting to hold a Labor Day rally outside the presidential palace without an official permit; in Singapore. In 2001, Chee was sued by Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew for defamation.

Eulogy
By HSU LI-KONG

On the silver screen, LUNG SIHUNG was everyone’s favorite father figure. The Taiwanese actor played them allthe Tai Chi father, the chef father, father of a gay son, father of a woman warrior. His roles came to personify the Eastern patriarch caught in the winds of change sweeping the lives of his children. His careworn appearance was a factor in his fame. I originally wanted him in my productions because he had a face ethnic Chinese could identify with. But the reason Ang Lee and I cast Lung in the “Father Knows Best” trilogyPushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Womanwas because of his dedication to his art. A rarity in Chinese filmmaking, Lung worked without attitude and never demeaned his status as an Asian actor when working with a foreign crew. His grace, professionalism and dignity on and off the set will always be remembered by those of us who knew him as Uncle Lung.