Milestones

By Harriet Barovick; Elizabeth L. Bland; Jeninne Lee-St. John; Elizabeth Sampson

STEPPING DOWN. DAN RATHER, 73, after 24 years as the dogged, often combative anchor of No. 3--ranked CBS Evening News; effective March 9. The longest-serving evening-news anchor, Rather made his reputation, in his words, as a "reporter-anchor, not an anchor-reporter." Career highs included covering the assassination of John F. Kennedy, winning the first interview with Saddam Hussein after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and, earlier this year, breaking the story of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. More overtly emotional than his fellow network anchors, Rather was famous for folksy "Danisms" like "The race is as hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long car ride back from the beach." But he was forever enraging critics who deemed him too liberal. In September his reputation suffered a Texas hurricane--size hit when a 60 Minutes report on George W. Bush's record in the Texas National Guard relied on apparently forged documents. Rather apologized on-air for the piece. Although he had once planned to stay until at least his 25th anniversary, he announced his departure as a panel investigating his September segment was preparing to release its results. Rather will continue to report for 60 Minutes.

RELEASED. CHARLES JENKINS, 64, U.S. Army sergeant who in 1965 deserted his unit along the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea to avoid facing possible combat in Vietnam; from a military jail in Yokosuka, Japan; after serving 25 days for the desertion, of which he was convicted in a Nov. 3 court-martial. Jenkins had defected to North Korea as a step in a complicated plan to return to the U.S. Instead, he was captured and held for 39 years. After North Korea's Kim Jong Il agreed to release fellow prisoner Hitomi Soga, whom Jenkins married in 1980, Soga pressed successfully for the release of her husband--who turned himself in to U.S authorities in Japan--and their two North Korean--born daughters.

RELEASED. ANGELITO NAYAN, 34, of the Philippines, left, SHQIPE HEBIBI, 36, of Kosovo, center, and ANNETTA FLANIGAN, 43, of Northern Ireland, U.N. workers who were in Afghanistan to help organize the October elections; after being kidnapped in Kabul on Oct. 28. A Taliban splinter group took responsibility for the kidnappings and claims the government agreed to free prisoners in exchange for the release. But Afghan leaders, denying any such deal, said the kidnappers were thieves motivated by ransom money, not politics.

DIED. ARTHUR HAILEY, 84, best-selling author of such institutional-crisis sagas as Airport and Hotel; in his sleep; at home on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. Hailey's books, dismissed by critics as cliched, were blockbusters that turned mundane settings into labyrinths of deception and malice. Airport (1968) spawned a film starring Burt Lancaster.

DIED. J.L. HUNTER (RED) ROUNTREE, 92, America's oldest known bank robber; in a prison hospital in Springfield, Mo. A former tycoon who founded a Texas machinery company, Rountree pulled his first heist at age 86. Holdups, he said, made him "feel good, awful good."

DIED. ANCEL KEYS, 100, whose landmark Seven Countries study of 12,000 healthy men across the globe cemented the link between saturated fat and heart disease; in Minneapolis. Known as Mr. Cholesterol, Keys popularized his findings in the 1959 best seller Eat Well and Stay Well and landed on the cover of TIME. Earlier he invented the K-ration, named for him, a nutritious yet tiny meal World War II soldiers carried into combat.