MILESTONES

MARRIED. BENZION MEISLES, 19, grandson of the head of the New York-based Bobover Hasidic Jews, and HAIYA ERENTSER, 17, granddaughter of the leader of Israel's influential Vishnitz group; in Bnei Brak, Israel. Many of the 20,000 guests had to watch the union of two of the largest Hasidic dynasties on closed-circuit television. According to custom, the bride and groom had met only three times prior to the ceremony. EXPELLED. ARJUN SINGH, 64, minister turned outspoken critic of the government of India's Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao; from the ruling Congress Party for six years; in New Delhi. Last December, Singh resigned his Human Resources Development Ministry post after devastating party losses in two state elections and became Rao's principal political rival--accusing him, among other shortcomings, of failing to tackle widespread corruption. The party's disciplinary-action committee ousted him last week for ``serious breach of discipline.'' ASSETS FROZEN. Of CHRISTOPHER LINGLE, 46, American economics professor convicted of contempt last month for having written an article that allegedly criticized the Singapore government; by Singapore's Supreme Court. The court's order prevents Lingle, who left his fellowship at a Singapore university and returned to the U.S. before the trial, from removing some $20,000 in savings and pension accounts unless he pays a $6,850 fine and his share of the court costs. ASSASSINATED. BLANCA JEANETTE KAWAS FERNANDEZ, 48, fervent Honduran ecologist who antagonized peasants and developers alike in pressing for effective forest management and preservation of nature parks; by an unknown gunman; while she sat in her living room in Tela. Two days before she was killed, she had led a peaceful demonstration to protest the National Agrarian Institute's plan to distribute land to campesinos who, she claimed, would sell it to foreign investors. Police are focusing their investigation on two peasant groups. DIED. JAMES MERRILL, 68, American poet who chronicled experiences and emotions from his own life with intricately crafted, eclectic blends of rhyme and meter; of a heart attack; while on vacation in Tucson, Arizona. The son of a founding partner of the stock-brokerage firm Merrill Lynch, he had a remarkably productive career that included plays, fiction, 14 volumes of verse and the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. DIED. J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT, 89, former Senator from Arkansas who founded the international exchange program now known as the Fulbright fellowships; in Washington. From the beginning of his political career, Fulbright focused on world affairs, submitting as a freshman Representative in 1943 the resolution that ultimately helped create the United Nations; he initiated the scholars' exchange program two years later, when he reached the Senate. DIED. XIA YAN, 94, prominent literary figure in China's film, theater and book circles, whose communist credentials did not protect him from persecution during the Cultural Revolution; in Beijing. Xia is considered the grandfather of China's grandly propagandistic, procommunist movies, notably his 1930s screenplays of such epics as Wild Torrent and Twenty Four Hours in Shanghai. Named Vice Minister of Culture in 1954, Xia continued producing screenplays well into the 1960s. Nonetheless, during the Cultural Revolution, he was severely criticized and imprisoned for more than eight years for ``revisionist'' ideas.