Ten years ago: The White House reacted angrily to a highly critical memoir by President George W. Bush’s former press secretary, Scott McClellan, who wrote that Bush had relied on an aggressive “political propaganda campaign” instead of the truth to sell the Iraq war. Nepal’s lawmakers abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic, ending 239 years of royal rule.
Five years ago: Calling it perhaps the biggest money-laundering scheme in U.S. history, federal prosecutors charged seven people with running what amounted to an online, underworld bank, saying that Liberty Reserve handled $6 billion for drug dealers, child pornographers, identity thieves and other criminals around the globe.
One year ago: A series of shootings in rural Mississippi claimed the lives of eight people at three separate homes; a suspect faces one count of capital murder in the death of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy William Durr and seven counts of first-degree murder. The Cannes Film Festival awarded its coveted Palme d’Or award to Ruben Ostlund’s Swedish comedy “The Square.” Takuma Sato won the Indianapolis 500 to give owner Michael Andretti a second consecutive victory. Angelique Kerber became the first women’s No. 1 seed to be defeated in the French Open’s first round in the Open era, losing 6-2, 6-2 to 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.
