Ten years ago: Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’), agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. (Saleh ended up leaving office in Feb. 2012.) Former Sony Corp. president and chairman Norio Ohga, credited with developing the compact disc, died in Tokyo at age 81.
Five years ago: A confident Donald Trump told supporters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that he was not changing his pitch to voters, a day after his chief adviser assured Republican officials their party’s front-runner would show more restraint while campaigning. Britain marked the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare with parades, church services and stage performances; President Barack Obama took a break from political talks in London to tour the Globe Theatre, a re-creation of the venue where many of the Bard’s plays were first performed.
One year ago: New data showed unemployment in the U.S. swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus; more than 4.4 million laid-off workers had applied for unemployment benefits in the preceding week. At a White House briefing, President Donald Trump noted that researchers were looking at the effects of disinfectants on the coronavirus, and wondered aloud whether they could be injected into people. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told an online fundraiser that Trump’s efforts to block emergency funding for the U.S. Postal Service showed that Trump was trying to “undermine” the election and make it harder for Americans to vote by mail. In an NFL draft conducted remotely due to the coronavirus, the Cincinnati Bengals chose LSU quarterback Joe Burrow as the first pick.
