Ten years ago: Addressing a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab world, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded that Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, stop killing his own people, and said the “old order” of one-man rule and family dynasties was over in the Middle East. At the Golden Globes, “The Artist” won best movie musical or comedy, while “The Descendants” won best drama; on the TV side, “Homeland” won best drama series while “Modern Family” was recognized as best musical or comedy series.
Five years ago: In his final interview as president, Barack Obama told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the increase of Israeli settlements had “gotten so substantial” that it was inhibiting the possibility of an “effective, contiguous Palestinian state.”
One year ago: The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 2 million; Johns Hopkins University reported the milestone amid a monumental but uneven effort to vaccinate people against the coronavirus. Federal watchdogs launched a sweeping review of how the FBI, the Pentagon and other law enforcement agencies responded to the riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Pentagon said it had reached its goal of reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to roughly 2,500, a drawdown that appeared to violate a last-minute congressional prohibition on troop withdrawals. The National Rifle Association announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection and would seek to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where a state lawsuit was trying to put the organization out of business.
