Ten years ago: Opening statements in the Los Angeles trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, took place as prosecutors accused Murray of killing the superstar through irresponsible use of the anesthetic propofol, and the defense maintained Jackson had caused his own death. (Murray was later convicted of felony involuntary manslaughter.) Israel gave the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new Jewish housing units in east Jerusalem; the announcement met with swift criticism from the United States and the European Union.
Five years ago: The United States provided another $364 million in humanitarian aid to Syrians as their nation’s civil war appeared to be getting worse. President Barack Obama announced career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis as his choice to become the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba in more than a half-century.
One year ago: The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House; Trump dismissed the report as “fake news.” Louisville, Kentucky, saw its fifth night of protests after a grand jury declined to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. The French Open, pushed back from May and June because of COVID-19, began in Paris with just 1,000 spectators allowed per day.
