Ten years ago: Tropical Storm Helene quickly weakened into a tropical depression after moving ashore on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. Diana Nyad launched her latest attempt to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a wetsuit or a shark cage (she ended her bid three days later). Singer Scott McKenzie, 73, who performed “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” died in Los Angeles.
Five years ago: Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s top White House strategist, was forced out of his post by Trump. (Bannon would be pardoned by Trump in the final hours of Trump’s term after being charged with diverting money from donors who believed the money would be used to build a wall along the southern border; he was later convicted of contempt for defying a congressional subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.)
One year ago: Taliban militants in Afghanistan attacked protesters who dared to take down the Taliban banner and replace it with the country’s flag, killing at least one person; the attack came as many Afghans hid at home or tried to flee the country. The United Arab Emirates confirmed that it had taken in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds; the family had fled Afghanistan as the Taliban closed in on the capital. A federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld a Texas law outlawing a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure. U.S. health officials announced plans to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and signs that the vaccines’ effectiveness was slipping.
