Milestones

Ten years ago: Responding to charges of bugging at the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Soviet officials displayed microphones and other gadgets they said were found in Soviet missions in the United States.

Five years ago: Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami of eight drug and racketeering charges; he is serving a 40-year prison sentence. Britain’s Conservatives came from behind to become the first British party to win four straight elections this century.

One year ago: In a dramatic shift of purse-string power, President Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. Dan Rostenkowski, the once-powerful House Ways and Means chairman, pleaded guilty to two mail fraud charges in a deal that brought with it a 17-month prison term.