Milestones

Ten years ago: The hijackers of a Kuwait Airways jetliner vowed to carry out a “slow, quiet massacre” of their hostages, one day after one captive was killed aboard the plane parked in Larnaca, Cyprus.

Five years ago: South African activist Chris Hani, head of the Communist Party and a leading official of the African National Congress, was shot to death. Two white extremists were later convicted in the slaying.

One year ago: A federal judge struck down the Line-Item Veto Act, a law that lets the president strike specific items from bills passed by Congress. However, the Supreme Court later aside aside the judge’s ruling. Onetime fighter pilot and former P.O.W. Pete Peterson was confirmed by the Senate as the first postwar U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.