Milestones

Ten years ago: President Bush sent three high-ranking officials to Alaska to “take a hard look” at the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

Five years ago: More than 50 people were killed in violence that erupted in Johannesburg, South Africa, during a march by Zulu nationalists. Absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 81.

One year ago: President Clinton, during his visit to South Africa, went to Soweto, a landmark in the bloody uprising against apartheid, to honor South Africans “who answered the call of conscience” and defeated their country’s system of white supremacy.