Milestones

Ten years ago: The Navy, alarmed over a recent string of serious accidents, ordered an unprecedented 48-hour stand-down.

Five years ago: President Clinton, in Indonesia, met one-on-one with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, winning pledges to keep the pressure on North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons program. U.S. experts visited North Korea’s main nuclear complex for the first time under an accord aimed at opening such sites to outside inspections. Heavy rains and flooding from Tropical Storm Gordon swept across Haiti, killing several hundred people.

One year ago: Iraq said it would resume cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors, appearing to back down in the face of a threatened U.S. attack.