Milestones

Ten years ago: Iraq accepted a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis. British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel large enough to walk through and shake hands.

Five years ago: Tens of thousands of people in Dublin, Ireland, warmly welcomed President Clinton to his ancestral homeland.

One year ago: President Clinton addressed a World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, where he defended his administration’s policies in the face of sometimes violent street demonstrations. An international team of scientists announced it had mapped virtually an entire human chromosome.