Milestones

Ten years ago: The government reported that orders to manufacturers for big-ticket durable goods plummeted 10-1/2 percent the previous month. Gennady I. Yanayev was approved as the Soviet Union’s first vice president on the last day of a stormy, 10-day session of the Congress of People’s Deputies.

Five years ago: Israeli jeeps sped out of the West Bank town of Ramallah, capping a seven-week pullout giving Yasser Arafat control over 90 percent of the West Bank’s 1 million Palestinian residents and one-third of its land.

One year ago: Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew returned to Earth after fixing the Hubble Space Telescope. Former television executive Leonard H. Goldenson, who’d built ABC into a network powerhouse, died in Longboat Key, Fla., at age 94.