In 2014, attorneys for Michael Brown's family vowed to push for federal charges against the Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who killed the Black 18-year-old, a day after a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson. (The Justice Department later declined to prosecute Wilson.) President Barack Obama sharply rebuked protesters for racially charged violence in Ferguson, saying there was no excuse for burning buildings, torching cars and destroying other property.
In 2016, Fidel Castro, who led his rebels to victorious revolution in 1959, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half-century of rule in Cuba, died at age 90.
In 2018, U.S. border agents fired tear gas on hundreds of migrants protesting near the border with Mexico after some of them tried to get through the fencing and wire separating the two countries; U.S. authorities temporarily shut down the border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, where thousands were waiting to apply for asylum.
Ten years ago: Incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (NOO'-ree ahl-MAHL'-ih-kee) cemented his grip on power, bringing an end to nearly nine months of political deadlock after he was asked to form the next government. South Korea's defense minister, Kim Tae-young, resigned amid intense criticism two days after a North Korean artillery attack killed four people on a small island near the Koreas' disputed frontier.
Five years ago: Vice President Joe Biden attended an urgent summit of southeast European leaders in Zagreb, Croatia, focusing on tensions and security concerns over a surge of asylum-seekers and migrants crossing the region. Pope Francis arrived in Kenya on his first-ever trip to Africa and urged Kenyans to work for peace and forgiveness amid a wave of extremist violence on the continent that threatened to disrupt his trip.
One year ago: A federal judge said former White House counsel Donald McGahn would have to appear before Congress to testify in the impeachment investigation. (An appeals court later undid that ruling, finding that federal judges had no role to play in the subpoena fight.) Defense Secretary Mark Esper said President Donald Trump had ordered him to stop a disciplinary review of a Navy SEAL, Edward Gallagher, who was accused of battlefield misconduct. The Supreme Court rejected the bid of a Maryland man, Adnan Syed, for a new trial based on information uncovered by the hit podcast "Serial"; Syed had been sentenced to life in the strangling death of a high school classmate. Charles Schwab announced that it was buying rival TD Ameritrade, which would combine two of the biggest players in the online brokerage industry. London's transit authority refused to renew Uber's operating license over concerns about impostor drivers. (Uber appealed, and won an 18-month license with conditions.)
