On March 21, 1946, the recently created United Nations Security Council set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in The Bronx, New York.

Ten years ago

President George W. Bush predicted American forces would remain in Iraq for years and that it would be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home. But defying critics and plunging polls, Bush declared, “I’m optimistic we’ll succeed.” The social media website Twitter was established with the sending of the first “tweet” by co-founder Jack Dorsey, who wrote: “just setting up my twttr.”

Five years ago

Syrians chanting “No more fear!” held a defiant march after a deadly government crackdown failed to quash three days of mass protests in the southern city of Deraa. Grammy-winning bluesman Pinetop Perkins died in Austin, Texas, at 97.

One year ago

President Barack Obama, in an interview with The Huffington Post, said he took Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “at his word” for saying an independent Palestinian state would never co-exist with Israel as long as he was in office, yet another sign of the strained relations between longtime allies.

— By The Associated Press