logo

Video encyclopedia

Flashback calendar

UN launches intergovernmental conference on migration

Intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration will take place over several sessions between February and July 2018. The fourth session will convene from 14-18 May 2018.

The US opens embassy in Jerusalem

The Consulate General of the United States, Jerusalem, is a United States diplomatic mission in the historic city. In May, the United States Embassy moved into a small part of the purpose built Consular Section in Jerusalem′s southern neighborhood of Arnona. The opening of the new Embassy coincided with the bloodiest day of the 2018 Gaza border protests, seeing the deaths of more than 40 Palestinian demonstrators.

Richter's Domplatz, Mailand is sold at Sotheby's for US$37.1 million

Richter's photo-painting Domplatz, Mailand, sold for $37.1 million at Sotheby's. Tobias Meyer of Sotheby's called the price "a major accomplishment". Richter, 81, also held the previous record for the top price fetched at auction by a living artist.

Avengers gross the fastest $1 billion at the box office

The Avengers is an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The Avengers grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide and became the third-highest-grossing film during its theatrical run—as well as the first Marvel production to generate $1 billion in ticket sales and was the highest-grossing film of 2012.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is accused of sexual assault

Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexual assault and attempted rape by 32-year-old Nafissatou Diallo. DNA tests of the semen found on Diallo's shirt matched with Strauss-Kahn DNA sample. However, the judge dismissed all charges due to the untruthfulness of Diallo's testimonies.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is born

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for co-founding and leading Facebook, as its chairman and chief executive officer. Born in White Plains, New York, Zuckerberg attended Harvard University where he launched Facebook from his dormitory room.

Inventor and businessman Bill Lear dies

Bill Lear was an American inventor and businessman and the creator of the battery eliminator, B battery and 8-track tape sound-recording technology. In the late 1950s, Bill Lear founded the Swiss American Aviation Corporation which manufactured private, luxury aircraft. It was later renamed Learjet. One of its most famous designs was Learjet 23, introduced in 1964. Learjet is currently a subsidiary of Canadian Bombardier Aerospace.

Soviet bloc signs the Warsaw Pact defense treaty

The Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to NATO and there was no direct confrontation between them. Instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars. Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs.

Israel declares independence

The Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by David Ben-Gurion, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day.

Ferrero officially opens its doors

Ferrero SpA is an Italian manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products and is the third biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world. It was founded in Alba, Piedmont, Italy, by Pietro Ferrero, a confectioner and small-time pastry maker who laid the groundwork for Nutella.

Inventor and entrepreneur Henry Heinz dies

Known mostly for his tomato ketchup, Heinz was a son of German immigrants who came to the United States in the early 1840s. In 1876 he developed his ketchup and started a company with his brother, John Heinz, and cousin Frederick Heinz. In 1888 Heinz bought them out and renamed the business H. J. Heinz Company, the name carried to the present day.

The Rockefeller Foundation is established

The Rockefeller Foundation is a private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. It was established by the six-generation Rockefeller family. The Foundation was started by Standard Oil owner John D. Rockefeller, along with his son John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Frederick Taylor Gates, in New York State.

The last witchcraft trial held in the US begins in Salem, Massachusetts

The Salem witchcraft trial was an American civil case held in Salem, Massachusetts, in which Lucretia L. S. Brown, an adherent of the Christian Science religion, accused fellow Christian Scientist Daniel H. Spofford of attempting to harm her through his "mesmeric" mental powers. The judge dismissed the case.

Delegates convene in Philadelphia to write a new American Constitution

The Constitutional Convention took place in the old Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The delegates elected George Washington of Virginia, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the late American Revolutionary War, to preside over the Convention.

Louis XIV becomes King of France at age 4

Louis XIV was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who reigned as King of France. Starting at the age of 4, his reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's France was a leader in the growing centralization of power.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV is born

Charles IV, born Wenceslaus, was a King of Bohemia and the first King of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the House of Přemyslid from his mother's side, which he emphasised, because it gave him two saints as direct ancestors.

Anniversaries of the (in)famous

born 1944

George Lucas

born 1968

Greg Davies