62 years ago (1961) We said United Nations troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were on standby following the murder of ex-PM Patrice Lumumba and two other deposed ministers. They were executed by the country’s new leaders, backed by Belgium and the US, who feared the spread of communism in Africa. In 2002 Belgium apologised for its role in the killings.
34 years ago (1989) Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers over his novel Satanic Verses.
Some in the Islamic world objected to the author’s irreverent portrayal of Muhammad in the book. Rushdie went into hiding and was put under police protection.
18 years ago (2005) The video-sharing website YouTube was launched by former university students Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim in San Mateo, California.
It is now the second-most visited website after Google and has more than a billion monthly users who watch more than a billion hours of videos every day.
