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Period: to
2012
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"The Artist" wins Oscar
"The Artist", which happened to be a silent black and white movie, won best actor, best picture, best director, and more. "The Artist" was the first silent winner since "Wings" in 1929. The recipients of the awards were Jean Dujardin, for best actor, and Michel Hazanavicius, for best director. -
Vladimir Putin declared president
Vladimir Putin won the Russian election with 64% of the vote. Gennady Zyuganov, his nearest rival, only got about 17% of the vote. Any other opposition was almost nonexistent, only in the single digits. -
A Jubilee fit for a Monarch
The Diamond Jubilee marks Queen Elizabeth II's 60th year as queen of England. 6,000 extra police officers were on hand for extra security. Also, the area was locked down, so not everyone got a front row seat to the party. -
Michael Phelps retires at 27
Michael Phelps retired at 27 with an overall total of 22 medals. He became the only Olympic swimmer ever to win 3 gold medals in the same event. He will not be competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics. -
Neil Armstrong Dies
Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, died at age 82. Armstrong made his historic first step on July 20, 1969, as the commander of Apollo 11, the first manned spacecraft ever to land on the surface of the moon. Armstrong is still one of the only 12 people to set foot on the moon. -
Blind Olympic swimmer wins gold
Bradley Snyder, a 28-year-old war veteran, won a gold medal in swimming, despite his blinding injury. He won the event with a time of 57.73 seconds. Outside of the Olympics, he also competes in track. -
Ambassador killed in Libya
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens' body was found on a Wednesday in a Benghazi hospital. Earlier, the ambassador had disappeared during a four-hour-long firefight between American soldiers and Islamist soldiers. Shortly after, Obama ordered tighter security on all of the American diplomatic installations. -
Felix Baumgartner sets record
Felix Baumgartner shattered the sound barrier during freefall, setting a world record for being the first person ever to go faster than the speed of sound during freefall. He landed in Roswell, New Mexico after reaching a speed of 833.9 miles per hour. He made the jump from about 24 miles above sea level. -
Lance Armstrong loses titles
Lance Armstrong lost his 7 Tour de France titles after being discovered of using performance enhancing drugs. Pat McQuaid, president of the international cycling union, called it "the biggest doping conspiracy in the history of sport. Lance Armstrong is now banned from professional cycling. -
Hurricane Sandy makes landfall
On 7 p.m. in New York City, Hurricane Sandy makes landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, about 120 miles away. Sandy made landfall as a Category 1 storm, producing winds of up to 115 mile-an-hour speeds. Sandy is the result of an unusual weather conversion creating a powerful, historic weather phenomenon, a true superstorm. -
Obama wins re-election
These are some key points that helped Barack Obama win the 2012 presidential election. One was the fact that an estimated one in eight jobs depended on the auto industry. Another was Hurricane Sandy gave him a chance to exhibit presidential leadership in a time of crisis. Finally, there was the fact that George W. Bush failed to kill Osama bin Laden after a global manhunt, and Obama managed to kill him in the early years of his first term. -
Oppan Gangnam Style hits 1 billion views
On this day, the popular hit video, Gangnam Style hit a record-breaking 1 million views on YouTube. This music video is the first ever video to surpass this amount. -
When the World should end
The world was supposed to end on this day, but, not surprisingly, it didn't, to the dismay of people who had prepared for the worst.