Andrea Pozzo was an Italian Jesuit brother, Baroque painter and architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician.

Pozzo was best known for his grandiose frescoes using the technique of quadratura to create an illusion of three-dimensional space on flat surfaces. His masterpiece is the nave ceiling of the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome. Through his techniques, he became one of the most noteworthy figures of the Baroque period. He is also noted for the architectural plans of Ljubljana Cathedral, inspired by the designs of the Jesuit churches Il Gesù and S. Ignazio in Rome.

Mohammad Al-Khamis Ben Youssef Ben Mohammed Al-Alaoui, known as Mohammed V, was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953; he was recognized as Sultan again upon his return from exile in 1955, and as King from 1957 to 1961. His full name was Sidi Mohammed ben Yusef, or Son of Yusef, upon whose death he succeeded to the throne. He was a member of the Alaouite dynasty.

On 20 August 1953, the French colonial authorities forced Mohammed V, an important national symbol in the growing Moroccan independence movement, into exile in Corsica along with his family. His first cousin once removed, Mohammed Ben Aarafa, was made a puppet monarch and placed on the throne. Mohammed V and his family were then transferred to Madagascar in January 1954. Mohammed V returned from exile on 16 November 1955, and was again recognized as Sultan after active opposition to the French protectorate. In February 1956 he successfully negotiated with France and Spain for the independence of Morocco, and in 1957 took the title of King.

Operation Boomerang was a partially successful air raid conducted by the United States Army Air Forces' XX Bomber Command against oil refining facilities in Japanese-occupied Palembang on the night of 10/11 August 1944 during World War II. The attack involved attempts to bomb an oil refinery and lay mines to block a river.

The raid formed part of a series of attacks on Japanese-occupied cities in South East Asia which XX Bomber Command conducted as an adjunct to its primary mission of bombing Japan. The command raided the Japanese city of Nagasaki on the same night as Operation Boomerang.

A total of 54 heavy bombers were dispatched from an airfield in Ceylon on 10 August, of which 39 reached the Palembang area. Attempts to bomb the oil refinery were unsuccessful, with only a single small building being confirmed destroyed. Mines dropped in the river which connects Palembang to the sea sank three ships and damaged two others. British forces provided search and rescue support for the American bombers. The Japanese defenders of Palembang failed to destroy any of the American bombers, but one was forced to ditch when it ran out of fuel.