site.btaToday's Observances: May 29

The world:

- National Day of Nepal: Republic Day;

- International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1876: 200-strong detachment led by poet and freedom fighter Hristo Botev gets off ship Radetzky at Kozloduy and heads for the Balkan Range to help liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Botev is killed.

1968: Diplomatic relations established with Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta).

1989: Communist leader Todor Zhivkov states Bulgaria's ethnic Turks are free to emigrate to Turkey. This follows years of forcible assimilation of Turkish community.

2003: Order of Sts Cyril and Methodius is instituted as second most important after Order of the Balkan Range.