site.btaToday's Observances: August 12-13

August 12

The world:

- International Youth Day (declared on December 17, 1999 by UN General Assembly resolution; first observed on August, 12, 2000).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1875: In Bucharest, the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee decides that an uprising against Ottoman rule must be declared immediately.

1879: Danubian Flotilla set up in Rousse. Birthday of Bulgarian Navy.

1888: Tsaribrod-Sofia-Vakarel-Belovo railway, designed and built by Bulgarians only, opens to international traffic. Sofia's railway station is inaugurated.

1960: Higher Military Medical Institute (now Military Medical Academy) is established.

1999: Bulgaria starts clearing Cold War landmine fields near villages of Chakalarovo, Gorno Kapinovo and Draganovo in Kurdjali Region (on border with Greece) under Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.

August 13

The world:

- International Left-Handers' Day (designated by Left Handers International, first observed in 1976).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1888: Sofia Railway Station and railway from Tsaribrod to Sofia are inaugurated (old style date: August 1, 1888). Orient Express, international train from London via Paris to Constantinople, arrives in Sofia.

1912: First flight performed by Simeon Petrov, Bulgarian trained at Louis Bleriot's school in France. Petrov flies Bleriot XXI airplane. 

1992: Diplomatic relations established with Croatia.

1996: Central Depository is established to provide custodial services for securities.

2003: International agreement establishing Strymon-Strouma Euroregion, comprising Bulgarian Region of Blagoevgrad and Greek Prefecture of Serres, is signed in southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.