site.btaObservances: January 10-11

January 10

On this date in Bulgarian history:

• 1944: Sofia suffers its worst RAF and USAF bomb raid in World War II. 180 bomber aircraft escorted by 100 fighters attack Sofia. Some 750 people are killed, 710 are wounded, 93 State-owned and 3,211 private buildings are destroyed.
• 1965: The first issue of BTA's Po Sveta (Round the World) weekly magazine is published. Its last issue is dated December 27, 1991.
• 1984: A Balkan Airlines Tu-134 crashes while landing near Sofia. All 50 people on board are killed.
• 1997: The opposition walks out of Parliament and urges civil disobedience until early parliamentary elections are scheduled.
• 2003: President Georgi Parvanov issues Decree 4 which gives Bulgarian names to 58 geographical places on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands in Western Antarctica. Among these are Varna Peninsula, Vidin Highlands, Mount Elena.

January 11

On this date in Bulgarian history:

• 1996 - Diplomatic relations are established with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1997 - A day after Parliament begins debating a "Declaration on the Salvation of Bulgaria," police disperse a crowd protesting outside the legislature and escort the MPs of the Democratic Left, until then stranded inside the building.
• 2002 - A report is unveiled on the affiliation of members of the 35th National Assembly with the Communist-era secret services.