site.btaToday's Observances: September 24-25

September 24

The world:

- National Day of Guinea-Bissau: Independence Day (1973).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1918: Soldiers' Uprising breaks out. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, it is the first armed attempt to replace the monarchy in Bulgaria by a republic.

1990: President Zhelyu Zhelev is the first Bulgarian head of State to pay a visit to the US. He takes part in the 45th UN General Assembly Session and confers with US President George H.W. Bush (on September 28).

1996: Bulgaria signs the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in New York. Ratified by the National Assembly on September 1, 1999.

2003: Parliament ratifies the ILO Convention concerning Seafarers' Welfare at Sea and in Port of 1987 (No. 163).

September 25

Bulgaria:

- Day of the Bulgarian Armed Forces signals and information support troops;

- Day of Dobrich (Northeast Bulgaria).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1396: At Nikopol, Sultan Bayazid defeats West European crusaders led by Hungarian King Sigismund and takes Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Stratsimir into captivity. Bulgaria falls under Ottoman rule.

1940: Romanian occupation of City of Dobrich end under Treaty of Craiova.

1944: Bulgaria severs its diplomatic relations with Hungary (established on August 9, 1920, at legation level, restored on June 18, 1947, promoted to embassy level on February 13, 1954).

1951: Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) becomes autonomous national news organization.

1983: 2,000-seat building of the Sofia State Circus next to Vazrazhdane Square, built in 1962, burns down in a fire. It is never restored.

1990: Bulgaria joins World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

1996: Bulgaria signs Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

2008: National Assembly ratifies Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe, signed in Vienna on May 5, 2006, by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro.