Jason Sendwe (1917–1964) was a Congolese politician and a leader of
the Katanga-based BALUBAKAT party. He became involved in several
cultural organisations before founding BALUBAKAT to represent the
Baluba, and believed that the Congo should remain a united country.
Before Congo's independence, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies
and sought to obtain control over Katanga Province, but lost to Moïse
Tshombe. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba nominated Sendwe for State
Commissioner for Katanga, but in early July 1960 Tshombe announced
Katanga's secession. Sendwe was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the
Congo in 1961, and later was made Commissioner-General of Katanga
Province, nominally giving him complete authority over the area. His
prospects were damaged in 1962 when the Senate censured him and he
resigned. In 1963, Katanga acceded to central authority and Tshombe fled
into exile. Sendwe became President of North Katanga Province in
September. In January 1964 he lost the presidency of BALUBAKAT. Simba
rebels overthrew his government and, in June, killed him.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Sendwe>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1803:
Maratha troops were defeated by forces of the British East
India Company at the Battle of Assaye, one of the decisive battles of
the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Assaye>
1952:
U.S. vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon delivered the
Checkers speech, one of the first political uses of television to appeal
directly to the populace.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers_speech>
2008:
A gunman shot and killed ten students at the Seinäjoki
University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki, Finland, before committing
suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kauhajoki_school_shooting>
2016:
Following a number of high-profile sexual assaults, major
reforms were enacted to strengthen laws related to rape in Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Germany>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
equinox:
1. One of the two occasions in the year when the length of the day and
night are equal, which occurs when the apparent path of the Sun (the
ecliptic) intersects with the equatorial plane of the Earth; this
happens on a day between March 19 and 21 (spring in the Northern
Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere), and on another day
between September 21 and 24 (autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and
spring in the Southern Hemisphere); hence, the exact time when the
intersection occurs.
2. (also figuratively) The circumstance of a twenty-four hour time
period having the day and night of equal length.
3. (astronomy) One of the two points in space where the apparent path of
the Sun intersects with the equatorial plane of the Earth.
4. (obsolete)
5. (rare) A gale (“very strong wind”) once thought to occur more
frequently around the time of an equinox (sense 1), now known to be a
misconception; an equinoctial gale.
6. (astronomy) A celestial equator (“great circle on the celestial
sphere, coincident with the plane of the Earth's equator (the equatorial
plane)”); also, the Earth's equator.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equinox>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Under the autumn tree The chair where you would swing A yard so
full of leaves Comfort me.
--Milo Greene
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Milo_Greene>