Bulgaria is a country in Southeastern Europe. It borders Romania to the
north, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, Greece and
Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. The semi-nomadic
Bulgars founded the first Bulgarian state in AD 681, which was
instrumental in the development and spread of the Cyrillic script. The
modern Bulgarian state was established following the Russo-Turkish War
of 1877–78 and obtained full independence in 1908. It transformed into
a Soviet-allied people's republic in 1946, but the fall of communism
paved the way for a transition into a parliamentary democracy in 1990.
Since joining the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria has improved its
Human Development Index. The country has an open market economy focused
on services. The biggest cities are Sofia (the capital), Plovdiv, Varna
and Burgas. The population, currently around seven million, has declined
significantly since 1988.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1895:
The first automobile race in the United States, the Chicago
Times-Herald race, was held in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Times-Herald_race>
1912:
At the All-Albanian Congress, the Assembly of Vlorë was
constituted, which declared the independence of the Albanian Vilayet
from the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Vlor%C3%AB>
1943:
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin (all
three pictured) met at the Tehran Conference to discuss war strategy
against the Axis powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran_Conference>
2002:
Suicide bombers blew up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa,
Kenya, but their colleagues failed in their attempt to bring down an
Arkia Israel Airlines charter flight with surface-to-air-missiles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Mombasa_attacks>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Martian:
1. Of or relating to the planet Mars, or (science fiction) its imagined
inhabitants.
2. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet
Mars; aggressive, bellicose.
3. (obsolete) Pertaining to battle or war; martial, military.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Martian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow
of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it is taking shape at
this very moment, since I have not reached the stage of development at
which I would be capable of perceiving it. A few hundred years hence, in
this same place, another traveller, as despairing as myself, will mourn
the disappearance of what I might have seen, but failed to see.
--Claude Lévi-Strauss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss>