Independence of Quito Ecuador - Aug 10

The Ecuadorian War of Independence was fought from 1820 to1822 between several South American armies and Spain overcontrol of the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito, a Spanishcolonial administrative jurisdiction from which would eventuallyemerge the modern Republic of Ecuador. The war ended with thedefeat of the Spanish forces at the Battle of Pichincha on May24, 1822, which brought about the independence of the entirePresidencia de Quito. The Ecuadorian War of Independence ispart of the Spanish American wars of independence fought duringthe first two decades of the 19th century.

The Beginning of the WarThe military campaign for the independence of the territory nowknown as Ecuador from Spanish rule could be said to have begunon after nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization. Quitowas a city of around ten thousand inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809 that the first call for independencefrom Spain was made in Latin America ("el Primer Grito de la Independencia"), under the leadership of the city'scriollos, including Carlos Montúfar, Eugenio Espejo and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo.Then on October 9, 1820, the port-city of Guayaquil proclaimed its independence after a brief and almost bloodlessrevolt against the local garrison. The leaders of the movement, a combination of Venezuelan, Ecuadorian, and Pe-ruvian pro-independence officers from the colonial Army, along with Ecuadorian intellectuals and patriots, set up aJunta de Gobierno and raised a military force with the purpose of defending the city and carrying the independencemovement to the other provinces in the country.By that time, the tide of the wars of independence in South America had turned decisively against Spain: SimónBolívar's victory at theBattle of Boyacá (August 7, 1819) had sealed the independence of the former Viceroyalty ofNueva Granada, while to the south, José de San Martín, after landing his Army on the Peruvian coast on September8, 1820, was preparing the campaign for the independence of the Viceroyalty of Perú.The news of the proclamation of independence of Guayaquil spread rapidly to other cities in the Presidencia, andseveral towns followed the example in quick succession. Portoviejo declared its independence on October 18, 1820,and Cuenca—the economic center of the southern highlands—did the same on November 3, 1820. The stage wasset for the campaign of liberation of Quito.

The Junta de Guayaquil moves to the offensive:The military unit raised and financed in Guayaquil was given the name of Di-vision Protectora de Quito ("Division for the Protection of Quito"). Its immediatepurpose was to advance on the cities of Guaranda and Ambato, in the centralhighlands, hoping to bring these cities to the independentist cause, and cuttingall road communications between Quito and the cities of Guayaquil andCuenca, so as to forestall any Royalist countermove from the north.The Division, under the command of Colonel Luis Urdaneta, one of the ring-leaders of the revolt in Guayaquil, began its advance out of the coastal plaintowards the highlands, and by November 7, was ready to begin its march upthe Andes mountains. The first clash with a Royalist covering force was a suc-cess, occurring on November 9, 1820, at Camino Real, a strategic mountainpass along the road from Guayaquil to Guaranda. This victory opened the wayinto the inter-Andean highlands, and the capture of Guaranda soon followed.News of the presence of the patriot army in Guaranda had the intended effect:most of the towns in the highlands went on to proclaim their independence inquick succession, Latacunga and Riobamba doing it on November 11, andAmbato on November 12, 1820. By the middle of November, the Spanish ruleover the Presidencia had been reduced to the Quito and its surrounding areas in the northern highlands. It lookedas if the liberation of the entire territory would be easier than expected.But the hopes turned out to be premature and short-lived. Field-Marshal Melchor Aymerich, acting President andsupreme commander of the military forces in the Presidencia de Quito, took swift action.Soon, an army of around 5,000 troops, under the command of veteran Spanish Colonel Francisco González, wasdispatched south to deal with the 2,000-strong patriot army, stationed in Ambato. In the Battle of Huachi, on Novem-ber 22, 1820, the Royalist army inflicted a severe defeat on Urdaneta's force, which had to fall back, badly mauled,to Babahoyo, on the coastal plains.Disaster struck the patriots. The Spanish army continued its advance south, towards Cuenca, retaking all majortowns along the way. On December 20, 1820, after the defenders of the city were defeated at the Battle of Verdeloma,Cuenca was retaken by the Royalist army.The authorities in Guayaquil, who on November 11, 1820, had issued a decree creating the Provincia Libre deGuayaquil (Free Province of Guayaquil), desperately organized a ragtag detachment with the survivors of Huachiplus some reinforcements (300 men altogether, including some 50 cavalry), ordering it to make a final stand at Baba-hoyo. As the Royalist army did not seem to be particularly inclined to come down to the plains to meet them, the pa-triots sent some guerrilla bands back into the highlands, which were finally ambushed and massacred on January4, 1821 at the Battle of Tanizagua. The guerrillas' commanding officer, Spanish-born Colonel Gabriel García Gomez,taken prisoner after the battle, was executed by a firing squad and decapitated, his head sent to Quito to be displayedbefore the population. Thus, amid total military failure and a number of Royalist reprisals on the civilian populationof the highlands cities, the attempt of the Junta de Guayaquil to carry out the independence of the Presidencia deQuito came to an end.

Sucre enters the Scene:And yet, not all was lost: help was on the way. By February 1821, the foreign aid requested by the Junta de Guayaquilback in October finally materialized in the form of Spanish-born independentist General José Mires, sent by GeneralSimón Bolívar, President of Colombia. Even more welcomed perhaps was what Mires had brought along with him:1,000 muskets; 50,000 musket rounds; 8,000 bits of flint; 500 sabers, and 100 pairs of pistols. Mires' instructionswere clear: "To liberate the capital city of Quito, whose taking will bring about the liberation of the whole Department,"as the first step towards later operations aimed at securing the complete independence of Perú. Bolívar also informedGuayaquil that he would begin a simultaneous campaign from the north.

Second Battle of Huachi:By July 1821, Sucre had almost finished deploying the Army around Babahoyo, ready to advance on the highlandsas soon as the weather allowed. Aymerich acted to preemt the patriot plans with a two-pincer movement: he wouldlead his Army from Guaranda down to Babahoyo, while Colonel González, coming from the southern highlandsdown to Yaguachi, would attack his flank. Sucre, privy to Aymerich's intentions (thanks to a well-developed espionagenetwork), sent Mires to deal with González. The encounter, which ended up destroying Gonzalez's force, took placenear the town of Cone, on August 19, 1821. Upon hearing the news, Aymerich retraced his steps and headed backto the highlands. Sucre advanced on to the highlands, his main force occupying Guaranda on September 2, 1821.Aymerich moved to block any further progress, and in the Second Battle of Huachi, which took place on September12, 1821, annihilated Sucre's infantry. The patriot forces lost 800 men, mostly killed, plus 50 prisoners, among themGeneral Mires. As Second Huachi had also taken a heavy toll on the Royalists, Aymerich decided against exploitinghis victory with an advance on the coastal plains. On November 19, 1821, a 90-day armistice was signed at Baba-hoyo, putting an end to Sucre's ill-fated first attempt to liberate Quito.

Antonio José de Sucre

St. Lawrence DayInt’l - Aug 10

Lawrence of Rome (Latin: Laurentius, lit. "laurelled"; c. 225–258) was one ofthe seven deacons of ancient Rome under Pope Sixtus II that were martyredduring the persecution of Emperor Valerian in 258.

LifeSt Lawrence is thought to have been born in Spain, at Huesca, a town in theAragon region near the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. As a youth he was sentto Zaragoza to complete his humanistic and theological studies. Here he en-countered the future Pope Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin, one of the mostfamous and highly esteemed teachers in Zaragoza, which was one of the em-pire's most renowned centres of learning. Eventually, both left Spain for Rome.When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained St Lawrence as a deacon,and though still young appointed him first among the seven deacons whoserved in the patriarchal church. He is therefore called "archdeacon of Rome",a position of great trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of thechurch and the distribution of alms among the poor. St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notes that Roman authorities had establisheda norm according to which all Christians who had been denounced must be ex-ecuted and their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. At the beginningof August 258, the emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests,and deacons should immediately be put to death. Sixtus was captured on 6 Au-gust 258, at the cemetery of St. Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and exe-cuted forthwith. After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that St Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. St.Ambrose is the earliest source for the tale that St Lawrence asked for three days to gather together the wealth. Heworked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as possible, so as to prevent its being seized bythe prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when orderedto give up the treasures of the Church he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said thesewere the true treasures of the Church. One account records him declaring to the prefect, "The Church is truly rich,far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom and can be compared to the parallelRoman tale of the jewels of Cornelia.On 10 August, St Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, suffered a martyr's death.

Lawrence before Valeri-anus

International Biodiesel Day Worldwide - Aug 10

Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl(methyl, propyl or ethyl) esters. Biodiesel is typicallymade by chemically reacting lipids (e.g., vegetableoil, animal fat (tallow)) with an alcohol producing fattyacid esters.Biodiesel is meant to be used in standard diesel en-gines and is thus distinct from the vegetable andwaste oils used to fuel converted diesel engines.Biodiesel can be used alone, or blended withpetrodiesel. Biodiesel can also be used as a low car-bon alternative to heating oil.The National Biodiesel Board (USA) also has a tech-nical definition of "biodiesel" as a mono-alkyl ester.

Historical backgroundTransesterification of a vegetable oil was conductedas early as 1853 by scientists E. Duffy and J. Patrick,many years before the first diesel engine becamefunctional. Rudolf Diesel's prime model, a single 10ft (3 m) iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ranon its own power for the first time in Augsburg, Ger-many, on 10 August 1893 running on nothing butpeanut oil. In remembrance of this event, 10 Augusthas been declared "International Biodiesel Day". Itis often reported that Diesel designed his engine torun on peanut oil, but this is not the case. Dieselstated in his published papers, "at the Paris Exhibi-tion in 1900 (Exposition Universelle) there wasshown by the Otto Company a small Diesel engine,which, at the request of the French government ranon arachide (earth-nut or pea-nut) oil (see biodiesel),and worked so smoothly that only a few people wereaware of it. The engine was constructed for usingmineral oil, and was then worked on vegetable oilwithout any alterations being made. The FrenchGovernment at the time thought of testing the appli-cability to power production of the Arachide, or earth-nut, which grows in considerable quantities in theirAfrican colonies, and can easily be cultivated there."Diesel himself later conducted related tests and ap-peared supportive of the idea. In a 1912 speechDiesel said, "the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today but such oils may become, inthe course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal-tar products of the present time."Despite the widespread use of fossil petroleum-derived diesel fuels, interest in vegetable oils as fuels for internalcombustion engines was reported in several countries during the 1920s and 1930s and later during World War II.Belgium, France, Italy, the United Kingdom,Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and China were reported tohave tested and used vegetable oils as diesel fuels during this time. Some operational problems were reported dueto the high viscosity of vegetable oils compared to petroleum diesel fuel, which results in poor atomization of thefuel in the fuel spray and often leads to deposits and coking of the injectors, combustion chamber and valves. At-tempts to overcome these problems included heating of the vegetable oil, blending it with petroleum-derived dieselfuel or ethanol, pyrolysis and cracking of the oils.On 31 August 1937, G. Chavanne of the University of Brussels (Belgium) was granted a patent for a "Procedure forthe transformation of vegetable oils for their uses as fuels" (fr. "Procédé de Transformation d’Huiles Végétales enVue de Leur Utilisation comme Carburants") Belgian Patent 422,877. This patent described the alcoholysis (oftenreferred to as transesterification) of vegetable oils using ethanol (and mentions methanol) in order to separate thefatty acids from the glycerol by replacing the glycerol with short linear alcohols. This appears to be the first accountof the production of what is known as "biodiesel" today.More recently, in 1977, Brazilian scientist Expedito Parente invented and submitted for patent, the first industrialprocess for the production of biodiesel. This process is classified as biodiesel by international norms, conferring a"standardized identity and quality. No other proposed biofuel has been validated by the motor industry." Currently,Parente's company Tecbio is working with Boeingand NASA to certify bioquerosene (bio-kerosene), another productproduced and patented by the Brazilian scientist.Research into the use of transesterified sunflower oil, and refining it to diesel fuel standards, was initiated in SouthAfrica in 1979. By 1983, the process for producing fuel-quality, engine-tested biodiesel was completed and publishedinternationally. An Austriancompany, Gaskoks, obtained the technology from the South African Agricultural Engineers;the company erected the first biodiesel pilot plant in November 1987, and the first industrial-scale plant in April 1989(with a capacity of 30,000 tons of rapeseed per annum).Throughout the 1990s, plants were opened in many European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germanyand Sweden. France launched local production of biodiesel fuel (referred to as diester) from rapeseed oil, which ismixed into regular diesel fuel at a level of 5%, and into the diesel fuel used by some captive fleets (e.g. public trans-portation) at a level of 30%. Renault, Peugeot and other manufacturers have certified truck engines for use with upto that level of partial biodiesel; experiments with 50% biodiesel are underway. During the same period, nations inother parts of the world also saw local production of biodiesel starting up: by 1998, the Austrian Biofuels Institutehad identified 21 countries with commercial biodiesel projects. 100% Biodiesel is now available at many normalservice stations across Europe.

Rudolf Diesel

Heroes' Day Zimbabwe - Aug 11

Heroes Day is the day celebrated to honor the heroes of the na-tion, who have scarified their life or have done something greatfor the nation. It is usually the day when these national heroeswere born or it may be the day of the great deeds done by a per-son that made them heroes. Zimbabwe celebrates Heroes Dayon August 11 in order to pay homage to the great personality whostruggled hard and ultimately sacrificed their life in the country lib-eration war. So, it is very important to know what made some ofthem the national heroes.

HistoryIt was on July, 1978 evening that 20 Zanla freedom fighters cameat Mapira village in Mhondoro equipped with weapons like AK-47sub-machine guns and RPD light machine guns. This made thevillagers astonished, as it was the first time they had seen suchweapons. Arrival of the group marked the beginning of the war in parts of Mhondoro by Zanla the freedom fighters.The struggle for the liberation between Zanla, military wing of Zanu and Zipra, the military wing of Zapu, had rose insome areas like Chiweshe, Chipinge and Hurungwe. These freedom fighters gave their introduction to the villagersat a meeting held by them. These fighters have volunteered themselves to fight against the racist Smith regime.Smith regime was the one, which forced itself upon black native Zimbabweans. They even said about the racial dis-crimination, which was being down between the white and the Blacks.To fight against the Rhodesian forces or strangers, these fighter made many contact and hired the people, who couldsend the information to them about Rhodesian forces or strangers. These selected people also provided them withfood and helped them to choose the appropriate base. Very soon, there were more freedom fighters added to thegroup. Due to imperfect coverage by forest, there were attacks on Mhondoro by the freedom fighters.A lot of battles were held between 1978 and 1979 during operation of Mhondoro, from which some of them had vic-torious results, whereas others have losses. A very fierce firefight battle was held on August 1979, which comprisedof Rhodesian ground and air strikes. Many fighters died, some captured, whereas others escaped. The bodies ofthe dead were placed in front of the people and it was a very painful experience. The people had to undergo seeingsome of the recognized faces lying dead and finally their bodied were buried shallow mass grave.

CelebrationsThese heroes and other brave fighter or soldier are remembered on the Heroes day that lived for the sake of otherpeople and gave away their life. Heroes Day is a national holiday. After a great struggle, the nation got its independ-ence and people celebrated this great day with full of excitement and joy. These heroes are remembered and paiddue respect. All of them are recognized, as they are worldwide famous for their doings. There are few Zimbabweans,who face the challenge of life and stand out of the crowd to be called Heroes.

Independence Day Chad - Aug 11

Chad officially known as the Republic of Chad, is alandlocked country in Central Africa. It is borderedby Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the CentralAfrican Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nige-ria to the southwest, and Niger to the west.Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zonein the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre anda more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south.Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is thelargest wetland in Chad and the second largest inAfrica. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in theSahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), thecapital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic andFrench are the official languages. Islam and Chris-tianity are the most widely practiced religions.Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human popu-lations moved into the Chadian basin in great num-bers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a seriesof states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sa-helian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan traderoutes that passed through the region. France con-quered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his poli-cies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979, the rebels conqueredthe capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselvesuntil Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Since 2003, theDarfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudaneserefugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.While many political parties are active, power lies firmly in the hands of President Déby and his political party, thePatriotic Salvation Movement. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d'état (seeBattle of N'Djamena (2006)and Battle of N'Djamena (2008)).Chad is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world; most in-habitants live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Since 2003,crude oil has become the country's primary source of export earnings, super-seding the traditional cotton industry. Chad is considered a failed state by theFund for Peace.

HistoryIn the 7th millennium BC, ecological conditions in the northern half of Chadianterritory favored human settlement, and the region experienced a strong pop-ulation increase. Some of the most important African archaeological sites arefound in Chad, mainly in theBorkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region; some date to ear-lier than 2000 BC.For more than 2000 years, the Chadian Basin has been inhabited by agricul-tural andsedentary peoples. The region became a crossroads of civilizations.The earliest of these were the legendary Sao, known from artifacts and oralhistories. The Sao fell to theKanem Empire, the first and longest-lasting of theempires that developed in Chad's Sahelian strip by the end of the 1st millen-nium AD. The power of Kanem and its successors was based on control ofthe trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. These states,at least tacitly Muslim, never extended their control to the southern grasslands except to raid for slaves.French colonial expansion led to the creation of theTerritoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad in 1900. By1920, France had secured full control of the colony and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. Frenchrule in Chad was characterised by an absence of policies to unify the territory and sluggish modernisation. TheFrench primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labour and raw cotton; France introducedlarge-scale cotton production in 1929. The colonial administration in Chad was critically understaffed and had to relyon the dregs of the French civil service. Only the south was governed effectively; French presence in the north andeast was nominal. The educational system suffered from this neg-lect.After World War II, France granted Chad the status of overseas ter-ritory and its inhabitants the right to elect representatives to theFrench National Assembly and a Chadian assembly. The largestpolitical party was the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT), based inthe southern half of the colony. Chad was granted independenceon August 11, 1960 with the PPT's leader, François Tombalbaye,as its first president.Two years later, Tombalbaye banned opposition parties and estab-lished a one-party system. Tombalbaye's autocratic rule and insen-sitive mismanagement exacerbated interethnic tensions. In 1965Muslims began a civil war. Tombalbaye was overthrown and killedin 1975, but the insurgency continued. In 1979 the rebel factionsconquered the capital, and all central authority in the country col-lapsed. Armed factions, many from the north's rebellion, contendedfor power.The disintegration of Chad caused the collapse of France's positionin the country. Libya moved to fill the power vacuum and becameinvolved in Chad's civil war. Libya's adventure ended in disaster in1987; the French-supported president, Hissène Habré, evoked a united response from Chadians of a kind neverseen before and forced the Libyan army off Chadian soil.Habré consolidated his dictatorship through a power system that relied on corruption and violence; an estimated40,000 people were killed under his rule. The president favoured his own Daza ethnic group and discriminatedagainst his former allies, the Zaghawa. His general, Idriss Déby, overthrew him in 1990.Déby attempted to reconcile the rebel groups and reintroduced multiparty politics. Chadians approved a new con-stitution by referendum, and in 1996, Déby easily won a competitive presidential election. He won a second termfive years later. Oil exploitation began in Chad in 2003, bringing with it hopes that Chad would at last have somechances of peace and prosperity. Instead, internal dissent worsened, and a new civil war broke out. Déby unilaterallymodified the constitution to remove the two-term limit on the presidency; this caused an uproar among the civilsociety and opposition parties. In 2006 Déby won a third mandate in elections that the opposition boycotted. Ethnicviolence in eastern Chad has increased; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned thatagenocide like that in Darfur may yet occur in Chad.In 2006 and in 2008 rebel forces have attempted to take the capital by force, but have on both occasions failed.

15,000 Chadian soldiersfought for Free France dur-ing World War II.

Group of Kanem-Bu warriors. TheKanem-Bornu Empire controlled al-most all of what is today Chad.

King Hussein AccessionJordan - Aug 11

Hussein bin Talal (Arabic: لالط نب نيسح‎, Ḥusayn bin Ṭalāl; 14 November 1935 –7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father, King Talal,in 1952, until his death. Hussein's rule extended through the Cold War and fourdecades of Arab-Israeli conflict. He recognized Israel in 1994, becoming the secondArab head of state to do so (after Anwar Sadat in 1978/1979).Hussein claimed to be a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through hisbelonging to the ancient Hashemite family.

Early lifeKing Hussein was born in Amman on 14 November 1935 to King Talal bin Abdullahand Princess Zein al-Sharaf bint Jamil. After completing his elementary educationin Amman, he was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt. He proceededto Harrow School in England, where he befriended his second cousin Faisal II ofIraq. He pursued further study at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.On 20 July 1951, Prince Hussein traveled to Jerusalem to perform Friday prayersat the Al-Aqsa Mosque with his grandfather, King Abdullah I, where a Palestinianassassin opened fire on Abdullah and his grandson. Abdullah was killed, but the15-year-old Hussein survived the assassination attempt, and according to wit-nesses, pursued the gunman. Witnesses reported that the gunman turned hisweapon on the young prince, who was saved when the bullet was deflected by amedal on his uniform which had been given to him by his grandfather. Hussein was appointed Crown Prince of Jordan on 9 September 1951. Abdullah'seldest son, Talal, became King of Jordan, but thirteen months later was forced toabdicate owing to his mental state (European and Arab doctors diagnosed schiz-ophrenia). King Talal's son, Crown Prince Hussein, was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on 11August 1952, succeeding at the age of 16. A Regency Council was appointed until he came of age. He was enthronedon 2 May 1953.

Defense Forces DayZimbabwe - Aug 12

An Armed Force Day is a day when all people of a nation come to-gether to appreciate and support the armed forces for a day to payhomage to the armed forces. This day is a national day and de-clared as a public holiday through out a nation. Zimbabwe too cel-ebrates this day like many other countries do. They celebrate thisday on August 12th and call it the Zimbabwe Armed Forces Day.

HistoryIn order to safeguard Zimbabwe from any unforeseen event, itneeds some defense forces such as army, an air force and manyother branches of defense. Their job is to protect the nation. Zim-babwe Defense Force (ZDF) comprises of three units: ZANLA(Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) and the ZIPRA (Zim-babwe People’s Revolutionary Army) on the one side and the RSF(Rhodesian Security Forces) on the other side.A Defense Amendment Bill was passed and its approval led to the formation of Defense forces under a single com-mand. Army and the Air Force both had to follow and work under the command of the commander of Zimbabwe De-fense Force.Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) was made on 1980. The element that helped in making up ZNA was from RhodesianArmy Zimbabwe Republic Police, which is also a part of the defense force. A candidate, who performed the best,became a battalion commander. Similarly, there was a majority rule according to which the candidate was given thepost.This system could not last long and was soon cancelled in favor of political appointments. ZNA was initially formedinto four brigades with a total strength of 28 battalions. To support the brigade, there were the specialists from theprevious Rhodesian Army. The armed forces parade is very important, as after the same only the flame of independ-ence is lit. The national anthem sung by the people and the armed forces is “Blessed is the land of Zimbabwe”.

CelebrationsZimbabwe Armed Forces Day is celebrated by the people with great joy and happiness. The day begins with a won-derful speech by the recognized personality and then the Armed Forces Day Flag is hoisted. A parade is the nexteven followed by the flag hoisting.Armed Forces Day is the day when the one, who always work hard and struggles to protect the nation is rememberedand honored. It is because of the armed forces that everyone in the nation sleeps in peace. Some functions are or-ganized to honor the one, who have sacrificed their life while safeguarding the nation prosperity and fame.The day also honors the one, who has done an outstanding and sterling work for Zimbabwe. It is a great celebrationday; Zimbabweans do their best to make it memorable and express thanks to this national heroes. Most of the cel-ebrations in Zimbabwe such as weddings, family gatherings are incomplete without killing a goat or cow. The killedanimals are then to be roasted by the family. This is the common way for them to celebrate.

Youth Day -Aug 12

WorldwideInternational Youth Day (IYD) is an awareness day des-ignated by the United Nations. The first IYD was on 12August 2000. As with other political awareness days,such as Earth Day, the purpose of the day is to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surroundingan endangered demographic.

Independence Day - Aug 13Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country inCentral Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the northeast,South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congoand Congoin the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR cov-ers a land area of about 240,000 square miles (620,000 km2), andhas an estimated population of about 4.4 million as of 2008. Ban-gui is the capital city.Most of the CAR consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas but it alsoincludes a Sahelo-Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorialforest zone in the south. Two thirds of the country lies in the basinsof the Ubangi River, which flows south into the Congo River, whilethe remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari River, which flowsnorth intoLake Chad.Since most of the territory is located in the Ubangi and Shari riverbasins, France called the colony it carved out in this regionUbangi-Chari, or Oubangui-Chari in French. It became a semi-au-tonomous territory of the French Community in 1958 and then an independent nation on 13 August 1960. For overthree decades after independence, the CAR was ruled by presidents, and an emperor, who either were not freelyelected or took power by force. Local discontent with this system was eventually reinforced by international pressure,following the end of the Cold War.The first multi-party democratic elections were held in 1993 with resources provided by the country's donors andhelp from the UN Office for Electoral Affairs, and brought Ange-Félix Patassé to power. He lost popular supportduring his presidency and was overthrown in 2003 by French-backed General François Bozizé, who went on to wina democratic election in May 2005. Inability to pay workers in the public sector led to strikes in 2007, leading Bozizéto appoint a new government headed by Faustin-Archange Touadéra on 22 January 2008. In February 2010, Bozizésigned a presidential decree setting the date for the next presidential election as 25 April 2010. Although initiallypostponed, elections were held in January and March 2011. Bozizé and his party both won in the elections.Despite its significant mineral resources (uranium reserves in Bakouma, crude oil, gold,diamonds, lumber, hy-dropower ) and its arable land, the Central African Republic remains one of the poorest countries in the world andamong the ten poorest countries in Africa. The Human Development Index for the Central African Republic is 0.343,which gives the country a rank of 179 out of 187 countries with data.

HistoryEarly history:Between about 1000 BC and 1000 AD, Ubangian-speaking peo-ples spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan and settled inmost of the territory of the CAR. During the same period, a muchsmaller number of Bantu-speaking immigrants settled in South-western CAR and some Central Sudanic-speaking populationssettled along the Oubangi.The majority of the CAR's inhabitants thus speak Ubangian lan-guages or Bantu languages belonging to the Niger–Congo family.A minority speak Central Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharanfamily. More recent immigrants include many Muslim merchantswho most often speak Arabic or Hausa.

Exposure to the outside world:Until the early 19th century, the peoples of the CAR lived beyondthe expanding Islamic frontier in the Sudanic zone of Africa andthus had relatively little contact withAbrahamic religions or north-ern economies. During the first decades of the 19th century, how-ever, Muslim traders began increasingly to penetrate the region of the CAR and to cultivate special relations withlocal leaders in order to facilitate their trade and settlement in the region.The initial arrival of Muslim traders in the early 19th century was relatively peaceful and depended upon the supportof local peoples, but after about 1850, slave traders with well-armed soldiers began to penetrate the region. Betweenc. 1860 and 1910, slave traders from Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Dar al-Kuti in Northern CAR and Nzakara andZandestates in Southeastern CAR exported much of the population of Eastern CAR, a region with very few inhabitantstoday.

French colonialism:European penetration of Central African territory began in the late 19th century duringthe so-called Scramble for Africa (c. 1875–1900). Count Savorgnan de Brazza tookthe lead in establishing the French Congo with headquarters in the city named afterhim,Brazzaville, and sent expeditions up the Ubangi River in an effort to expandFrance's claims to territory in Central Africa. King Leopold II of Belgium, Germany andthe United Kingdom also competed to establish their claims to territory in the CentralAfrican region.In 1889 the French established a post on the Ubangi River at Bangui, the future capitalof Ubangi-Shari and the CAR. De Brazza then sent expeditions in 1890–91 up theSangha River in what is now Southwestern CAR, up the center of the Ubangi basintoward Lake Chad, and eastward along the Ubangi River toward the Nile. De Brazzaand the pro-colonial in France wished to expand the borders of the French Congo tolink up with French territories in West Africa, North Africa and East Africa.In 1894, the French Congo's borders with Leopold II's Congo Free State and GermanCameroon were fixed by diplomatic agreements. Then, in 1899, the French Congo'sborder with Sudan was fixed along the Congo-Nile watershed, leaving France withouther much coveted outlet on the Nile and turning Southeastern Ubangi-Shari into a cul-de-sac.Once European negotiators agreed upon the borders of the French Congo, France had to decide how to pay for thecostly occupation, administration, and development of the territory. The reported financial successes of Leopold II'sconcessionary companies in the Congo Free State convinced the French government in 1899 to grant 17 privatecompanies large concessions in the Ubangi-Shari region. In return for the right to exploit these lands by buying localproducts and selling European goods, the companies promised to pay rent to the colonial state and to promote thedevelopment of their concessions. The companies employed European and African agents who frequently used ex-tremely brutal methods to force Central Africans to work for them. At the same time, the French colonial administrationbegan to force Central Africans to pay taxes and to provide the state with free labor. The companies and French ad-ministration often collaborated in their efforts to force Central Africans to work for their benefit, but they also oftenfound themselves at odds.Some French officials reported abuses committed by private company militias and even by their own colonial col-leagues and troops, but efforts to bring these criminals to justice almost always failed. When news of atrocities com-mitted against Central Africans by concessionary company employees and colonial officials or troops reached Franceand caused an outcry, there were investigations and some feeble attempts at reform, but the situation on the groundin Ubangi-Shari remained essentially the same.In the meantime, during the first decade of French colonial rule (c. 1900–1910), the rulers of African states in theUbangi-Shari region increased their slave raiding activities and also their sale of local products to European compa-nies and the colonial state. They took advantage of their treaties with the French to procure more weapons whichwere used to capture more slaves and so much of the eastern half of Ubangi-Shari was depopulated as a result ofthe export of Central Africans by local rulers during the first decade of colonial rule. Those who had power, Africansand Europeans, often made life miserable for those who did not have the power to resist.During the second decade of colonial rule (c. 1910–1920), armed employees of private companies and the colonialstate continued to use brutal methods to deal with local populations who resisted forced labor but the power of localAfrican rulers was destroyed and so slave raiding was greatly diminished. In 1911, the Sangha and Lobaye basinswere ceded to Germany as part of an agreement which gave France a free hand in Morocco and so Western Ubangi-Shari came under German rule until World War I, during which France reconquered this territory using Central Africantroops.The third decade of colonial rule (1920–1930) was a period of transition during which a network of roads was built,cash crops were promoted, mobile health services were formed to combat sleeping sickness, and Protestant mis-sions established stations in different parts of the country. New forms of forced labor were also introduced, however,as the French conscripted large numbers of Ubangians to work on the Congo-Ocean Railway, and many of theserecruits died of exhaustion and illness.In 1925 the French writer André Gide published Voyage au Congo in which he described the alarming consequencesof conscription for the Congo-Ocean railroad and exposed the continuing atrocities committed against CentralAfricans in Western Ubangi-Shari by employees of the Forestry Company of Sangha-Ubangi, for example. In 1928a major insurrection, the Kongo-Wara 'war of the hoe handle' broke out in Western Ubangi-Shari and continued forseveral years. The extent of this insurrection, perhaps the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Africa during the interwaryears, was carefully hidden from the French public because it provided evidence, once again, of strong oppositionto French colonial rule and forced labor.During the fourth decade of colonial rule (c. 1930–1940), cotton, tea, and coffee emerged as important cash cropsin Ubangi-Shari and the mining of diamonds and gold began in earnest. Several cotton companies were grantedpurchasing monopolies over large areas of cotton production and were thus able to fix the prices paid to cultivatorsin order to assure profits for their shareholders. Europeans established coffee plantations and Central Africans alsobegan to cultivate coffee.The fifth decade of colonial rule (c. 1940–1950) was shaped by the Second World War and the political reformswhich followed in its wake. In September 1940 pro-Gaullist French officers took control of Ubangi-Shari.

Independence:On 1 December 1958 the colony of Ubangi-Shari became an autonomous territory within the French Communityand took the name Central African Republic. The founding father and president of the Conseil de Gouvernement,Barthélémy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident in 1959, just eight days before the last elections of thecolonial era. On 13 August 1960 the Central African Republic gained its independence and two of Boganda's closestaides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, became involved in a power struggle. With the backing of the French, Dackotook power and soon had Goumba arrested. By 1962 President Dacko had established a one-party state.On 31 December 1965 Dacko was overthrown in the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa,who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself PresidentFor Life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on 4 December 1976. A yearlater, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of theworld. In 1979 France carried out a coup against Bokassa and "restored" Dacko to power. Dacko, in turn, was over-thrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on 1 September 1981.Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in1986 which was adopted by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, theRassemblement Démocra-tique Centrafricain (RDC) was voluntary. In 1987, semi-competitive elections to parliament were held and municipalelections were held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, boy-cotted these elections because their parties were not allowed to compete.By 1990, inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement became very active. In May 1990 a lettersigned by 253 prominent citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference but Kolingba refused this re-quest and detained several opponents. Pressure from the United States, more reluctantly from France, and from agroup of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France, USA, Germany, Japan, EU, WorldBank and UN) finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992, with help from theUN Office of Electoral Affairs. After using the excuse of alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the electionsas a pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under intense pressure from GIBAFOR to establisha "Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council) (CNPPR) and toset up a "Mixed Electoral Commission" which included representatives from all political parties.When elections were finally held in 1993 (again with the help of the international community) Ange-Félix Patasséled in the first round and Kolingba came in fourth behind Abel Goumba and David Dacko. In the second round,Patassé won 53 percent of the vote while Goumba won 45.6 percent. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya,Kare and Kaba voters in seven heavily populated prefectures in the northwest while Goumba's support came largelyfrom ten less-populated prefectures in the south and east. Furthermore, Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour laLibération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People gained asimple but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé needed coalition partners.Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of his military rank of general in March 1994 and then charged severalformer ministers with various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important, lucrative posts in thegovernment. Two hundred mostly Yakoma members of the presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned tothe army. Kolingba's RDC loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was conducting a "witch hunt" against theYakoma.A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 and promulgated on 14 January 1995, but this constitution,like those before it, did not have much impact on the practice of politics. In 1996–1997, reflecting steadily decreasingpublic confidence in its erratic behaviour, three mutinies against Patassé's government were accompanied by wide-spread destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January 1997, the Bangui Peace Accords weresigned which provided for the deployment of an inter-African military mission, the Mission Interafricaine de Surveil-lance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB). Mali's former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief mediator and bro-kered the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The MISAB mission was later replaced by aU.N. peacekeeping force, the Mission des Nations Unies en RCA (MINURCA).In 1998 parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba' RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats, which constituted a come-back, but in 1999, notwithstanding widespread public anger in urban centers with his corrupt rule, Patassé won freeelections to become president for a second term.On 28 May 2001 rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief ofstaff, Abel Abrou, and General François N'Djadder Bedaya were shot, but Patassé regained the upper hand by bring-ing in at least 300 troops of the rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba (from across the river in the Democratic Republicof the Congo) and by Libyan soldiers.In the aftermath of this failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoodsof the capital, Bangui, that resulted in the destruction of many homes as well as the torture and murder of many op-ponents. Eventually Patassé came to suspect that General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attemptagainst him and so Bozizé fled with loyal troops to Chad. In March 2003, Bozizé launched a surprise attack againstPatassé, who was out of the country. Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organiza-tion failed to stop the rebels, who took control of the country and thus succeeded in overthrowing Patassé.François Bozizé suspended the constitution and named a new cabinet which included most opposition parties. AbelGoumba, "Mr. Clean", was named vice-president, which gave Bozizé's new government a positive image. Bozizéestablished a broad-based National Transition Council to draft a new constitution and announced that he would stepdown and run for office once the new constitution was approved. A national dialogue was held from 15 Septemberto 27 October 2003, and Bozizé won a fair election that excluded Patassé, to be elected president on a secondballot, in May 2005.

Bangui shopping district

Jean-Bédel Bokassa

Lefthanders Day - Aug 13Worldwide

August 13 is designated International Lefthanders Day by Lefthanders Interna-tional. It was first observed 13 August 1976. As its name suggests, it is meantto promote awareness of the inconveniences facing left-handers in a predom-inantly right-handedworld. It celebrates their uniqueness and difference, whoare fromseven to ten percent of the world's population. Many left-handed peopleare discriminated against today's society, and are forced to use right handedtools, drive on the right side of the road, and even get harassed. InternationalLefthanders Day is made to end this discrimination.

Honey Spas -Aug 14Russia

Spas in Russian means “savior”. The ‘Spases‘ are threefolk holidays celebrated in August, that bring the Russiansummer season to a close with style. And food.August 14 (Gregorian) is mokryi Spas, or “Wet Savior”, but is more commonly referred to as Honey Spas (medovyiSpas), so named because it coincides with the late-summer gathering of honey.

Independence Day Pakistan - Aug 14

Pakistan officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu:is a sovereign country in South ,(ناتسکاپ ۂیروہمج یمالساAsia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important re-gions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It hasa 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Seaand the Gulf of Omanin the south and is bordered by India tothe east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the south-west and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajik-istan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north,and it shares a marine border with Oman.The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several an-cient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and theBronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone in-vasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Is-lamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. The area hasbeen ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including theIndian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, theArab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the MughalEmpire, theDurrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led byMuhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independentnation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a do-minion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted inthe secession of East Pakistan as the new country ofBangladesh.Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces and four federal territories. With a populationexceeding 170 million people, it is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the largest Muslim populationafter Indonesia. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similar variation in itsgeography and wildlife.It has a semi-industrialised economy which is the 27th largestin the world in terms of purchasing power and 47thlargest in terms of nominal GDP. Pakistan's post-independence history has been characterised by periods of militaryrule, political instability and conflicts with neighbouring India. The country continues to face challenging problems,including terrorism, poverty, illiteracy and corruption.A regional and middle power, Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed forces in the world and is a declarednuclear weapons state, being the first and only nation in the Muslim world, and the second in South Asia, to havethat status. It is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of IslamicCooperation) and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and the G20 developing na-tions.

HistoryEarly and medieval age:Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areasencompassing present-day Pakistan. The earliest known inhabitants in the region werethe Soanians, who settled in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Indus region, which coversmost of Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Ne-olithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (2800–1800 BCE) atHarappa and Mohenjo-Daro.The Vedic Civilization (1500–500 BCE), characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid thefoundations of Hinduism, which would become well established in the region. Multanwas an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the an-cient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in Punjab. Successive ancient empiresand kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire around 519 BCE,Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE and the Maurya Empire founded byChan-dragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great until 185 BCE. The Indo-GreekKingdomfounded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Pun-jab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165–150 BCE), prospering theGreco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities andcentres of higher education in the world.The Medieval period (642–1219 CE) is defined by the spread of Islam in the region.During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority ofthe regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam. The Rai Dynasty (489–632 CE)of Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories.The Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab in 711CE. The Pakistangovernment's official chronology identifies this as the point where the "foundation" of Pakistan was laid. This conquestset the stage for the rule of several successive Muslim empires in the region, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE). The Lodi dynasty, the last of the Delhi Sul-tanate, was replaced by the Mughal Empire (1526–1857 CE). The Mughals introduced Persian literature and highculture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culturein the region.

Colonial period:The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth centuryenabled Sikh rulers to control large areas until the British East India Com-pany gained ascendancy over South Asia. The Indian Rebellion of 1857,also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, was the region's major armed struggleagainst the British. The largely non-violent freedom struggle led by the In-dian National Congress engaged millions of protesters in mass campaignsof civil disobedience in the 1920s and 1930s .The All-India Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fearsof under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. In his presidentialaddress of 29 December 1930,Muhammad Iqbal called for "the formationof a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State" consisting of Punjab,North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah,the founder of Pakistan, espoused the two-nation theory and led the MuslimLeague to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as thePakistan Resolution. In early 1947, Britain announced the decision to enditsrule in India. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders of British India—includ-ing Jawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad representing the Congress, Jin-nah representing the Muslim League, and Master Tara Singhrepresenting the Sikhs—agreed to the proposed termsof transfer of power and independence.The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27 Ramadan 1366 in the Islamic Calendar) inthe eastern and northwestern regions of British India, where there was a Muslim majority. It comprised the provincesof Balochistan, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab andSindh. The partition of the Punjaband Bengal provinces led to communal riots across India and Pakistan; millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan andmillions of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India.Dispute over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir led to the FirstKashmir War in October 1947.

Independence and Modern Pakistan:From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a dominion in the Commonwealth of Na-tions, under two monarchs. In 1947, King George VI relinquished the titleof Emperor of India and became King of Pakistan. He retained that title untilhis death on 6 February 1952, after which Queen Elizabeth II becameQueen of Pakistan. Pakistan became an Islamic and Parliamentary republicin 1956, but civilian rule was stalled by a military coup led by the Army Com-mander-in-Chief, General Ayub Khan. The country experienced exceptionalgrowth until a second war with India took place in 1965 and led to economicdownfall and internal instability. Ayub Khan's successor, General YahyaKhan (President from 1969 to 1971), had to deal with a devastating cyclonewhich caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan.In 1970, Pakistan held its first democratic elections since independence.They were meant to mark a transition from military rule to democracy, butafter the East Pakistani Awami League won, Yahya Khan and the ruling elitein West Pakistan refused to hand over power. There was civil unrest in theEast, and the Pakistan Army launched a military operation on 25 March 1971, aiming to regain control of the province.The targeting of civilians and other atrocities during this operation led to a declaration of independence and to thewaging of a war of liberation by the Bengali Mukti Bahini forces in East Pakistan, with support from India. Independentestimates of civilian deaths during this period range from 1 million to 3 million. Attacks on Indian military bases bythe Pakistan Air Force in December 1971 sparked the Indo-Pakistani Warof 1971, which ended with the formal secession of East Pakistan as the in-dependent state of Bangladesh.With Pakistan's defeat in the war, Yahya Khan was replaced by Zulfikar AliBhutto as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Civilian rule resumed from 1972to 1977. During this period Pakistan began to build nuclear weapons; thecountry's first atomic power plant was inaugurated in 1972. Civilian ruleended with a military coup in 1977, and in 1979 General Zia-ul-Haq becamethe third military president. Military government lasted until 1988, duringwhich Pakistan became one of the fastest-growing economies in SouthAsia.Zia consolidated nuclear development and increased Islamization ofthe state. During this period, Pakistan helped to subsidise and distributeUS resources to factions of the Mujahideen movement against the 1979Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, and Benazir Bhutto, daughter of ZulfikarAli Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Shewas followed by Nawaz Sharif, and over the next decade the two leadersfought for power, alternating in office while the country's situation worsened;economic indicators fell sharply, in contrast to the 1980s. This period ismarked by political instability, misgovernance and corruption. In May 1998,while Sharif was Prime Minister, India tested five nuclear weapons and ten-sion with India heightened to an extreme: Pakistan detonated six nuclearweapons of its own in the Chagai-I and Chagai-II tests later in the samemonth. Military tension between the two countries in the Kargil district ledto the Kargil War of 1999, after which General Pervez Musharraf took overthrough a bloodless coup d'état and assumed vast executive powers.Musharraf ruled Pakistan as head of state from 1999 to 2001 and as Pres-ident from 2001 to 2008, a period of extensive economic reform and Pak-istan's involvement in the US-led war on terrorism. On 15 November 2007,Pakistan's National Assembly became the first to completed its full five-yearterm, and new elections were called. After the assassination of BenazirBhutto in December 2007, her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won thelargest number of seats in the 2008 elections, and party member YousafRaza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister. Musharraf resigned from thepresidency on 18 August 2008 when threatened with impeachment, and was succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari, the cur-rent President. Gillani was disqualified from membership of parliament and as prime minister by the Supreme Courtof Pakistan in June 2012. By its own estimates, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $67.93billion, thousands of casualties and nearly 3 million displaced civilians.

1st century ADStanding Buddhafrom Gandhara, Pak-istan

Mughal emperor Aurangzebseated on a golden throne inthe Durbar

The 1940 Working Committeeof the Muslim League in La-hore

The Minar-e-Pakistan, a sym-bol of Pakistan's independ-ence

V.J. DayU.S. - Aug 14

Victory over Japan Day (also known as Victory in the Pacific Day,V-J Day, or V-P Day) is a name chosen for the day on which theSurrender of Japan occurred, effectively endingWorld War II, andsubsequent anniversaries of that event. The term has been ap-plied to both of the days on which the initial announcement ofJapan's surrender was made – to the afternoon of August 15,1945, in Japan, and, because of time zone differences, to August14, 1945 (when it was announced in the United States and therest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands) – as well as toSeptember 2, 1945, when the signing of the surrender documentoccurred.August 15 is the official V-J Day for the UK while the official UScommemoration is September 2. The name, V-J Day, had beenselected by the Allies after they named V-E Day for the victory inEurope.On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USSMissouri. In Japan, the day usually is known as the "memorial day for the end of the war" (終戦記念日 Shūsen-kinenbi?); the official name for the day, however, is "the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace" (戦歿者を追悼し平和を祈念する日 Senbotsusha wo tsuitōshi heiwa wo kinensuru hi). This official name was adopted in 1982by an ordinance issued by the Japanese government. August 15 is commemorated as Liberation Day in Korea.

SurrenderEvents before V-J Day:On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atombombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. On 9 Au-gust, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Japanesegovernment on 10 August communicated its intention to sur-render under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, but withtoo many conditions for the offer to be acceptable to the Al-lies.The news of the Japanese offer, however, was enough tobegin early celebrations around the world. Allied soldiers inLondon danced in a conga line on Regent Street. Americansand Frenchmen in Paris paraded on the Champs-Elyséessinging "Don't Fence Me In". American soldiers inBerlin shouted "It's over in the Pacific", and hoped that theywould now not be transferred there to fight the Japanese.Germans stated that the Japanese were wise enough to—unlike themselves—give up in a hopeless situation, but weregrateful that the atomic bomb was not ready in time to beused against them. Moscow newspapers briefly reported onthe atomic bombings with no commentary of any kind. While "Russians and foreigners alike could hardly talk aboutanything else", the Soviet government refused to make any statements on the bombs' implication for politics or sci-ence.In Chungking, Chinese fired firecrackers and "almost buried [Americans] in gratitude". In Manila, residents sang "GodBless America". On Okinawa, six men were killed and dozens were wounded as American soldiers "took every weaponwithin reach and started firing into the sky" to celebrate; ships sounded general quarters and fired anti-aircraft gunsas their crews believed that a Kamikaze attack was occurring. On Tinian island, B-29 crews preparing for their nextmission over Japan were told that it was cancelled, but that theycould not celebrate because it might be rescheduled.

Japan accepts the Potsdam Declaration:A little after noon in Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, Em-peror Hirohito'sannouncement of Japan's acceptance of the termsof the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese peopleover the radio. Earlier the same day, the Japanese government hadbroadcast an announcement over Radio Tokyo that "acceptance ofthe Potsdam Proclamation [would be] coming soon," and had ad-vised the Allies of the surrender by sending a cable to U.S. Presi-dent Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic missioninWashington, D.C. A nation-wide broadcast by President Trumanwas aired at seven o'clock p.m. (daylight time in Washington, D.C.)on August 14 announcing the communication and that the formalevent was scheduled for September 2. In his announcement ofJapan's surrender on August 14, President Truman said that "theproclamation of V-J Day must wait upon the formal signing of thesurrender terms by Japan".Since the European Axis Powers had surrendered three monthsearlier (V-E Day), V-J Daywould be the official end of World War II.In Australia and most other allied nations, the name V-P Day wasused from the outset. TheCanberra Times of August 14, 1945,refers to VP Day celebrations, and a public holiday for VP Day was gazetted by the government in that year accordingto the Australian War Memorial.

Public celebrations:After news of the Japanese acceptance and before Truman's announcement, Americans began celebrating "as if joyhad been rationed and saved up for the three years, eight months and seven days since Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941." InWashington, D.C. a crowd attempted to break into the White House grounds as they shouted "We want Harry!" In SanFrancisco two women jumped naked into a pond at theCivic Center to soldiers' cheers. More seriously, rioting sailorslooted city stores, overturned automobiles, and attacked women, causing more than 1,000 casualties. The largestcrowd in the history of New York City's Times Square gathered to celebrate, while in theGarment District, workersthrew out cloth scraps and ticker tape, leaving a pile five inches deep on the streets. A "coast-to-coast frenzy of [ser-vicemen] kissing" occurred, with Life publishing photographs of such kisses in Washington, Kansas City, Los Angeles,andMiami.

Famous photograph:The best-known kiss that day appeared in V–J day in Times Square, one of the most famous photographs ever pub-lished by Life. It was shot in Times Square on August 14, 1945, shortly after the announcement by President Trumanoccurred and people began to gather in celebration. Alfred Eisenstaedt went to Times Square to take candid photo-graphs and spotted a sailor who "grabbed something in white. And I stood there, and they kissed. And I snapped fivetimes." Several people have since claimed to be the sailor and nurse.

Japanese reaction:On August 15 and 16 some Japanese soldiers, devastated by the surrender, committedsuicide. Well over 100 Americanprisoners of war also were executed. In addition, many Australian and British prisoners of war were executed in Borneo,at both Ranau and Sandakan, by the Imperial Japanese Army. At Batu Lintang camp, also in Borneo, death orderswere found which proposed the execution of some 2,000 POWs and civilian internees on September 15, 1945.

Ceremony aboard the USS Missouri:The formal signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender took place on board thebattleship USS Missouri in TokyoBay on September 2, 1945, and at that time Truman declared September 2 to be the official V-J Day.

The Japanese representatives aboard theUSS Missouri at the Surrender of Japan onSeptember 2, 1945

Allied military personnel in Paris cel-ebrating the Japanese surrender

World Lizard Day Worldwide - Aug 14

World Lizard Day, celebrated on 14th August every year. As with most of theoddities, the origins of this day are unclear, but it is being celebrated acrosspolitical boundaries by the niche of reptile-lovers, conservationists and edu-cators.Most celebrations of this holiday occur at the local level, through events or-ganized by schools, natural history or science museums, zoos, national parks,conservation NGOs etc. These can vary depending on the audience involved,but information sessions and fun activities usually remain a constant. Localpet stores may hold events for kids, to acquaint them with the pros and consof keeping a lizard as a pet. Online communities also take this opportunity topay homage to the cold-blooded reptiles, and increase the information flowaround them. World Lizard Day has not yet been taken up for serious conservation work by international agencies ororganizations like the IUCN or WWF, and is focused on creating awareness of the reptiles, apparently mostly as pets.Lizards are cold-blooded reptiles that live around the world in many different habitats, from the urban sprawl to theAmazonian rainforest. Different species feed differently, and there are insectivorous, omnivorous as well as carnivorousspecies. Many species are rare and difficult to study, leading to a paucity of scientific research around their biologyand habits. It is common knowledge that lizards are able to drop their tails if caught by them, and run away completelyunharmed. Their tails do grow back usually, but not as smoothly as the originals. An interesting and more obscure factis that horned lizards can squirt blood from their eyes to confuse and foil predators and protect themselves.There are over 5600 species of lizards alive today, and many of them are endangered species, with habitat loss andpredation by non-native species like cats and dogs being the primary threats. There are some venomous species, likethe largest true lizard, the Komodo Dragon, and the famous Gila Monster. Most common species, including those keptas pets, usually do not venom potent enough to harm humans. Keeping of exotic pets like lizards is a slightly contro-versial issue, but it does keep interest in these wonderful creatures alive, and as long as they remain in the publiceye, conservation efforts can remain hopeful.World Lizard Day thus provides the opportunity for a fun celebration of a reptilian fascination, and a chance to teachour kids about the world around us. Most of all, World Lizard Day seems geared towards helping those who enjoyreptiles to celebrate them, and those who don’t to learn about them.

Bon Festival Japan - Aug 15

Obon (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor thespirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved intoa family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral familyplaces and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits ofancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been cele-brated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance,known as Bon-Odori.The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When thelunar calendar was changed to theGregorian calendar at the beginning of the Meiji era, the localities in Japan reacteddifferently and this resulted in three different times of Obon. "Shichigatsu Bon" (Bon in July) is based on the solar cal-endar and is celebrated around 15 July in eastern Japan (Kantō region such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the Tohoku re-gion), coinciding with Chūgen. "Hachigatsu Bon" (Bon in August) is based on the lunar calendar, is celebrated aroundthe 15th of August and is the most commonly celebrated time. "Kyu Bon" (Old Bon) is celebrated on the 15th day ofthe seventh month of the lunar calendar, and so differs each year. "Kyu Bon" is celebrated in areas like the northernpart of the Kantō region, Chūgoku region, Shikoku, and the Okinawa Prefecture. These three days are not listed aspublic holidays but it is customary that people are given leave.

Acadian Day Canada - Aug 15The National Acadian Day is observed in Canada each year onAugust 15, celebrating the Assumption of Mary. It was during thefirst National Convention of the Acadians held at Memramcook,New Brunswick, in 1881 that the Acadian leaders received themandate to set the date of this celebration.The choice of the date was the object of a debate at the conven-tion between those wishing for Acadians to celebrate June 24,Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, and National Day of French Canadianssince 1834 and National Holiday of Quebecsince 1977, and others wishing the celebration to occur on August 15.The arguments put forth by those who favored June 24 were:• Acadians must unite with the other francophone Canadians in common objectives before the anglophone

majority of Canada.• August 15 occurs during harvest, so it would be difficult for all to be free for the celebration.• The arguments put forth by those who favored August 15 were:• The Acadians constitute a distinct nationality and must adopt their own national day.• The adoption of a national day distinct from that of French Canadians will not prevent unity between

the two peoples.• June 24 occurs during seeds, so it would be equally difficult for all to be free for the celebration.• August 15 is Assumption Day, Catholic celebration of Virgin Mary, patron saint of the Acadians.During this period of time, a good number of people among the Acadian leaders were traditionalists wishing for theconservation of the values and customs of pre-revolutionary France. This did not however prevent the Acadians fromadopting a tricolor flag three years later at the Miscouche convention.Abbot Marcel-François Richard, who favored August 15, is believed to have had an influence on the decision with thespeech he gave at the convention. His arguments were:... In fact, it seems to me that a people who, for over a century of hardships and persecutions, was able to preserveits religion, language, customs and autonomy, must have acquired enough importance to affirm its existence in asolemn way; and this could not be accomplished better than by being able to celebrate its own national holiday... Allowme, at this time, to point out a few of the motives that will encourage you to choose Our Lady of Assumption as NationalAcadian Day instead of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Since Canadians have chosen Saint-Jean-Baptiste as their patron,it seems to me that unless you wish to mistake our nationality with theirs, it is crucial that Acadians choose a particularholiday. It is important to stress that we are not descendants of Canada, but of France. Consequently, I see no reasonwhy we should adopt the Saint-Jean-Baptiste as our national holiday... We must choose a holiday that reminds us ofour origin. I am even going to go as far as to affirm that the Assumption has always been, and must always remain,National Acadian Day, since Acadians are descendants of the French race. Louis XIII vowed to give his empire to theBlessed Virgin and he wanted the Assumption to be the kingdom's national holiday. However, not long afterwards, hesent colonists to take over Acadia. They did, however, have to bring the customs of their homeland along, and if un-fortunate circumstances prevented them from celebrating their national holiday in a regular manner, it is true that thenational devotion of the Acadians is their devotion to Mary.In the end, the members present at the convention decided on August 15.The Vatican ratified the choice of the Acadian convention many years later in a proclamation issued on January 19,1938.Since June 19, 2003, a National Acadian Day officially exists in virtue of a law of the Parliament of Canada.

Assumption Day- Aug 15International

According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, the East-ern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts ofthe Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Marywas the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life.The Roman Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary "havingcompleted the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul intoheavenly glory." This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by PopePius XII on November 1, 1950, in his Apostolic Constitution MunificentissimusDeus. This belief is known as the Dormition of the Theotokos by the Easternand Oriental Orthodox Churches. In the churches which observe it, the As-sumption is a major feast day, commonly celebrated on August 15. In manycountries it is a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation.In his August 15, 2004, homily given at Lourdes, Pope John Paul II quotedJohn 14:3 as one of the scriptural bases for understanding the dogma of theAssumption of Mary. In this verse, Jesus tells his disciples at the Last Supper,"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you tomyself; that where I am, you may be there also." According to Catholic theol-ogy, Mary is the pledge of the fulfillment of Christ's promise.The feast of the Assumption on August 15 is a public holiday in many countries,including Austria, Belgium, Chile, Ecuador, France, Greece, Lebanon, Italy,Malta, Poland, Portugal and Spain . In Eastern Orthodox churches followingthe Julian Calendar, the feast day of Assumption of Mary falls on August 28,and is a public holiday in the Republic of Macedonia.The capital city of Paraguay is named Asunción in honour of the Assumptionof Mary. It was founded on August 15, 1537, by Juan de Salazar y Espinoza.

HistoryAlthough the Assumption (Latin:assūmptiō, "taken up") was only relatively recently defined as infallibledogma by the Catholic Church, and in spite of a statement by Saint Epipha-nius of Salamis in AD 377 that no one knew whether Mary had died or not,apocryphal accounts of the assumption of Mary into heaven have circulatedsince at least the 4th century. The Catholic Church itself interprets chapter12 of the Book of Revelation as referring to it. The earliest known narrativeis the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), whichsurvives intact only in an Ethiopic translation. Probably composed by the 4thcentury, this Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the 3rd cen-tury. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dor-mition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved byseveral Syriac manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries, although the text it-self probably belongs to the 4th century.Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dom-inae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the 6thcentury that is a summary of the "Six Books" narrative. The story also ap-pears in De Transitu Virginis, a late 5th century work ascribed to St. Melitoof Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions inthe Liber Requiei Mariae. The Transitus Mariae tells the story of the apostlesbeing transported by white clouds to the deathbed of Mary, each from thetown where he was preaching at the hour. The Decretum Gelasianum in the490s declared some transitus Mariae literature apocryphal.An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions theevent, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the 6th cen-

tury. John of Damascus, from this period, is the first church authority to advocate the doctrine under his own name;he had been brought up in an environment in which a corporeal ascent of Muhammed into heaven was official policy,since he, and his father before him, held the post of imperial chancellor of the Islamic empire of the Umayyads, andMuhammed's ascent into heaven is the subject of The Night Journey, a Surah in the Quran. His contemporaries, Gre-gory of Tours and Modestus of Jerusalem, helped promote the conceptto the wider church.In some versions of the story the event is said to have taken place inEphesus, in the House of the Virgin Mary, although this is a much morerecent and localized tradition. The earliest traditions all locate the endof Mary's life in Jerusalem (see "Mary's Tomb"). By the 7th century avariation emerged, according to which one of the apostles, often iden-tified as St Thomas, was not present at the death of Mary, but his latearrival precipitates a reopening of Mary's tomb, which is found to beempty except for her grave clothes. In a later tradition, Mary drops hergirdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event. Thisincident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption.The taking of Mary into Heaven became an established teachingacross the Eastern, Western, Coptic and Oriental churches from atleast the late 7th Century, the festival date settling at August 15. The-ological debate about the Assumption continued, following the Refor-mation, climaxing in 1950 when Pope Pius XII defined it as dogma forthe Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has not claimed that thisdoctrine is founded on the apocryphal accounts as having any author-ity, nor that the church bases its teaching about the Assumption onthem, but rather on the historic teaching of the Church down the cen-turies, the scholastic arguments in favor of it, and its interpretations ofbiblical sources. However, Protestant theologians reject such argu-ments as semantics; that apocryphal accounts did in fact become thebasis for such church teachings, which were then set forth as dogma.They cite the fact that the idea did not gain acceptance in the churchuntil the sixth century, after Gregory of Tours accepted the apocryphal work "Transitus Beatae Mariae". Catholic the-ologianLudwig Ott stated, "The idea of the bodily assumption of Mary is first expressed in certain transitus-narrativesof the fifth and sixth centuries.... The first Church author to speak of the bodily assumption of Mary, in association withan apocryphal transitus B.M.V., is St. Gregory of Tours." The Catholic writer Eamon Duffy goes further, conceding that"there is, clearly, no historical evidence whatever for it.". However, the Catholic Church has never asserted nor deniedthat its teaching is based on the apocryphal accounts. The Church documents are silent on this matter and insteadrely upon other sources and arguments as the basis for the doctrine.

Catholic teachingIn this dogmatic statement, the phrase "having completed the courseof her earthly life," leaves open the question of whether the Virgin Marydied before her assumption or whether she was assumed before death;both possibilities are allowed. Mary's assumption is said to have beena divine gift to her as the 'Mother of God'. Ludwig Ott's view is that, asMary completed her life as a shining example to the human race, theperspective of the gift of assumption is offered to the whole human race.In Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma he states that "thefact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and The-ologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church", towhich he adduces a number of helpful citations, and concludes that "forMary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and frompersonal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, itseems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be,in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law ofdeath". The point of her bodily death has not been infallibly defined,and many believe that she did not die at all, but was assumed directlyinto Heaven. The dogmatic definition within the Apostolic ConstitutionMunificentissimus Deus which, according to Roman Catholic dogma,infallibly proclaims the doctrine of the Assumption leaves open thequestion whether, in connection with her departure, Mary underwentbodily death; that is, it does not dogmatically define the point one wayor the other, as shown by the words "having completed the course of her earthly life".On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly declared:By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pro-nounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever VirginMary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly gloryRoman Catholic theologians consider this declaration by Pius XII to be an ex cathedra use of Papal Infallibility. AlthoughPope Pius XII deliberately left open the question of whether Mary died before her Assumption, the more commonteaching of the early Fathers is that she did.

Assumption and Dormition (Eastern Christianity) com-paredThe Catholic Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15, and theEastern Orthodox andEastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of theTheotokos (the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date, pre-ceded by a 14-day fast period. Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Marydied a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, andthat her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that shewas taken up into heaven bodily in anticipation of the general resurrection.Her tomb was found empty on the third day. "...Orthodox tradition is clear andunwavering in regard to the central point [of the Dormition]: the Holy Virginunderwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body – like His – wasafterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in herbody as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement,and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body ... has inher case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That doesnot mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity andplaced in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in thatsame glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now."Many Catholics also believe that Mary first died before being assumed, butthey add that she was miraculously resurrected before being assumed, whileothers believe she was assumed bodily into Heaven without first passingthrough death. As mentioned earlier, this aspect of the Assumption is not au-thoritatively defined in Catholic theology, and either understanding may belegitimately held by Catholics. Eastern Catholics observe the Feast as theDormition. Many theologians note by way of comparison that in the CatholicChurch, the Assumption is dogmatically defined, while in the Eastern Ortho-dox tradition, the Dormition is less dogmatically than liturgically and mystically defined. Such differences spring froma larger pattern in the two traditions, wherein Catholic teachings are often dogmatically and authoritatively defined –in part because of the more centralized structure of the Catholic Church– while in Eastern Orthodoxy, many doctrinesare less authoritative.

Assumption in ProtestantismThe Protestant Reformer Heinrich Bullinger believed in the assumption of Mary. His 1539 polemical treatise againstidolatry expressed his belief that Mary's "sacrosanctum corpus" ("sacrosanct body") had been assumed into heavenby angels:Hac causa credimus et Deiparae virginis Mariae purissimum thalamum et spiritus sancti templum, hoc est, sacrosanc-tum corpus ejus deportatum esse ab angelis in coelum.For this reason we believe that the Virgin Mary, Begetter of God, the most pure bed and temple of the Holy Spirit, thatis, her most holy body, was carried to heaven by angels.

Assumption in AnglicanismAlthough the Assumption of Mary is not an Anglican doctrine, 15 August is observed by some within Anglicanism asa feast day in honour of Mary. The Common Prayer Books of the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Anglican Churchof Canada mark the date as the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Episcopal Church in the United Statesof America, the day is observed as the Holy Day of Saint Mary the Virgin. In the Church of England the day is a Festivalof the Blessed Virgin Mary. In some churches of the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican churches,many Anglo-Catholics often observe the feast day as the "Assumption of Mary".The Anglican-Roman Catholic agreed statement on the Virgin Mary assigns a place for both the Dormition and theAssumption in Anglican devotion.

Scriptural sourcesAs mentioned, recent papal scholarship has cited John 14:3 as evidence of the Assumption in principle if not formally.Near the end of a review of the doctrine's history – a review which serves as the bulk of Munificentissimus Deus –Pope Pius XII tells us: "All these proofs and considerations of the holy Fathers and the theologians are based uponthe Sacred Writings as their ultimate foundation." Precedent to this, he cites many passages that have been offeredin support of this teaching:29. ...the holy writers...employed statements and various images and analogies of Sacred Scripture to Illustrate andto confirm the doctrine of the Assumption, which was piously believed... On the feast day of the Assumption, while ex-plaining the prophet's words: "I will glorify the place of my feet," [Isaiah 60:13] he [i.e. St. Anthony of Padua] stated itas certain that the divine Redeemer had bedecked with supreme glory his most beloved Mother from whom he hadreceived human flesh. He asserts that "you have here a clear statement that the Blessed Virgin has been assumed inher body, where was the place of the Lord's feet..." 30. ...St. Albert the Great... in a sermon which he delivered on thesacred day of the Blessed Virgin Mary's annunciation, explained the words "Hail, full of grace" [Luke 1:28]-words usedby the angel who addressed her-the Universal Doctor, comparing the Blessed Virgin with Eve, stated clearly and in-cisively that she was exempted from the fourfold curse that had been laid upon Eve [cf. Genesis 3:16]... 32. Alongwith many others, the Seraphic Doctor held the same views. He considered it as entirely certain that...God...wouldnever have permitted her body to have been resolved into dust and ashes. Explaining these words of Sacred Scripture:"Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?" [Song of Songs 8:5] andapplying them in a kind of accommodated sense to the Blessed Virgin, he reasons thus: "From this we can see thatshe is there bodily...her blessedness would not have been complete unless she were there as a person. The soul isnot a person, but the soul, joined to the body, is a person. It is manifest that she is there in soul and in body. Otherwiseshe would not possess her complete beatitude. ...The Pope also cites, significantly in paragraph 39, 1st Corinthians 15, where we read (vv. 21–26):For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shallbe made alive. But every one in his own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed inhis coming. Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shallhave brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue. For he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies underhis feet. And the enemy death shall be destroyed last: For he hath put all things under his feet.In this passage Paul alludes to Genesis 3:15 (in addition to the primary reference of Psalms 8:6), where it is prophesiedthat the seed of the woman will crush Satan with his feet. Since, then, Jesus arose to Heaven to fulfill this prophecy,it follows that the woman would have a similar end, since she shared this enmity with Satan. The pope commentsthus in paragraph 39:...although subject to [Jesus, who is] the new Adam, [Mary, the new Eve] is most intimately associated with him in thatstruggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium [i.e. Genesis 3:15], would finally result inthat most complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostleof the Gentiles. Consequently, just as the glorious resurrection of Jesus was an essential part and the final sign of thisvictory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close bythe glorification of her virginal body, for the same Apostle says: "When this mortal thing hath put on immortality, thenshall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory."The pope also mentions (in paragraph 26) Psalms 132, a liturgical psalm commemorating the return of the Ark of Godto Jerusalem and lamenting its subsequent loss. The second half of the psalm says that the loss will be recompensedin the New Covenant, and so it is hopefully prayed, "Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which thouhast sanctified" (v. 8). Since the Church sees this New Covenant ark in Mary, it understands that she was taken intoHeaven in the same manner as the Lord – that is, body and soul.In the same paragraph, the pope mentions also Psalms 45:9–17 for support of a heavenly Queen present bodily withthe heavenly King Jesus, and Song of Songs 3:6, 4:8, and 6:9, which speaks of David's lover "that goeth up by thedesert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer".Regarding the Marian interpretations of those passages from Psalms 132 to Song of Songs 6:9 and those in between,the pope did, however, consider them "rather free in their use of events and expressions taken from Sacred Scripture"(paragraph 26).Finally, he mentions in the next paragraph "that woman clothed with the sun [Revelation 12:1–2] whom John the Apos-tle contemplated on the Island of Patmos" as support for the doctrine. The text seems to parallel this woman with thewoman of the Genesis 3 prophecy (and hence Mary): for in verse 9 the passage recalls "that old serpent" of Genesis3, and reflects the prophecy that God would place "enmities between thee [i.e. Satan] and the woman, and thy seedand her seed" when it says that Satan "was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed"(Rev. 12:17).All these passages – viz., John 14:3, Isaiah 60:13, Luke 1:28, Song of Songs 8:5, 1st Corinthians 15:21–26, Psalms132:8, Psalms 45:9–17, Song of Songs 3:6, 4:8, 6:9, Genesis 3:15, and Revelation 12:1–2 – are drawn upon as Scrip-tural support of the Assumption both in that original document, and today by Catholic apologists.ce of the development of the Syrian Christian traditions, the very area where we later first find references to the sucha similar translation of the Virgin Mary to the state of ultimate blessedness.

Judeo-Christian traditionsJean Danielou in his classical study of Jewish Christian theology noted in reference to state of the blessed dead beforethe resurrection on the last day that "there is . . . and exception to this waiting of the just before they enter into blessed-ness; in some cases their entrance is put forward. This seems to be a strictly Jewish Christian teaching. In the Ascen-sion of Isaiah the visionary sees 'holy Abel and Enoch" already in the seventh heaven (IX, 8-9), and with their raimentof glory (IX, 9), that is to say, they have been brought to life. Resurrection is in fact a necessary condition for entry intothis place. II Enoch shows the ascension of Enoch as a final entry into the highest heaven, which is the place ofultimate blessedness (LXVII, 2), whereas I Enoch only knows of a temporary ascension. Irenaeus ascribes the formerdoctrine to the Elders. say that those who have been translated are taken to Paradise, and remain there until the finalconsummation of all things, being the first to enter upon incorruption' (Adv.Haer.V,5:1)." Danielou concludes "There isa clear distinction between the exceptional state of those who are already restored to life, and the common conditionof the souls of the righteous, who wait in Sheol for the resurrection, but in a happy region of that place." Danielou alsonoted in his study that when the original Jewish Christian community of Jerusalem was dispersed after 70 A.D., themajority of this community established itself in Syria, becoming a major influence of the development of the SyrianChristian traditions, the very area where we later first find references to the such a similar translation of the VirginMary to the state of ultimate blessedness.According to some ancient Judeo-Christian traditions, 206 days (i.e., seven months) after Mary's death and burial,Jesus appeared in the Merkabah with the soul of his Mother and calls out to her body which leaves her tomb and as-cends to embrace her own soul in the Merkabah. These accounts are closely associated with Mary's role as the inter-cessor for the souls of the dead (i.e., just as Christ entered the realm of the dead to redeem them from death, Maryentered the realm of the dead and then like him leaves it in order to become the heavenly intercessor for those stilldead.)

The Assumption of the VirginMary has been a subject ofveneration, doctrine andCatholic Marian art for cen-turies. This painting is byRubens, 1626.

Coptic icon of the Dormition ofOur Lady

St Thomas receiving the VirginMary's girdle

The Cathedral of the Assumptionof Our Lady in Vladimir, Russia.

Pius XII: The ImmaculateMother of God, the ever VirginMary, having completed thecourse of her earthly life, wasassumed body and soul intoheavenly glory.

Constitution Day - Aug 15Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea located on the western coast of Africa celebratesits constitution day on 15th august every year. This independentrepublic nation adopted the constitution on 15th august 1982. Sincethen 15th august is a public holiday for the nation to respect theconstitution of the country.

HistoryEquatorial Guinea used to be a single party state under the 1982constitution. In 1987, this state party was identified as the Demo-cratic Party of Equatorial Guinea. However, in 1991 a fresh multiparty constitution was started after the approvalfrom people referendum. House of Representative consisting of 80 members replaced the actual legislature of 41members. Under this constitution, universal adult voters elect a president for a period of seven years and the legis-lators or Chamber of People’s Representatives members for a period of five years. The president appoints a cabinet.All elements of the government including the legislative and judiciary division are under the supervision of the pres-ident. A prime minister who is appointed and assigned powers by the president runs the government. The nation isseparated into seven provinces administratively. The Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea currently serves as theonly legal and commanding administrative organization. There has been no past record of democratic procedure inthe country, the leadership being passed from colonial power to a domineering dictatorship.Under the 1982 constitution, the president is the most powerful person in the government. He can discard the mem-bers of the cabinet, dictate laws, dismiss the Chamber of Representatives, discuss and sign treaties and summonthe legislative elections. The president maintains his post of the commander in chief of the armed forces and alsosupervises closely on the military movements. Recently in June 2004 the president reformed the cabinet by intro-ducing two additional posts of Minister of National Security and Director of National Forces.The Fundamental Law of the State has been changed to the Constitutional Law under which Spanish and Frenchwere declared as the official language of the nation. Spanish law and the tribal system together form the basis of theconstitutional system. Brutal crimes as well as minor theft occur much less in this country compared to other Africannations. The rights of the civilians are limited and extensively controlled by the government. The convicts are severelytortured and are not entertained by the judicial system. There has been a long record of government’s interventionin privacy and family. There is strict regulation on activity and migration, press and religion among other assaults.

CelebrationsEquatorial Guinea was a Spain colony until August 12 1968. On august 17, 1968 the natives of Equatorial Guineahad accepted a Constitution under which they were asked for vote of approval soon after the referendum. On august12, 1979 London was supposed to draft a constitution for the nation to separate the white minority continuing thepolitical party.Equatorial Guinea is currently one of the honorable members of the United Nation, the African Union and the Euro-pean Union and celebrates the national holiday of Constitution Day with joy and happiness.

Queen's BirthdayThailand - Aug 12

Queen Sirikit of Thailand born Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakaraon 12 August 1932, is the queen consort of Bhumibol Adulyadej,King (Rama IX) of Thailand. She is the second Queen Regent ofThailand (the first Queen Regent was Queen Saovabha Bongsriof Siam, later Queen Sri Patcharindra, the queen mother). As theconsort of the king who is the world's longest-reigning head ofstate, she is also the world's longest-serving consort of a monarch,though Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, more than eleven yearsher senior, is the oldest currently-servingconsort.

Early lifeQueen Sirikit was born on 12 August 1932, at the home of LordVongsanuprabhand, her maternal grandfather. She is the eldestdaughter and the third child of Prince Nakkhatra Mangkala Ki-tiyakara, the son of Prince Kitiyakara Voralaksana, and Mom LuangBua Sanidvongs. Her name, which was given by King Prajadhipok,means "the Greatness of Kitiyakhon".She had three siblings; two elder brothers and a younger sister:• Prof. Mom Rajawongse Galyanakit Kitiyakara, M.D.(20 September 1929 – 15 May 1987)• Mom Rajawongse Adulyakit Kitiyakara (2 November1930 – 5 May 2004)• Mom Rajawongse Busba Kitiyakara (born 2 August1934)Sirikit was raised by her maternal grandparents for a year after herbirth, as her father went to United States to work as the secretaryof the Siamese Royal Embassy at Washington D.C. Her motherjoined her husband three months later. When she was one yearold, her parents returned to Thailand. Sirikit lived together with herfamily in Deves Palace, near Chao Phraya River, Bangkok.As a child, Sirikit often had outdoor visits with her paternal grand-mother. Once in 1933, she traveled with Princess AbsornsamanDevakula following King Prajadhipok's tour in Songkla.

EducationAt age 4, Sirikit attended the Kindergarten College at Rajini School(sometimes called the Queen’s College). She studied until her firstyear at the primary level. During that time the Pacific War wasbeing fought; Bangkok was attacked many times, thus makingtravel unsafe. She then moved to Saint Francis Xavier ConventSchool, because it was near the palace. She studied at that schoolfrom her second year at the primary level to the secondary level.In 1946, when the war ended, her father moved to the United King-dom to work as the ambassador to the Court of St. James's, takinghis family with him. At that time, Sirikit was 13 and had graduated the secondary level. While staying in England,she learned to play the piano and learned English and French. Because of her father's work as an ambassador, sheand her family moved to various countries, including Denmark and France. While living in France, she studied at amusic academy in Paris.Also while in France, Sirikit met King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who at that time had ascended to the throne and hadbeen studying at Switzerland. Both the king and Sirikit (as well as a few other students) were staying at the ThaiRoyal Embassy in Paris. Sirikit accompanied the king as he visited various tourist attractions. Both the king andSirikit found much common ground on their likes and dislikes and thus began a relationship.

Anniversary of Liberation North Korea - Aug 15

North Korea occupies the northern half ofthe Korean peninsula. Its capital andlargest city is Pyongyang. The Amnok andTumen River forms the boarder betweenNorth Korea and China. In the history ofNorth Korea, the date August 18, 1948 isvery significant, as they got independencefrom Japan on this day. North Korea cele-brates this day as The Liberation Day.

HistoryA great leader of Korea, Kim IL Sung trav-elled to China in 1925 to start rebellionagainst Japan. Anti Japanese forces wereurbanized in China. This army consisted ofChinese, Korean and later Soviets. Guer-rilla forces were assembled in Northeastpart of China. Korean People’s Revolution-ary Army (KPRA) was organized whichtook over Ponchobo, which was consid-ered a great victory in North Korea. TheKorean guerrilla attacked around the Chi-nese-Korean frontier. These frequent wars continued for years.After the defeat of Japan in World War II in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel in agreement with a UnitedNations arrangement. The north was to be administered by Soviet Union and the south by the United States. How-ever, the Soviets and the Americans could not continue the treaty of sharing government over Korea. This led to theestablishment of two separate governments and North Korea became a Democratic People’s Republic in 1948.

CelebrationsIn commemoration of North Korea’s liberation from the Japanese colonial rule, the local residents celebrate a nationalholiday, the Liberation day, on August 18, every year. A two day rally is organized where participants perform variouskinds of joint events including joint solidarity meeting, cultural performances and seminars. Hundreds of social andreligious representatives take part in the festivals. Following the opening ceremony, the dance troupes and artistsgive their spectacular performances.The festival also includes photo exhibitions and religious preaching. They also recall the memoirs of the great leaders,who fought for their independence and lost their lives. In the recent years, North and South Korea celebrate theirLiberation day together by organizing glamorous ceremonies at Seoul. These grand festivals for reunification willprovide Korean nation with an opportunity to further accelerate the movement for independent reunification whichstarted in 1925. The residents clearly convey the will of the North and South Korean people to achieve great nationalunity. This liberation day is held in high pride a it denounced Japan’s 40 year rule of Korea and is celebrated with re-joice.North Korea after so many years of liberation:After 61 years of Korean Liberation day, Korea has emerged as one of the first class nations in the world. It has fas-cinating cities and tourism has become an important part of the economy. Korean government stress more domesticfirms and they have become an independent democratic country. Thus, Korea has at last made a place on the worldplatform of development and urbanization. The rebellion by Kim IL Sung started in 1925 at last brought independenceto the country after lots of bloodshed. The Korea residents of today are really proud to be a Democratic Republiccountry.

Foundation of Old Panama Panama - Aug 15

Republic of Panama better known as Panama is present onthe isthmus joining North and South America. A flourishingbusiness economy Panama celebrates its Foundation Day onthe 15th of august each year. Pedro Arias de Avila discoveredPanama La Vieja or Old Panama in the year 1519. Actually,15th august is the combined anniversary celebration of bothfoundation of Panama Veija and the opening of the PanamaCanal. At one such ceremony on function day a photo exhibi-tion of Panama City photos in the 40s, 50s and 60s was inau-gurated at the Casa de Gobernacion. It is the office of thePanama provincial governor. The chief guests of the functionwere Governor Irina Brown and IPAT director Liriola Pittí deCordoba.

HistoryThe relics of Old Panama are about two miles away from the present capital of the state, Panama City. An openpark flaunts the remnants of walls and vaults refreshing the pomp of the first camp of the Spaniard on the PacificOcean. The sumptuous amount of gold coming from Peru, Chile and California lured cunning pirates to Panama’swater.The city suffered the most when Henry Morgan plundered and raided the city in 1671. Panama’s governor sooncommanded the power magazine burned and the entire city was lost in flames. Consequently, the capital had to beshifted to a new location leading to the foundation of Panama City in 1673. Among the leftovers in Old Panama arethe cathedral with a huge bell-tower, Matadero Bridge, King’s Bridge and the Bishop’s House. These remains areWorld Heritage and their archaeological sites are being restored. An artisan’s bazaar filled with native’s handworksand a tiny restaurant is present just in front of the rubbles.

CelebrationsThe Panama Railroad Company was set up a year ahead of the discovery of the gold coin. However it could notstart before 1855.There had been a great advantage and boost to the infrastructure and economy when the PanamaCanal was constructed.The most significant improvement was seen in health and sanitation. This was clearly visible since yellow fever andmalaria were almost eradicated and a good quality water supply system was started. The benefits were howeverfollowed by disturbances. Since most of the workers were from West Indies, a sudden social and racial discriminationstarted growing in the city.Panama City was the hub of international banking in Late 1970’s and 1980s which made it the worldwide moneylaundering pivot. In 1989, after a year long problem between Panama and U.S., General Manuel Noriega, the leaderof Panama was deposed by George Bush, president of United States. However Panama City still remains a bankinghub though there is little flow of cash.Balboa earlier a part of the Panama Canal Zone was the Headquarter of the region. Nowadays tourism is consideredas an important source of money collection in Panama. Panama is the fourth largest and also a rapidly flourishingeconomy in Central America. The scope of tourism is increasing at a rapid rate and as such it has become one ofthe most interesting and sought after tourist destinations in the world.

Independence Day

India - Aug 15Independence Day of India is celebrated on Fifteenth of August(8/15/47) to commemorate its independence from British rule and itsbirth as a sovereign nation in 1947. The day is a national holiday inIndia. All over the country, flag-hoisting ceremonies are conducted bythel ocal administration in attendance. The main event takes place inNew Delhi, the capital city ofIndia, where the Prime Minister hoists thenational flag at the Red Fort and delivers a nationally televised speechfrom its ramparts. In his speech, he highlights the achievements ofhis government during the past year, raises important issues andgives a call for further development. The Prime Minister also pays histribute to leaders of the freedom struggle.

BackgroundIn 1946, the Labour government in Britain, its exchequer exhausted by the recently concluded World War II, andconscious that it had neither the mandate at home, the international support, nor the reliability of native forces forcontinuing to control an increasingly restless India, decided to end British rule of India, and in early 1947 Britain an-nounced its intention of transferring power no later than June 1948.

CelebrationsThe Prime Minister of India hoists the Indian flag on the ramparts of the historical site, Red Fort Delhi, on August 15.This is telecasted live on the National Channel Doordarshan and many other News Channels all over India. Flaghoisting ceremonies and cultural programs take place in all the state capitals. In the cities around the country thenational flag is hoisted by politicians in their constituencies. In various private organisations the flag hoisting is carriedout by a senior official of that organisation. All over the country, flags are given out to citizens who wear them proudlyto show their patriotism towards India. Schools and colleges around the country organise flag hoisting ceremoniesand various cultural events within their premises, where younger children in costume represent their idols of the In-dependence era.

Independence DayRepublic of the Congo - Aug 15

The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo), also re-ferred to as Congo-Brazzaville or simply Congo, is a country locatedin Central Africa. It is bordered byGabon, Cameroon, the CentralAfrican Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the An-golan exclave of Cabinda.The region was dominated by Bantu-speaking tribes, who built tradelinks leading into theCongo River basin. Congo was formerly part ofthe French colony of Equatorial Africa.Upon independence in 1960,the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic ofthe Congo. The People's Republic of the Congo was a Marxist-Lenin-ist single-party state from 1970 to 1991. Multiparty elections havebeen held since 1992, although a democratically elected governmentwas ousted in the 1997 Republic of the Congo Civil War.

HistoryThe earliest inhabitants of the region were Pygmy people, who later were largely displaced and absorbed by Bantu-speaking peoples who found tribes during the Bantu expansions. The Bakongo are a Bantu ethnicity that also oc-cupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming the basis for ethnicaffinities and rivalries among those countries. Several Bantu kingdoms—notably those of the Kongo, the Loango,and the Teke—built trade links leading into the Congo River basin.The mouth of the Congo was reached by thePortuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1484.Commercial relationships werequickly established between the inland Bantu kingdoms and European merchants who traded various commodities,manufactured goods, and slaves captured from the hinterlands. For centuries, the Congo river delta was a majorcommercial hub for transatlantic trade. However, when direct European colonization of the African continent beganin the late 19th century, the power of the Bantu societies in the region was eroded.The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 as a result ofPierre de Brazza's treatywith Makoko of the Bateke. This Congo Colony became known first as French Congo, then as Middle Congo in1903. In 1908, France organizedFrench Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising Middle Congo, Gabon, Chad, andOubangui-Chari (the modern Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital. Economicdevelopment during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural resource extraction. The methodswere often brutal: establishment of theCongo–Ocean Railroad following World War I has been estimated to havecost at least 14,000 lives.During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, Brazzaville functioned as the symbolic capital of FreeFrance between 1940–1943. The Conference of 1944 heralded a period of major reform in French colonial policy.Congo benefited from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending as a result of itscentral geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville. It also received a local legislature afterthe adoption of the 1946 constitution that established the Fourth Republic.Following the revision of the French constitution that established the Fifth Republic in 1958, the AEF was dissolvedand its constituent parts reformed into autonomous colonies within the French Community. During these reforms,Middle Congo became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1958 and published its first constitution in 1959. An-tagonism between the pro-Opangault Mbochis and the pro-Youlou Balalis resulted in a series of riots in Brazzavillein February 1959, which had to be subdued by the French army.The Republic of the Congo was granted full independence from France on August 15, 1960. Fulbert Youlou ruled asthe country's first president until labour elements and rival political parties instigated a three-day uprising that oustedhim. The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headedby Alphonse Massamba-Débat. Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected President for a five-year term. The regime adopted "scientific socialism" as the country's constitutional ideology.In 1965, Congo established relations with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea and NorthVietnam.Massamba-Débat was unable to reconcile various institutional and ideological factions and his regimeended abruptly with an August 1968 coup d'état. Marien Ngouabi, who had participated in the coup, assumed thepresidency on December 31, 1968. One year later, President Ngouabi proclaimed Congo to be Africa's first "people'srepublic" and announced the decision of the National Revolutionary Movement to change its name to the CongoleseLabour Party (PCT). On March 16, 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. An 11-member Military Committeeof the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as Presidentof the Republic. Two years later, Yhombi-Opango was forced from power and Denis Sassou Nguesso become thenew president.Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the SovietUnion. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dicta-torship.Pascal Lissouba, who became Congo's first elected president during the period of multi-party democracy, attemptedto implement economic reforms with IMF backing to liberalise the economy. In June 1996 the IMF approved a three-year SDR69.5m (US$100m) enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on the verge of announcing arenewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in Congo in mid-1997. .Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started to fight over power. As pres-idential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted.On June 5, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou or-dered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyedor damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. In early October, the Angolan so-cialist regime began an invasion of Congo to install Sassou to power. In mid-October, the Lissouba government fell.Soon thereafter, Sassou declared himself President.In the controversial elections in 2002, Sassou won with almost 90% of the vote cast. His two main rivals Lissoubaand Bernard Kolelas were prevented from competing and the only remaining credible rival, Andre Milongo, advisedhis supporters to boycott the elections and then withdrew from the race. A new constitution, agreed upon by refer-endum in January 2002, granted the president new powers, extended his term to seven years, and introduced anew bicameral assembly. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election andthe constitutional referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the single-partystate. Following the presidential elections, fighting restarted in the Pool region between government forces andrebels led by Pastor Ntumi; a peace treaty to end the conflict was signed in April 2003.The regime held the presidential election in July 2009. According to the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights,a non-governmental organization, the election was marked by "very low" turnout and "fraud and irregularities." Theregime announced Sassou as the winner.

Liberation Day South Korea - Aug 15

Gwangbokjeol, (literally "Restoration of Light Day") celebrated an-nually on August 15, is one of the Public holidays in South Korea.It commemorates Victory over Japan Day, which liberated Koreafrom colonial rule. The South Korean government was createdthree years later, on August 13, 1948, when Syngman Rhee wassworn in as the firstPresident of South Korea and Gwangbokjeolwas officially designated a public holiday on October 1, 1949.

Public holidayMany activities and events happen during the day, including anofficial ceremony with the president in attendance that takes placeat the Independence Hall of Korea inCheonan or at the SejongCenter for the Performing Arts.All buildings and homes are encouraged to display the nationalflag Taegukki, and most public museums and places are open freeof charge to the descendents of independence activists on the holiday.The official "Gwangbokjeol song"(광복절노래) is sung at official ceremonies. The song's lyrics were written by JeongInbo(정인보) and the melody by Yoon Yongha(윤용하). The lyrics speak of "to touch the earth again" and how "thesea dances", how "this day is the remaining trace of 40 years of passionate blood solidified" and to "guard this foreverand ever".The government traditionally issues special pardons on Gwangbokjeol.

Popular cultureThe special pardons given out on Gwangbokjeol are the subject of a comedy movie, Jail Breakers (Korean titleGwangbokjeol Teuksa 광복절특사, literally "Gwangbokjeol special pardon"), where the two main characters breakout of prison only to find out later that they were already on the special pardon list.

Mother's Day Costa Rica - Aug 15

August 15th marked an important holiday for Ticos: Dia de laMadre or Mother’s Day, based on the Catholic holy day celebrat-ing the Assumption of Mary. Matriarchs run the household in tra-ditional families, but on this day many are treated to a special mealand gifts from their children and husbands. Some families evenraise a pig to be ready for this annual event.This National holiday is a day off for banks, small businesses andemployees so don’t expect to run errands on this date; do, how-ever, wish your Tica friends and neighbors a “feliz dia de lamadre!” Tierra Pacifica would like to honor all the mothers in ourcommunity. These are great customs to be exposed to and achance to take part in Tico culture!

National Day Liechtenstein - Aug 15

The 15 August is National Day in Liechtenstein. It has been cele-brated since 1940 and is closely connected to the birthday ofPrince Franz-Josef II on 16 August. Every year the Principality'scitizens and their guests look forward to the spectacular fireworkdisplay that closes the National Day festivities.

HistoryThere were two main reasons for establishing the National Dayon 15 August. The first reason was that it was already a bank hol-iday (Feast of the Assumption). The second reason was that theReigning Prince at the time, Prince Franz Josef II, celebrated hisbirthday on 16 August. Therefore, it was decided to celebrate theNational Day on 15 August as a combination of the Feast of theAssumption and the Reigning Prince's birthday. Following thedeath of Prince Franz Josef II in 1989, National Day continued tobe celebrated on 15 August. It was established as the official national day by a law passed in 1990. Over the course of the years there have been different variations of the official celebration held on National Day.Since 1990 the State Act has taken place on the lawn in front of Vaduz Castle, the location where in 1939 the peoplepaid homage to Prince Franz Josef II under the threat of National Socialism. It was here that Prince Hans-Adam IIalso received homage from the people in 1990.

CelebrationsOn 15 August Vaduz plays host to a huge celebration attended by thousands of Liechtenstein citizens and guestsfrom many countries. The National Day begins with the State Act held on the lawn in front of Vaduz Castle, includingspeeches by the Prince and the president of the parliament. The people are then invited to a reception with drinksin the gardens of the castle. National Day is the only day of the year when the gardens are open to the generalpublic. The Princely Family is also present at this reception and enjoys chatting with those present.In the afternoon there is a large fair in the centre of Vaduz that continues until the early hours of the morning. Thefestivities come to a close in the evening with a large firework display above Vaduz Castle that is famous throughoutthe region and draws many guests to Vaduz.

National Mourning Day Bangladesh - Aug 15

August 15 is the National Mourning Day for Bangladesh. On thefateful night of August 15 in 1975, some disgruntled and over am-bitious army officers assassinated Bangabandhu and most of hisfamily members at his Dhanmondi, Road-32 residence in the cap-ital.18 members of Bangabandhu's family and his close ones whowere brutally killed on that night include his wife Bangamata Fazi-latunnessa Mujib, brother Sheikh Naser, brother-in-law Abdur RabSerniabat, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and 10-year-oldSheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal,nephew Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni& his pregnant wife Arzoo Moniand Bangabandhu's military secretary Bir Uttam Colonel Jamilwho rushed to the spot of occurrence on receiving SOS fromBangabandhu Bhaban early in the morning.However, both the daughters of Bangabandhu-- Sheikh Hasinaand Sheikh Rehana, escaped the carnage as they were abroad. Since the mayhem, Awami League, its associatebodies and other likeminded pro-liberation parties, social, cultural and professionals' organizations have been ob-serving the day as the National Mourning Day.In 1996, the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated trial of the self-confessedkillers of Bangabandhu in a traditional court and the court awarded them with capital punishment, which was upheldby the country's apex court. The court's verdict for five of the self-confessed killers had been executed on January27, 2010 while the government had already taken steps for bringing back home the remaining absconding killersfrom abroad.

Flooding of the Nile Egypt - Aug 15

(Arabic: ءافو ديع‎)This is an annualلينلاflooding cycle in Egyptsince ancient times. It iscelebrated by Egyptiansas an annual holiday fortwo weeks starting August15, known asWafaa El-Nil. It is also celebrated inthe Coptic Church by cer-emonially throwing a mar-tyr'srelic into the river,hence the name, Esba`al-shahīd ('The Martyr'sFinger'). Ancient Egyp-tians believed that theNile flooded every yearbecause of Isis's tears ofsorrow for her dead hus-band, Osiris.

The flood-ing cycleThe three stages of theEgyptian flood cycle wereAkhet, the time of the Nile flood, Peret, the sowing time, and Shemu, the time of harvest. Without this cycle peoplewould die from starvation.The flood cycle was so predictable that the Egyptians even based their ancient calendaron it. Akhet was the first season of the year, between the months of June and September. Peret or the Egyptian Au-tumn season marked the time when their crops grew in the fields and were harvested, running from October to mid-February. Shemu was the third and last season of the Egyptian year which ran from mid-February until the end ofMay; it essentially signalled the spring season of the Egyptian calendar.

Importance for EgyptWere it not for the Nile River, Egyptian civilization could not have developed, as it is the only significant source ofwater in this desert region. Its other importance was the fact that it was their gateway to the unknown world. TheNile flows from south to north, to its deltaon the Mediterranean Sea. It would flood each year, bringing in silt-ladenwaters; when the waters receded the silt would stay behind, fertilizing the land,the silt would be helpful for growingcrops. If a flood was to large it would wash over mud dykes protecting a village. A small flood or no flood at all wouldmean famine. A flood must be of just the right intensity for a good season.The ancient Egyptians did not realize that the flood in fact appeared due to rains on the mountains to the south, andit was seen as the annual coming of the god Hapi. The rains would swell the different tributaries and other rivers thatjoined to become the Nile River.

End of the floodingIn 1970, with the completion of the High Dam at Aswan, the annual flooding cycle in Egypt came to an end. Today,farmers must usefertilizers to keep their land productive, as the deposits of silt no longer occur each year. Floodingstill occurs above the dam in modern-day Sudan.

Children's Day Paraguay - Aug 16

Children’s Day in Paraguay has its roots in the War of the TripleAlliance (1864-1870), the most devastating war ever fought inSouth America. It was fought between Paraguay (on one side)and Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (on the other).Needless to say, Paraguay didn’t win. In fact, it lost half its pop-ulation during the war—including nearly all its fighting-agemen—as well as 60,000 square miles of territory to Brazil andArgentina. (Latin America’s Wars: the Age of the Caudillo (1791-1899) Robert Scheina)Children’s Day recalls the anniversary of the one of the last bat-tles of the war in 1869, the Battle of Acosta Nu. Having alreadylost most of his army, Paraguayan dictator Francisco Lopezused younger and younger recruits. The 6,000 strong force inAugust of that year was largely made out of children. On August16, the small retreating army was overtaken by a force of 20,000men from Brazil and Argentina. Within eight hours, over 2000 Paraguayans lay dead.Paraguayans say the additional tragedy was that the war was already over at that point, but that the Brazilian gov-ernment refused to stop until Lopez was captured.The War of the Triple Alliance remains one of the darkest chapters in South American history.

Independence Day Gabon - Aug 16

Gabon officially the Gabonese Republic (French:République Gabonaise) is a sovereign state on thewest coast of Central Africa. It borders EquatorialGuinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north,and theRepublic of the Congo on the east andsouth. To its west is the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf ofGuinea. It has an area of nearly 270,000 km², andits population is estimated at 1.5 million people. Itscapital and largest city is Libreville.Since its independence from France on August 17,1960, Gabon has been ruled by three presidents.In the early 1990s, Gabon introduced a multi-partysystem and a newdemocratic constitution that al-lowed for a more transparent electoral process andreformed many governmental institutions. Gabonwas also a non-permanent member of the UnitedNations Security Council for the 2010–2011 term.Low population density, abundant natural re-sources, and foreign privateinvestment havehelped make Gabon one of the most prosperouscountries inSub-Saharan Africa, with the highest HDI and the third highest GDP per capita (PPP) (after EquatorialGuinea and Botswana) in the region.

HistoryThe earliest inhabitants of the area were Pygmy peoples.They were largely replaced and absorbed by Bantu tribesas they migrated.In the 15th century, the first Europeans arrived. The nation'spresent name originates from "Gabão", Portuguese for"cloak", which is roughly the shape of the estuary oftheKomo River by Libreville. French explorer Pierre Sa-vorgnan de Brazza led his first mission to the Gabon-Congoarea in 1875. He founded the town of Franceville, and waslater colonial governor. Several Bantu groups lived in thearea that is now Gabon whenFrance officially occupied it in1885.In 1910, Gabon became one of the four territories of FrenchEquatorial Africa, a federation that survived until 1959.These territories became independent on August 17, 1960.The first president of Gabon, elected in 1961, was LéonM'ba, with Omar Bongo Ondimba as his vice president.French interests were decisive in selecting the future lead-ership in Gabon after Independence; French logging inter-ests poured funds into the successful election campaign ofM'ba, an évolué from the coastal region.After M'ba's accession to power, the press was suppressed,political demonstrations banned, freedom of expression cur-tailed, other political parties gradually excluded from powerand the Constitution changed along French lines to vest power in the Presidency, a post that M'ba assumed himself.However, when M'ba dissolved the National Assembly in January 1964 to institute one-party rule, an army coupsought to oust him from power and restore parliamentary democracy. The extent to which M'ba's dictatorial regimewas synonymous with "French Interests" then became blatantly apparent when French paratroopers flew in within24 hours to restore M'ba to power.After a few days of fighting, the coup was over and the opposition imprisoned, despite widespread protests and riots.The French government was unperturbed by international condemnation of the intervention, and paratroops still re-main in the Camp de Gaulle on the outskirts of Gabon's capital. When M'Ba died in 1967, Bongo replaced him aspresident.In March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a one-party state by dis-solving the BDG and establishing a new party—the Parti De-mocratique Gabonais (PDG). He invited all Gabonese,regardless of previous political affiliation, to participate. Bongosought to forge a single national movement in support of thegovernment's development policies, using the PDG as a tool tosubmerge the regional and tribal rivalries that had dividedGabonese politics in the past. Bongo was elected President inFebruary 1975; in April 1975, the position of vice president wasabolished and replaced by the position of prime minister, whohad no right to automatic succession. Bongo was re-electedPresident in both December 1979 and November 1986 to 7-yearterms.Economic discontent and a desire for political liberalization pro-voked violent demonstrations and strikes by students and work-ers in early 1990. In response to grievances by workers, Bongonegotiated with them on a sector-by-sector basis, making sig-nificant wage concessions. In addition, he promised to open upthe PDG and to organize a national political conference inMarch–April 1990 to discuss Gabon's future political system.The PDG and 74 political organizations attended the confer-ence. Participants essentially divided into two loose coalitions, the ruling PDG and its allies, and the United Front ofOpposition Associations and Parties, consisting of the breakaway Morena Fundamental and the Gabonese ProgressParty.The April 1990 conference approved sweeping political reforms, including creation of a national Senate, decentral-ization of the budgetary process, freedom of assembly and press, and cancellation of an exit visa requirement. Inan attempt to guide the political system's transformation to multiparty democracy, Bongo resigned as PDG chairmanand created a transitional government headed by a new Prime Minister, Casimir Oye-Mba. The Gabonese SocialDemocratic Grouping (RSDG), as the resulting government was called, was smaller than the previous governmentand included representatives from several opposition parties in its cabinet. The RSDG drafted a provisional consti-tution in May 1990 that provided a basic bill of rights and an independent judiciary but retained strong executivepowers for the president. After further review by a constitutional committee and the National Assembly, this documentcame into force in March 1991.Opposition to the PDG continued after the April 1990 conference, however, and in September 1990, two coup d'étatattempts were uncovered and aborted. Despite anti-government demonstrations after the untimely death of an op-position leader, the first multiparty National Assembly elections in almost 30 years took place in September–October1990, with the PDG garnering a large majority.Following President Omar Bongo's re-election in December 1993 with 51% of the vote, opposition candidates refusedto validate the election results. Serious civil disturbances led to an agreement between the government and oppo-sition factions to work toward a political settlement. These talks led to the Paris Accords in November 1994, underwhich several opposition figures were included in a government of national unity. This arrangement soon brokedown, however, and the 1996 and 1997 legislative and municipal elections provided the background for renewedpartisan politics. The PDG won a landslide victory in the legislative election, but several major cities, including Libre-ville, elected opposition mayors during the 1997 local election.Facing a divided opposition, President Omar Bongo coasted to easy re-election in December 1998, with large ma-jorities of the vote. While Bongo's major opponents rejected the outcome as fraudulent, some international observerscharacterized the results as representative despite many perceived irregularities, and there were none of the civildisturbances that followed the 1993 election. Peaceful though flawed legislative elections held in 2001–2002, whichwere boycotted by a number of smaller opposition parties and were widely criticized for their administrative weak-nesses, produced a National Assembly almost completely dominated by the PDG and allied independents. In No-vember 2005, President Omar Bongo was elected for his sixth term. He won re-election easily, but opponents claimthat the balloting process was marred by irregularities. There were some instances of violence following the an-nouncement of Omar Bongo's win, but Gabon generally remained peaceful.National Assembly elections were held again in December 2006. Several seats contested because of voting irregu-larities were overturned by the Constitutional Court, but the subsequent run-off elections in early 2007 again yieldeda PDG-controlled National Assembly.On June 8, 2009, President Omar Bongo died of cardiac arrest at a Spanish hospital in Barcelona, ushering in anew era in Gabonese politics. In accordance with the amended constitution, Rose Francine Rogombe, the Presidentof the Senate, became Interim President on June 10, 2009. The first contested elections in Gabon's history that didnot include Omar Bongo as a candidate were held on August 30, 2009 with 18 candidates for president. The lead-up to the elections saw some isolated protests, but no significant disturbances. Omar Bongo's son, ruling partyleader Ali Bongo Ondimba, was formally declared the winner after a 3-week review by the Constitutional Court; hisinauguration took place on October 16, 2009.The court's review had been prompted by claims of fraud by the many opposition candidates, with the initial an-nouncement of election results sparking unprecedented violent protests in Port-Gentil, the country's second-largestcity and a long-time bastion of opposition to PDG rule. The citizens of Port-Gentil took to the streets, and numerousshops and residences were burned, including the French Consulate and a local prison. Officially, only four deathsoccurred during the riots, but opposition and local leaders claim many more. Gendarmes and the military were de-ployed to Port-Gentil to support the beleaguered police, and a curfew was in effect for more than 3 months.A partial legislative by-election was held in June 2010. A newly created coalition of parties, the Union Nationale (UN),participated for the first time. The UN is composed largely of PDG defectors who left the party after Omar Bongo'sdeath. Of the five hotly contested seats, the PDG won three and the UN won two; both sides claimed victory.

Coat of arms

A map of West Africa in 1670.

King's Death (Elvis) U.S. - Aug 16

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the mostpopular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely knownby the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll"or simply "the King".Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with hisfamily at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954, working with SunRecords owner Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African Ameri-can music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore andbassist Bill Black, Presley was the most important popularizer of rockabilly, anuptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country andrhythm and blues. RCA Victoracquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for over two decades.Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", released in January 1956, was a number one hit. He became theleading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many fromAfrican American sources, and his uninhibitedperformance style made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, he made his film debut inLove Me Tender.Conscripted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of hismost commercially successful work. He staged few concerts however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devotemuch of the 1960s to making Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968,after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebratedcomeback television specialthat led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973 Presley staged the firstconcert broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by approximately 1.5 billion viewers. Prescriptiondrug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at the age of 42.Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voiceand unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues. He isthe best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three,and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls offame.

Restoration DayDominican Republic - Aug 16Spain controlled the Dominican Republic until 1863.The Dominicans started the war in Santiago to restorethe independence from Spanish rule. On August 16,1965, Spain ended its occupation and Dominican in-dependence was established.

HistorySince the European countries had arrived in the West-ern Hemisphere during the 1400-1500s, the Domini-can Republic had been at a crossroads of commerce.Its capital, Santo Domingo, is the oldest city in the NewWorld, it has the oldest university, the oldest cathedraland even the first hospital. The Dominican Republic isthe perfect place for a relaxing vacation with beachesthat stretch for about 1,000 miles.

CelebrationsAugust 16 is known as a day of great celebration. Al-though it is not as elaborate as Mardi Gras celebra-tions, costumed people are still part of the festivities. The laughter and joy is contagious and the costumes worn aremagnificent. Male traditonal folk dancers and beautiful girls costume dress celebrate in the street parades.

Bennington Battle Day (Vermont)U.S. - Aug 16

The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolu-tionary Warthat took place on August 16, 1777, in Walloomsac,New York, about 10 miles (16 km) from its namesake Benning-ton, Vermont. A rebel force of 2,000 men, primarily composed ofNew Hampshire and Massachusetts militiamen, led byGeneralJohn Stark, and reinforced by men led by Colonel Seth Warnerand members of the Green Mountain Boys, decisively defeateda detachment of General John Burgoyne's army led by Lieu-tenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, and supported by additional menunder Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann.Baum's detachment was a mixed force of 700 composed of dis-mountedBrunswick dragoons, Canadians, Loyalists, and Indians.He was sent by Burgoyne to raid Bennington in the disputed NewHampshire Grants area for horses, draft animals, and other sup-plies. Believing the town to be only lightly defended, Burgoyneand Baum were unaware that Stark and 1,500 militiamen were stationed there. After a rain-caused standoff, Stark'smen enveloped Baum's position, taking many prisoners, and killing Baum. Reinforcements for both sides arrived asStark and his men were mopping up, and the battle restarted, with Warner and Stark driving away Breymann's re-inforcements with heavy casualties.The battle was an important victory for the rebel cause, as it reduced Burgoyne's army in size by almost 1,000 men,led his Indian support to largely abandon him, and deprived him of needed supplies, all factors that contributed toBurgoyne's eventual surrender at Saratoga. The victory also galvanized colonial support for the independence move-ment, and played a role in bringingFrance into the war on the rebel side. The battle anniversary is celebrated in thestate of Vermont as Bennington Battle Day.

BackgroundAfter the British victories at Hubbardton, Fort Ticonderoga, and Fort Anne, General John Burgoyne's plan for the1777 Saratoga campaign was to capture Albany and gain control of the Hudson River Valley, dividing the Americancolonies in half. This was part of a grand plan to separate the rebellious New England colonies from the (believed)more loyal southern colonies via a three-way pincer movement. The western pincer, under the command of BarrySt. Leger, was repulsed when the Siege of Fort Stanwix failed, and the southern pincer, which was to progress upthe Hudson valley from New York City, never started since General William Howe decided instead to capture Philadel-phia.

British forces:Burgoyne's progress towards Albany had initially met with great success, including the scattering of Seth Warner'smen in the Battle of Hubbardton. However, his advance had slowed to a crawl by late July, due to logistical difficulties,exacerbated by the American destruction of a key road, and the army's supplies began to dwindle. Burgoyne's con-cern over supplies was magnified in early August when he received word from Howe that he was going to Philadel-phia, and was not in fact going to advance up the Hudson River valley. In response to a proposal first made on July22 by the commander of his German troops, Baron Riedesel, Burgoyne sent a detachment of about 800 troopsunder the command of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum from Fort Miller on a foraging mission to acquire horsesfor the German dragoons, draft animals to assist in moving the army, and to harass the enemy. Baum's detachmentwas primarily made up of dismounted Brunswick dragoons of the Prinz Ludwig regiment. Along the way it was joinedby local companies of Loyalists, some Canadians and about 100 Indians, and a company of British sharpshooters.Baum was originally ordered to proceed to the Connecticut River valley where they believed horses could be procuredfor the dragoons. However, as Baum was preparing to leave, Burgoyne verbally changed the goal to be a supplydepot at Bennington, which was believed to be guarded by the remnants of Warner's brigade, about 400 colonialmilitia.

American forces:Unknown to Burgoyne, the citizens of the New Hampshire Grants territory (which was then disputed between NewYork and the Vermont Republic) had appealed to the states of New Hampshire andMassachusetts for protectionfrom the invading army following the British capture of Ticonderoga. New Hampshire responded on July 18 by au-thorizing John Stark to raise a militia for the defense of the people "or the annoyance of the enemy". Using fundsprovided by John Langdon, Stark raised 1,500 New Hampshire militiamen in the space of six days, more than tenpercent of New Hampshire's male population over the age of sixteen. They were first marched to the Fort at Number4 (modernCharlestown, New Hampshire), then crossed the river border into the Grants and stopped at Manchester,where Stark conferred with Warner. While in Manchester, General Benjamin Lincoln, whose promotion in preferenceto Stark had been the cause for Stark's resignation from the Continental Army, attempted to assert Army authorityover Stark and his men. Stark refused, stating that he was solely responsible to the New Hampshire authorities.Stark then went on to Bennington with Warner as a guide, while Warner's men remained in Manchester. Lincoln re-turned to the American camp at Stillwater, where he and General Philip Schuyler hatched a plan for Lincoln, with500 men, to join with Stark and Warner in actions to harass Burgoyne's communications and supply lines atSkenes-boro. Baum's movements significantly altered these plans.

PHOTO NEWS

A Libyan holds banner during the protest against the newly electedparliament on August 8, 2014 in Benghazi, Libya. The parliament,elected on June 25, is to take over from the interim General NationalCongress (GNC) chosen in the wake of the 2011 NATO-backed revolu-tion that ousted Moamer Kadhafi.--AA

AUGUST 8: Bahraini opponents take part in a demonstration, hold upportrait of jailed political activists and call for Prime Minister ofBahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa resignation during ananti-government protest in Manama, Bahrain.--AA

SIRNAK, TURKEY - AUGUST 8: Iraqi Yezidi people flee Sinjar town ofMosul to Silopi district of Turkey's Sirnak city due to the attacks of Is-lamic State-led armed groups on August 8, 2014. Refugees crossedthe Habur border, fleeing attacks from Islamic State fighters, formerlyknown as ISIL to houses 3 kilometers away from Silopi district,Turkey. Iraq's Yezidi minority is now facing oppression and displace-ment because of their religion since Islamic State of Iraq and Levantled-forces took control of north-west Iraq in June.--AA

BEIRUT, LEBANON - AUGUST 8: Lebanese people distribute sweets inBeirut as they celebrate the former Lebanese Prime Minister SaadHariri's return to Lebanon on August 8, 2014. Former Lebanese PrimeMinister Saad Hariri returned to Beirut on Friday after three years ofself-exile in Paris.--AA

SKOPJE, MACEDONIA - AUGUST 8: Albanian Ethnics in Macedonia con-tinued to protest Friday against arbitrary imprisonment sentences ofAlbanians by Macedonian courts on August 8, 2014. Police preventedan planned protest by thousands of Albanians who gathered Friday todemonstrate in front of the Prime Ministry building and the court. Theprotests begun as a reaction to the life sentences given to six albanianethnics. “We want Justice” was the protestors' motto.--AA

ARSAL, LEBANON - AUGUST 8: Syrian refugees wait in Arsal ofLebanon, a town on the border with war-torn Syria, to return Syria inorder to flee from clashes between Lebanon army and armed groups,in Lebanon.--AA

ANKARA, TURKEY - AUGUST 8: Turkish Prime Minister and PresidentialCandidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets the crowd during a presiden-tial election rally in Ankara.--AA

MOSUL, IRAQ - AUGUST 8: Kurdish peshmerga fighters load missilelauncher during the clashes with the army groups led by Islamic Stateof Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul.--AA

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 8: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry(L) attends a press conference with Afghani presidential candidatesAshraf Ghani Ahmadzai (2nd L) and Abdullah Abdullah (3rd R) aheado the second round of presidential election in Kabul, Afghanistan onAugust 8, 2014. Afghanistan's presidential candidates agreed to re-solve their election dispute and they will set the inauguration beforethe end of August.--AA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - AUGUST 8: A car is stuck in flood waters afterheavy rain and firemen try to rescue the car from deep flood watersin Anatolian side of Istanbul.--AA

SALADIN, IRAQ - AUGUST 8: Iraqi army forces stand guard at Saladinfront against Islamic State-led militants' possible attacks on August8, 2014 in Iraq. It's stated that fierce clashes happen between Iraqiarmy forces and Islamic State-led militants in the city.--AA

CAIRO, EGYPT - AUGUST 8: Following the friday prayer, a group ofanti-coup protesters hold pictures of Mohamed Morsi and R4BIA signbanners during the anti-coup demonstration in Cairo, Egypt on August8, 2014.--AA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - AUGUST 08: Istanbul narcotics policemen con-duct a drug operation in Istanbul, Turkey on August 08, 2014. Nar-cotics officers caught more than ten suspects and seized 3 unlicensedguns, a pump action shotgun, a blank firing gun, a large quantity ofbullets and a large amount of marijuana, bonsai and ecstasy pills dur-ing the operation.--AA

ARSAL, LEBANON - AUGUST 8: Lebanese army personnel in militaryvehicles, arrive to the northern Lebanese town of Arsal, a town onthe border with Syria, during the temporary ceasefire between theLebanese army and militants on August 8, 2014. Arsal has been thescene of intense fighting between the Lebanese army and militants,believed to be coming from Syria, since Saturday.--AA

MOSUL, IRAQ - AUGUST 7: Iraqi Yezidis fled from Sinjar town takeshelter at the assigned area which given by governorship in SinjarMountains located northwestern Iraq, after the Islamic State of Iraqand the Levant (ISIL) seized Sinjar town in Mosul.--AA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - AUGUST 8: Passengers crowd wait the hall ofthe Ataturk airport after many cancellation of flights continue in Is-tanbul, Turkey on August 8, 2014. Flights were cancelled due to thebad weather conditions on August 7.--AA

MEULABOH, INDONESIA - AUGUST 7: Indonesian girl Raudhatul Jan-nah (2nd R) sits with her family after being reunited in Meulaboh,Aceh, Indonesia on August 7, 2014. Raudhatul Jannah, 14, wentmissing during the Indonesian tsunami 10 years ago after she wasrescued by fishermen drifting on the Indian Ocean on December 26,2004 ago. The Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a massive earth-quake off Sumatra island, killed 170,000 people in Aceh.--AA

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - AUGUST 7: British Permanent Repre-sentative to the United Nations (UN) Mark Lyall Grant speaks to thepress after an emergency meeting of the General Assembly of theUnited Nations on ISIL attacks in Iraq, at UN headquarters in NewYork, United States on August 7, 2014.--AA

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - AUGUST 7: A group of Azeri andTurkish protestors stage a protest against Armenian aggression onAzerbaijan, outside the White House in Washington.--AA

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - AUGUST 7: Yezidis living in Wash-ington stage a protest outside the White House in Washington,United States, August 7, 2014, against the ISIL attacks on Yezidis inIraq.--AA

KIEV, UKRAINE - AUGUST 7: Secretary General of NATO Anders FoghRasmussen holds a press conference after his meeting with Presidentof Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yat-senyuk and Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament OleksandrTurchynov, in Kiev, Ukraine on 7 August, 2014.--AA

ABUJA, NIGERIA - AUGUST 7: Nigeria's Health Minister OnyebuchiChukwu holds a press conference with the participation of consuls andembassadors regarding Ebola virus threat.--AA