site.btaToday's Observances: January 4

The world:

- National Day of Myanmar: Independence Day (1948).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1878: Sofia Liberation Day (marks anniversary of Sofia's Liberation from Ottoman rule by General Yosif V. Gurko's Russian troops in 1878).

1915: Military Academy, Bulgaria's oldest military school, is inaugurated in Sofia.

1924: State Protection Act is passed, enters into force on January 23, 1924. Invoked to outlaw five parties and public organizations and to confiscate their properties on April 2, 1924; amended and supplemented four times; repealed on October 16, 1944.

1969: Diplomatic relations are established with Malaysia at embassy level.

1990: Movement for Rights and Freedoms is established in the coastal city of Varna.