Happy Birthday to Panama!

Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus. *Photo from Wikipedia July 3 is Belarus’ Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944. The decision to celebrate Independence Day on July 3, the day of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazis, was made during the 1996 national referendum proposed by President Alexander Lukashenko. After an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into the Kingdom of Lithuania, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution,

Asunción, the capital and largest city of Paraguay. *Photo from Wikipedia May 14 is Paraguay’s Flag Day, the real date of the independence of Paraguay from Spain in 1811. Celebration continues the next main day, Independence Day. The indigenous Guaraní had been living in Paraguay for at least a millennium before the Spanish conquered the territory in the 16th century. Spanish settlers and Jesuit missions introduced Christianity and Spanish culture to the region. Paraguay was a peripheral colony of the Spanish Empire, with few urban centers and settlers. In early 1811 Paraguayan forces had repeatedly defeated Argentinian army which considered

City of Perth Skyworks on Australia Day, 2006. *Photo from Wikipedia January 26 is Australia Day, the official National Day of Australia. It marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip. Convicts in Britain were originally transported to the Thirteen Colonies in North America. But after the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the newly formed United States refused to accept further convicts. The settlement was seen as necessary because of the