What’s Happening Today?

World Health Day. The World Health Day is held to mark WHO's founding and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly. The Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect from 1950, as World Health Day.

Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda). On April 7th, Rwanda memorializes victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Unlike other official holidays in Rwanda, this holiday is always observed on the same date, even if it falls on a weekend. Also known as Kwibuka ('To Remember'), this day marks the beginning of the national mourning period.

What Happened Today?

1. In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) was established. It was meant to act as a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health.

2. In 1994, Civil War broke out in Rwanda. By the end of the war, Hutu extremists had murdered an estimated 800,000 innocent civilian Tutsis in the worst episode of genocide since World War II, Earlier in the day, Rwandan armed forces killed 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers to discourage the International Community from intervening in the forthcoming Genocide.

3. In 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 6-3 to uphold a 50-year-old Virginia law making it a crime to burn a cross as an act of intimidation, The practice of "Burning A Cross" is widely associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

Birthdays

1. 1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, director, stuntman, action choreographer, and musician

2. 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor, producer, director, and musician

Sources: Wikipedia, officeholiday.com & thepeoplehistory.com