What’s Happening Today?

International Youth Day. It is celebrated annually on 12 August to bring youth issues to the attention of the international community and to celebrate the potential of youth as active partners in the global society. The theme of International Youth Day 2021 is, “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, with the aim of highlighting that the success of such a global effort will not be achieved without the meaningful participation of young people.

World Elephant Day. World Elephant Day is an international annual event on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants. Conceived in 2011 by Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark of Canazwest Pictures, and Sivaporn Dardarananda, Secretary-General of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation in Thailand, it was officially founded, supported and launched by Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation on August 12, 2012.

What Happened Today?

1.    In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World. Here, he restocked provisions and made repairs and then departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on 6 September, for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean. His next stop was the island now known as the Bahamas.

2.    In 1964, South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.  During the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the South African team from participating in the Olympics in order to demonstrate the unified and international disapproval of South African apartheid.

3.    In 2005, Raska Lukwiya, one of the top-ranking LRA rebel leaders, was killed by government forces.  Lukwiya was the third highest-ranking leader of the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group and he served successively as Brigade General, Deputy Army Commander and Army Commander of the LRA, the last being the highest LRA rank after those held by Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti. 

Birthdays

1.    1947 – Daniel Omara Atubo, former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development from May 2006 until May 2011.

2.    1988 – Tyson Fury, current two-time world heavyweight boxing champion and holder of the WBC and Ring Magazine titles.

Sources: Wikipedia, uca.edu & bornglorious.com

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