What’s Happening Today?

Martyrs Day (Uganda). Christians all over Uganda celebrate Martyrs Day in commemoration of the 23 Anglican and 22 Catholic converts who were executed between January 31, 1885 and January 27, 1887, on the orders of then Buganda King Kabaka Mwanga II, for converting to Christianity.

Pilgrims normally trek from all over the country and the African continent to the shrines at Namugongo, which is the venue of the annual Christian extravaganza, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of this year’s celebrations.

World Bicycle Day. As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycles have been touted as one of the safest modes of travel since they restrict crowding and help ensure social distancing, one of the most successful ways of spreading the Coronavirus.

Today, we celebrate this ages-old mode of transport, which despite being considered out of fashion in many places of the world, has turned out to be of immense transport value during the lockdown.

What Happened Today?

1. In 1889, the first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States was completed, running a distance of 23 kilometers between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

2. In 2012, a plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a neighbourhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and 10 people on the ground.

3. In 2015, an explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana caused the death of more than 200 people.

4. In 2017, Islamist terrorists carried out the London Bridge Attack, killing eight people and wounding dozens. Three attackers were shot by police during the attack.

5. In 2019, over 100 people were killed when security forces accompanied by Janjaweed militiamen stormed and opened fire on a sit-in protest.