Happy Birthday to Panama!

Luzhniki Stadium, the largest football stadium in Russia. It will host 7 games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including the opening and the final matches. *Photo from Wikipedia June 12 is Russia Day, the national holiday of the Russian Federation. It commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on June 12, 1990. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world’s first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which is often considered as one of the most beautiful mosques in the Asia Pacific. *Photo from Wikipedia January 1 is: Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Brunei from United Kingdom in 1984. During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline. The Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke and installed him as the White Rajah. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British resident as colonial manager in 1906. After the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, a small armed rebellion

People performing a welcome ceremony. *Photo from Wikipedia November 3 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Federated States of Micronesia from the United States in 1986. The history of the modern Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is one of settlement by Micronesians; colonization by Spain, Germany, and Japan; United Nations trusteeship under United States-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; and gradual independence beginning with the ratification of a sovereign constitution in 1979. The FSM signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States, which entered into force on November 3, 1986, marking Micronesia’s emergence from trusteeship