Kevin Gower

On September 7th 1822, a declaration of independence from Portugal was made by Pedro di Alcântara, the 23-year-old son of the Portuguese King. He famously declared, “Independência ou Morte!” (Independence or Death) by the banks of the Ipiranga River in São Paulo.

Brazil had been a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. In 1807 France had invaded Portugal and the Portuguese royal family had escaped to Brazil. in 1815, Brazil was given equal kingdom status with Portugal. By 1820, the French had withdrawn from Portugal and the royal family.

Alcântara, better known as Dom Pedro I, became the first emperor of Brazil and ruled from 1823 until 1831.

A MAN in his mid-40s has been hospitalised after mistakenly listening to a song released in 2025.

Audit manager Shane, aged 46, not his real name or age, was rushed to A&E after hearing almost two minutes of an empowering and provocative Chappell Roan track whilst popping to the Co-op to pick up some milk.

First responder Emma Bradford said: “Poor guy. His aging immune system was completely unprepared for a suggestive country-pop song backed with electronic hooks.

“Based purely on age, new music that isn’t into the revived shoegaze genre or on heavy rotation on Radio 6 will automatically send his body into shock. Thankfully he wasn’t exposed to Harry Styles’s gender nonconformity, but next time he might not be so lucky.

“Doctors have got him hooked up to a steady drip of Crash Test Dummies and The Longpigs to bring his vitals under control. It’s too early to say if he’ll ever be able to listen to anything this side of Franz Ferdinand’s debut.

“The shop was irresponsible. It was obvious Martin wasn’t ready for provocative lesbian pop hits by his grey temples and the amount of wine he was buying on a Tuesday. They should be like pubs, which haven’t spooked their clientele with new music since 2016.”

Shane said: “It’s not that I’m afraid of new music. I just need to listen to Surfer Rosa 2,000 more times before I’m ready to move on.”

Bulgaria became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1396. In April 1876, there was a series of uprisings against Ottoman rule in Bulgaria.

The harsh suppression of the revolts by the Ottomans led to widespread international condemnation and in April 1877, Russia formally declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The war ended in March 1878 with the signing of the San Stefano peace treaty. The other leading nations at the time felt that the peace treaty created a Bulgaria, that was too large and would have too much influence on the region. As a result, under the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Southern Bulgaria (Eastern Rumelia) was separated from the Principality of Bulgaria and returned to the Ottoman Empire, with partial autonomy.

Bulgarians felt that the decision of the Berlin Treaty was unfair. Over the following seven years, initially peaceful demonstrations gave way to rebellion and conflict. The Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee was formed in February 1885, which organised events and revolts in towns in Eastern Rumelia, designed to assist in the unification process. On September 6th 1885, Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia declared their unification in the city of Plovdiv.