UN
Day
International
Day for Disaster Reduction
October
13 : World Sight Day
World
Sight Day is an annual day of awareness
to focus global attention on blindness,
visual impairment and rehabilitation of
the visually impaired held on the second
Thursday in October.
World
Sight Day is observed around the world
by all partners involved in preventing
visual impairment or restoring sight.
It is also the main advocacy event for
the prevention of blindness and for "Vision
2020: The Right to Sight", a global
effort to prevent blindness created by
WHO and the International Agency for the
Prevention
Events
54
– Roman Emperor Claudius is poisoned to
death under mysterious circumstances.
His 17-year-old stepson Nero succeeds
him to the Roman throne
409 – Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees
and appear in Hispania.
1307 – Hundreds of Knights Templar in
France are simultaneously arrested by
agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later
tortured into a "confession"
of heresy.
1332 – Rinchinbal Khan, Emperor Ningzong
of Yuan becomes the Khagan of the Mongols
and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, reigning
for only 53 days.
1582 – Because of the implementation of
the Gregorian calendar, this day does
not exist in this year in Italy, Poland,
Portugal and Spain.
1710 – Port Royal, the capital of French
Acadia, falls in a siege by British forces.
1773 – The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered
by Charles Messier.
1775 – The United States Continental Congress
orders the establishment of the Continental
Navy (later renamed the United States
Navy).
1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone
of the United States Executive Mansion
(known as the White House since 1818)
is laid.
1812 – War of 1812: Battle of Queenston
Heights – As part of the Niagara campaign
in Ontario, Canada, United States forces
under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are
repulsed from invading Canada by British
and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.
1843 – In New York City, Henry Jones and
11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest
Jewish service organization in the world).
1845 – A majority of voters in the Republic
of Texas approve a proposed constitution,
that if accepted by the U.S. Congress,
will make Texas a U.S. state.
1881 – Revival of the Hebrew language
as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree
to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations.
1884 – Greenwich, in London, England,
is established as Universal Time meridian
of longitude.
1885 – The Georgia Institute of Technology
(Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta,
United States.
1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard discovers
D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered
by photographic means, on the night of
October 13–14.
1915 – The Battle for the Hohenzollern
Redoubt marks the end of the Battle of
Loos in northern France, World War I.
1917 – The "Miracle of the Sun"
is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people
in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.
1918 – Mehmed Talat Pasha and the Young
Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resign and sign
an armistice, ending Ottoman participation
in World War I.
1921 – The Soviet republics of Russia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia sign
the Treaty of Kars with the Grand National
Assembly of Turkey to establish the contemporary
borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus
states.
1923 – Ankara replaces Istanbul as the
capital of Turkey.
1943 – World War II: The new government
of Italy sides with the Allies and declares
war on Germany.
1944 – World War II: Riga, the capital
of Latvia is occupied by the Red Army.
1946 – France adopts the constitution
of the Fourth Republic.
1962 – The Pacific Northwest experiences
a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane.
Winds measured above 150 mph at several
locations; 46 people died.
1967 – The first game in the history of
the American Basketball Association is
played as the Anaheim Amigos lose to the
Oakland Oaks 134-129 in Oakland, California.
1970 – Fiji joins the United Nations.
1972 – An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashes
outside Moscow killing 176.
1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
crashes in the Andes mountains, near the
border between Argentina and Chile. By
December 23, 1972, only 16 out of 45 people
lived long enough to be rescued.
1976 – A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet
crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing
100 (97, mostly children, killed on the
ground).
1976 – The first electron micrograph of
an Ebola viral particle is obtained by
Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who
was then working at the C.D.C.
1977 – Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa
Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release
of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications
(now AT&T) launched the first US cellular
network in Chicago, Illinois.
1990 – End of the Lebanese Civil War.
Syrian forces launch an attack on the
free areas of Lebanon removing General
Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
1992 – An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov
Airlines registered SSSR-82002, crashes
near Kiev, Ukraine killing 8.
2010 – The 2010 Copiapó mining accident
in Copiapó, Chile comes to an end as all
33 miners arrive at the surface after
surviving a record 69 days underground
awaiting rescue.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Blessed Alexandrina of Balasar
Edward the Confessor (translation)
Gerald of Aurillac
Our Lady of Fátima
Theophilus of Antioch
October 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Fontanalia, in honor of Fontus. (Roman
Empire)
National Police Day (Thailand)
For details, contact Datacentre
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