Events of the day
World Vasectomy Day
World Vasectomy Day is an event that was planned by producers Gabriel Films and Smith&Nasht on October 18, 2013, to raise global awareness of vasectomy as a solution to prevent unintended pregnancies. The goal is for doctors all over the world to perform approximately 1000 vasectomies, connected to the event via Skype and social media platforms.

320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1016 – The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Ashingdon.
1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1210 – Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV.
1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
1386 – Opening of the University of Heidelberg.
1540 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
1599 – Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Bathory in the Battle of Şelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.
1648 – Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1748 – Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) prompts the Continental Congress to establish the Continental Navy.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.
1797 – Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria
1851 – Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1860 – The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
1898 – United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.
1912 – First Balkan War: Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as Serbia joins the war.
1914 – The Schoenstatt Movement is founded in Germany.
1921 – The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the RSFSR.
1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
1929 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
1944 – Soviet Union begins liberation of Czechoslovakia.
1945 – The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1945 – A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against then president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.
1945 – Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Perón.
1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.
1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
1968 – The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
1977 – German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.
1991 – The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
2003 – Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
2007 – Karachi bombings: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself is not injured.

Holidays and observances

Alaska Day (Alaska)
Persons Day (Canada)
Christian Feast Day:
Justus of Beauvais
Luke the Evangelist
October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Necktie Day (Croatia)

For details, contact Datacentre