October 1

Independence Day
China : 1 October 1949
Cyprus : October 1 1960
Nigeria : October 1 1960
Palau : 1 October 1994
Tuvalu : 1 October 1978

October 1 : International Day of Older Persons

UN Secretary-General's Message for 2010
This Day marks the twentieth anniversary of the International Day of Older Persons. Older persons play an invaluable role in all societies -- as leaders, caregivers and volunteers – yet are also vulnerable to discrimination, abuse, neglect and violence.

The United Nations has long fought for the rights and well-being of older persons, and to make their voices heard. On this year’s observance, we celebrate hard-won achievements, especially those related to the Millennium Development Goals. In many countries older persons have benefited from reduced rates of poverty and hunger, improved access to medicines and health services, and greater education and work opportunities.

Yet, progress has been uneven, as it has been for the MDGs overall in all countries and regions. For example, in those countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic, it is often grandparents who are left to care for AIDS orphans. In sub-Saharan Africa, 20 per cent of rural women aged 60 and older are the sole supporters for their grandchildren. These caregivers, who take on added and often unexpected responsibilities, typically with little or none of the necessary resources, desperately need social services, especially social pensions, so that they and their families have a chance for life beyond mere survival.

The number and proportion of older persons is growing rapidly. In the past three decades their numbers have doubled. By 2050, the global population of older persons will total two billion– a significant shift in the world’s demographic profile, with implications for us all.

On this International Day, I call on governments to do more to address the needs of older persons. The key interventions are well-known: granting universal access to social services; increasing the number and worth of pension plans; and creating laws and policies that prevent age and gender discrimination in the workplace. With five years left before the 2015 MDG deadline, it is time for governments everywhere to institute the financial, legal and social protections that will lift millions of older persons out of poverty and ensure their rights to dignified, productive and healthy lives.

Ban Ki-moon

About International Day of Older Persons.
On 14 December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly (by resolution 45/106) designated 1 October the International Day of Older Persons.

This was preceded by initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing - which was adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing - and endorsed later that year by the UN General Assembly.

In 1991, the General Assembly (by resolution 46/91) adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons.

In 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing adopted the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages.

The theme of the year 2010's commemoration is "Older persons and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)". This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the UN International Day of Older Persons.

Past Observances
2009 - Celebrating the 10th Anniversary fo the International Year of Older Persons: Towards a Society for All Ages
2008 - Rights of Older Persons
2007 - Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of Ageing
2006 - Improving the Quality of Life for Older Persons: Advancing UN Global Strategies
2005 - Ageing in the new millennium. Focus on poverty, older women and development
2004 - Older persons in an intergenerational society
2009 - Celebrating the 10th Anniversary fo the International Year of Older Persons: Towards a Society for All Ages
2008 - Rights of Older Persons
2007 - Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of Ageing
2006 - Improving the Quality of Life for Older Persons: Advancing UN Global Strategies
2005 - Ageing in the new millennium. Focus on poverty, older women and development
2004 - Older persons in an intergenerational society

Events

331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
959 – Edgar the Peaceable becomes king of all England.
1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
1553 – Coronation of Queen Mary I of England.
1787 – Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat the Turks at Kinburn.
1791 – First session of the French Legislative Assembly.
1795 – Belgium is conquered by France.
1800 – Spain cedes Louisiana to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana.
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1827 – Russo-Persian War: The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
1829 – South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; it will later separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
1832 – Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas.
1843 – The News of the World tabloid begins publication in London.
1847 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1854 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.
1880 – John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Band.
1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison.
1887 – Balochistan is conquered by the British Empire.
1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.
1891 – In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1898 – The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.
1903 – Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.
1905 – František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janáček to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.
1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, California, killing 21.
1918 – World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia" capture Damascus.
1920 – Sir Percy Cox lands in Basra to assume his responsibilities as high commissioner in Iraq.
1928 – The Soviet Union introduces its First Five-Year Plan.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.
1936 – Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain.
1937 – The Japanese city Handa is founded in Aichi Prefecture.
1938 – Germany annexes the Sudetenland.
1939 – After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile forces enter the city.
1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
1942 – USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she is carrying British PoWs from Hong Kong
1942 – First flight of the Bell XP-59 "Aircomet".
1943 – World War II: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.
1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at Nuremberg Trials.
1946 – Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.
1947 – The F-86 Sabre flies for the first time.
1949 – The People's Republic of China is established and declared by Mao Zedong.
1957 – First appearance of In God We Trust on U.S. paper currency.
1958 – NASA is created to replace NACA.
1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1961 – East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
1962 – First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.
1964 – Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.
1965 – General Suharto rises to power after a coup that alleged to the Communist Party of Indonesia. In response, Suharto and his army massacre over a million Indonesians suspected of being communists. The killings of 7 army officers happened in the early hours of 1 October 1965.
1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with eighteen fatalities and no survivors 5.5 miles south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.
1968 – The Guyanese government takes over the British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS).
1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1971 – The first brain-scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) is performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.
1975 – The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu.
1975 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
1978 – Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1978 – The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.
1979 – The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
1982 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a Constructive Vote of No Confidence.
1982 – EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1982 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
1985 – The Israeli air force bombs PLO Headquarters in Tunis.
1987 – The Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley, registering as magnitude 5.9.
1989 – Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership".
1991 – New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 comes into force.
1991 – The Siege of Dubrovnik begins.
1994 – Palau gains independence from the United Nations (trusteeship administered by the United States of America).
1998 – Vladimir Putin becomes a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
2009 – The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (South Korea)
Christian Feast Day:
Abai (Syrian Orthodox Church)
Bavo of Ghent
Blessed Edward James
Nicetius (Roman Catholic Church)
Remigius
Thérèse de Lisieux
Protection/Patronage of the Theotokos (Eastern Catholic Churches)
October 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Children's Day (Singapore)
Earliest day on which World Habitat Day can fall, while October 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of October. (International)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Cyprus from United Kingdom in 1960.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Nigeria from United Kingdom in 1960.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Palau from the UN Trust Territory status in 1994.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tuvalu from United Kingdom in 1978.
International Day of Older Persons
National Day of the People's Republic of China (China)
Pancasila Sanctity Day (Indonesia)
Teacher's Day (Uzbekistan)
Unification Day (Cameroon)
World Vegetarian Day (from North American Vegetarian Society)

For details, contact Datacentre