On This Day — 10 July
2000s
2019
The final Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the line in Puebla, Mexico; the last of 5,961 "Special Edition" cars will be exhibited in a museum.
Volkswagen Beetle
2018
Tham Luang cave rescue: A group of Thai school children and their football coach are all rescued from a cave after being stuck there for 18 days; one Thai Navy SEAL diver dies during the rescue mission.
Tham Luang cave rescue
2017
Iraqi Civil War: Mosul is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by the government of Iraq.
War in Iraq (2013–2017)
2016
Portugal defeats France in the UEFA Euro 2016 Final to win their first European title.
Portugal national football team
2012
The Episcopal Church USA allows same-sex marriage.
Episcopal Church (United States)
2011
Russian cruise ship Bulgaria sinks in the Volga River near Syukeyevo, Tatarstan, causing 122 deaths.
Bulgaria (1955 ship)
2011
Amid widespread backlash to revelations of phone hacking, the British weekly tabloid newspaper News of the World publishes its final issue and shuts down after nearly 168 years in print.
News International phone hacking scandal
2008
Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all war-crimes charges by a United Nations tribunal.
Ljube Boškoski
2007
Erden Eruç begins the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
Erden Eruç
2006
A Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Multan International Airport, killing all 45 people on board.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 688
2002
The Massacre of the Innocents, a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, is sold at a Sotheby's auction for £49.5 million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson.
Massacre of the Innocents (Rubens)
2000
EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace group is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA, and CASA.
Airbus
2000
Bashar al-Assad succeeds his father Hafez al-Assad as President of Syria.
Bashar al-Assad
1900s
1999
In women's association football, the United States defeats China in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl near Los Angeles to win the final match of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Watched by 90,185 spectators, the final sets a new world record for attendance at a women's sporting event.
Association football
1998
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claim they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases
1997
In London, scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
DNA
1997
Miguel Ángel Blanco, a member of Partido Popular (Spain), is kidnapped (and later murdered) in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests.
Miguel Ángel Blanco
1995
Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
Myanmar
1995
The NIOSH air filtration ratings update with the enactment of 42 CFR 84, previously published in the Federal Register. The new regulation includes rules governing the new N95 respirator standard.
NIOSH air filtration rating
1992
In Miami, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.
Miami
1991
The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
South Africa national cricket team
1991
Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.
Boris Yeltsin
1991
A Beechcraft Model 99 crashes near Birmingham Municipal Airport (now Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport) in Birmingham, Alabama, killing 13 of the 15 people on board.
L'Express Airlines Flight 508
1985
The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.
Greenpeace
1985
An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 stalls and crashes near Uchkuduk, Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union), killing all 200 people on board in the USSR's worst-ever airline disaster.
Aeroflot Flight 5143
1978
President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état.
Moktar Ould Daddah
1976
Four mercenaries (one American and three British) are executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial.
Angola
1974
An EgyptAir Tupolev Tu-154 stalls and crashes at Cairo International Airport, killing all six people on board.
1974 EgyptAir Tupolev Tu-154 crash
1973
The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Bahamas
1967
New Zealand decimalises its former currency to the modern-day New Zealand dollar.
New Zealand
1966
The Chicago Freedom Movement, co-founded by Martin Luther King Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago; as many as 60,000 people attend.
Chicago Freedom Movement
1962
Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
Telstar 1
1951
Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
Korean War
1948
The official establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).: 121
Day of the Foundation of the Republic
1947
Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
1943
World War II: Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, begins.
Allied invasion of Sicily
1942
World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the "Akutan Zero"), which the US Navy then uses to learn the aircraft's flight characteristics.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero
1941
Jedwabne pogrom: Massacre of Polish Jews living in and near the village of Jedwabne.
Jedwabne pogrom
1940
World War II: The Vichy government is established in France.
World War II
1940
World War II: Six days before Adolf Hitler issues his Directive 16 to the combined Wehrmacht armed forces for Operation Sea Lion, the Kanalkampf shipping attacks begin against British maritime convoys in the leadup to initiating the Battle of Britain.
Adolf Hitler
1938
Howard Hughes begins a 91-hour airplane flight around the world that will set a new record.
Howard Hughes
1927
Kevin O'Higgins TD, Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, is assassinated by the IRA.
Kevin O'Higgins
1925
Scopes trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins of John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
Scopes trial
1924
Paavo Nurmi wins the 1,500 m and 5,000 m events at the Paris Olympics, with just an hour between the two races.
Paavo Nurmi
1921
Belfast's Bloody Sunday occurs with 20 killings, at least 100 wounded and 200 homes destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Bloody Sunday (1921)
1920
Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
Arthur Meighen
1800s
1890
Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
Wyoming
1883
War of the Pacific: Chileans led by Alejandro Gorostiaga defeat Andrés Avelino Cáceres's Peruvian army at the Battle of Huamachuco, hastening the end of the war.
War of the Pacific
1882
War of the Pacific: Chile suffers its last military defeat in the Battle of La Concepción when a garrison of 77 men is annihilated by a 1,300-strong Peruvian force, many of them armed with spears.
War of the Pacific
1877
The then-villa of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, formally receives its city charter from the Royal Crown of Spain.
Villa
1850
U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming president upon Zachary Taylor's death.
Millard Fillmore
1832
U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
Andrew Jackson
1806
The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
Vellore Mutiny
Before 1800
1789
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta.
Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)
1778
American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
American Revolution
1668
Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1671): Notable Buccaneer Henry Morgan with an English Privateer force lands at Porto Bello in an attempt to capture the fortified and lucrative Spanish city.
Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660)
1645
English Civil War: The Battle of Langport takes place.
English Civil War
1584
William I of Orange is assassinated in his home in Delft, Holland, by Balthasar Gérard.
William the Silent
1553
Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
Lady Jane Grey
1519
Zhu Chenhao declares the Ming dynasty's Zhengde Emperor a usurper, beginning the Prince of Ning rebellion, and leads his army north in an attempt to capture Nanjing.
Zhu Chenhao
1512
The Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre commences with the capture of Goizueta.
Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre
1499
The Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.
Nicolau Coelho
1460
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, defeats the king's Lancastrian forces and takes King Henry VI prisoner in the Battle of Northampton.
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
1290
Ladislaus IV, King of Hungary, is assassinated at the castle of Körösszeg (modern-day Cheresig in Romania).
Ladislaus IV of Hungary
1212
The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.
Early fires of London
988
The Norse King Glúniairn recognises Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, High King of Ireland, and agrees to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law; the event is considered to be the founding of the city of Dublin.
Glúniairn
645
Isshi Incident: Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari assassinate Soga no Iruka during a coup d'état at the imperial palace.
Isshi incident
420
Having usurped the throne of Emperor Gong of Jin, Liu Yu proclaims himself Emperor of the Liu Song dynasty.
AD 420
138
Emperor Hadrian of Rome dies of heart failure at his residence on the bay of Naples, Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.
AD 138