October 10 in history — What Happened Today in History

The 7.1 Mw El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria, killing 2,633 and injuring 8,369.

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is founded in El Salvador.

The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant began operations in Eurajoki, Satakunta, Finland.

Papua New Guinea joins the United Nations.

U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax.

Aeroflot Flight 773 is destroyed by a bomb over Moscow Oblast, killing 25.

Fiji becomes independent.

Canada's October Crisis escalates when Quebec Vice Premier Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec.

The Outer Space Treaty comes into force.

The Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony is the first to be relayed live by satellites.

France cedes control of the Bizerte naval base to Tunisia.

The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty comes into effect.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to Ghanaian finance minister Komla Agbeli Gbedemah after he is refused service in a Delaware restaurant.

The Windscale fire results in Britain's worst nuclear accident.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Muscat, Neil Innes, sends a signal to the Sultanate's forces, accompanied with oil explorers, to penetrate Fahud, marking the beginning of Jebel Akhdar War.

The Double Tenth Agreement is signed by the Communist Party and the Kuomintang about the future of China.

Abiding by the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia completes its withdrawal from the Sudetenland.

In Greece, a coup d'état ends the Second Hellenic Republic.

A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.

Chiang Kai-shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.

The Carinthian plebiscite determines that the larger part of the Duchy of Carinthia should remain part of Austria.

RMS Leinster is torpedoed and sunk by UB-123, killing 564, the largest loss of life on the Irish Sea.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, completing major construction on the Panama Canal.

The day after a bomb explodes prematurely, the Wuchang Uprising begins against the Chinese monarchy.

The Women's Social and Political Union is founded in support of the enfranchisement of British women.

The Ten Years' War begins against Spanish rule in Cuba.

Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune, is discovered by English astronomer William Lassell.

In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 students.

Lali Espósito, Argentinian actress and singer

Mariana Pajón, Colombian cyclist

Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss footballer

Shelby Miller, American baseball player

Geno Smith, American football player

Kolten Wong, American baseball player

Jeurys Familia, Dominican baseball player

Emer Kenny, English actress and screenwriter

Shaun Fensom, Australian rugby league player

Brown Ideye, Nigerian footballer

Rose McIver, New Zealand actress

Ryan Mathews, American football player

Nathan Jawai, Australian basketball player

Damiana Eugenio, Filipino author and academic (born 1921)

Valeri Karpov, Russian ice hockey player (born 1971)

Lari Ketner, American football and basketball player (born 1977)

Pavel Landovský, Czech actor, director, and playwright (born 1936)

Ed Nimmervoll, Austrian-Australian journalist, historian, and author (born 1947)

Scott Carpenter, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (born 1925)

Jay Conrad Levinson, American author and educator (born 1933)

Sohei Miyashita, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Defense (born 1927)

Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (born 1932)

Sam Gibbons, American captain and politician (born 1920)

Alex Karras, American football player, wrestler, and actor (born 1935)

Piotr Lenartowicz, Polish philosopher and educator (born 1934)

Basil L. Plumley, American sergeant (born 1920)