10 April 1261

Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project released the first image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87.

Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo announced that he had suspended the constitution and assumed all governance in the country after it was ruled that the government of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was illegal.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Dozens of Armenian civilians were massacred in the village of Maraga by Azerbaijani forces.

In the deadliest aviation accident in Swiss history, Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashed into a hillside near Hochwald, killing 108 people of 145 on board.

In the midst of business disagreements with his bandmates, Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles.

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank with all hands lost during deep-diving tests in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Holocaust: Slovak Jewish prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz, later publishing a report that became one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the camp's mass killings.

The Great Gatsby (cover pictured), a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published by Scribner's.

Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata was shot to death near Ciudad Ayala, Morelos.

Big Ben, the bell in the Palace of Westminster's clock tower in London, was cast after the original bell cracked during testing.

Mount Tambora (pictured) in Indonesia began the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history, killing at least 71,000 people and affecting temperatures worldwide.

Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition began with the Austrian invasion of Bavaria, then a client state of France.

War of the Austrian Succession: Prussian forces defeated Austrian troops at the Battle of Mollwitz in present-day Małujowice, Poland, cementing Frederick II's authority over the newly conquered territory of Silesia.

Bach led the first performance of his cantata Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, his first cantata composed for Easter in Leipzig.

Pope Leo IV was consecrated without imperial consent following the Saracen sack of Rome.

A mass shooting occurs at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, that leaves five victims dead and eight wounded.

The Paravur temple accident, in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for the seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.

Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.

President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.

Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy, killing 140.

A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola, the first to be documented by satellites.

Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He died twenty-six days later.

Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people.

Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland, killing 108 people.