11 October 1689

A bomb exploded in the Myyrmanni shopping center in Helsinki, Finland (aftermath pictured), resulting in seven deaths and 159 injuries.

Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers and enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

An estimated 750,000 people attended the "Great March" in Washington, D.C., to demand greater civil rights for the LGBT community.

Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan (pictured) became the first American woman to perform a space walk.

Typhoon Nora, the fourth-most intense tropical cyclone on record, dissipated after killing 40 people and leaving more than a million homeless across Taiwan and the Philippines.

Apollo 7, the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in Cape Kennedy, Florida.

CBS's field-sequential color system for television was the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

World War II: At the Battle of Cape Esperance on the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, American ships intercepted and defeated a Japanese fleet sent to attack Henderson Field.

Former British king Edward and his wife arrived at Berlin Friedrichstraße station to begin a tour of Nazi Germany, where they were greeted with Nazi salutes and dined with high-ranking members of the state apparatus.

In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded.

The Morant Bay rebellion, led by Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, began in Jamaica; after protestors burned down the courthouse, it was brutally suppressed by Governor Edward John Eyre.

The University of Sydney (pictured), Australia's oldest university, was inaugurated two years after being established by the University of Sydney Act.

Bashir Shihab II (pictured) surrendered to the Ottoman Empire and was removed as Emir of Mount Lebanon after an imperial decree by Sultan Abdülmecid I.

French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captured eleven Dutch Navy ships without any losses at the Battle of Camperdown.

American Revolutionary War: A British fleet defeated American ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, but gave American forces enough time to prepare their defenses for the Saratoga campaign.

The Treaty of Shaoxing was ratified, ending the Jin–Song wars, although sporadic fighting continued until 1234.

Soyuz MS-10, launching an intended crew for the ISS, suffers an in-flight abort. The crew lands safely.

A bomb attack in a Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.

The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.

NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission.

Prof. Anita Hill delivers her televised testimony concerning sexual harassment during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is first displayed during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Iceland to continue discussions about scaling back IRBM arsenals in Europe.

Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.