On This Day: May 10th

Start of the May 2024 solar storms, the most powerful set of geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.

Queen Elizabeth II misses the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in 59 years. It was the first time that a new session of Parliament was opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge acting as Counsellors of State.

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last footholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Al-Tabqah, bringing the Battle of Tabqa to an end.

One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.

A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 20 m from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.

FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran's Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.

A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.

Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.