Historical timeline for October 16

Storm Ophelia strikes the U.K. and Ireland causing major damage and power loss.

Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashes on approach to Pakse International Airport in Laos, killing 49 people.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Egypt, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.

The magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake strikes Southern California

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant.

Eighty-four football fans die and 180 are injured in a massive crush at a match in Guatemala City.

The Million Man March takes place in Washington, D.C. About 837,000 attend.

The Skye Bridge in Scotland is opened.

George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20.

Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.

The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.

Indonesian troops kill the Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists, in Portuguese Timor.

Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.

Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.

Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.

Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

China detonates its first nuclear weapon.