Today is Friday, October 5, the 278th day of 2007. There are 87 days left in the year.
869 _ The fourth Council of Constantinople (8th ecumenical council) opens
1582 Gregorian calendar introduced in Italy and other Catholic countries
1762 _ The opera ``Orfeo Ed Euridice" is produced (Vienna)
1864 Most of Calcutta destroyed by cyclone (approx 60,000 die)
1908 _ Bulgaria declares independence from Turkey, Ferdinand I becomes Tsar
1910 _ Portugal overthrows monarchy, proclaims republic
1923 Edwin Hubble identifies Cepheid variable star
1931 _ The first nonstop transpacific flight, Japan to Washington (Herndon & Pangborn)
1953 _ Earl Warren sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the U.S.
1962 _ Beatles release their first record ``Love Me Do"
1970 _ Quebec separatists kidnap British trade commissioner James Cross
1978 _ Isaac Bashevis Singer wins the Nobel Prize for literature
1983 _ Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize
1986 _ The London Sunday Times reports Israel is stocking nuclear arms