Today is Monday, October 4, the 277th day of 2010. There are 88 days left in the year.
1582 _ Last day of the Julian calendar in Italy, many Catholic countries
1824 _ Mexico becomes a republic
1830 _ Provisional government declares secession of Belgium from Netherlands
1940 _ Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini confer at Brenner Pass in the Alps
1955 _ Rev. Moon Sun-myung leaves prison in Seoul
1957 _ USSR launches Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite
1958 _ Fifth French republic established
1965 _ Pope Paul VI becomes first Pope to visit Western Hemisphere (U.N.)
1970 _ Herbert Schmidtz makes highest parachute jump from a tower by leaping from a 1,984-ft TV mast in Tulsa, Okla.
1984 _ U.S. government closes down due to budget problems