history at a glance

TODAY is Sunday October 4 the 278th day of the year. There are 88 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

1958 – Fifth Republic of France is established.

1965 – Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first Pope to visit the United States of America and the Western hemisphere.

1967 – Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

1991 – The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.

1992 – The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16 year civil war in Mozambique.

1992 – El Al Flight 1862: an El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.

1993 – Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.

2001 – Sydney University announce world’s first successful selection of seen before conception in 25 lambs.

2001 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: a Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.

2002 – Nepal’s King Gyanendra dismissed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and took over the government.

2003 – Maxiim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: Twenty-one Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.

2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.