By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2021. There are 93 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Sept. 29, 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

On this date:

In 1829, Londonís reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1918, Allied forces began their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakiaís Sudetenland. In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship HMS Nelson off Malta.

In 1962, Canada joined the space age as it launched the Alouette 1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The musical ìMy Fair Ladyî closed on Broadway after 2,717 performances.

In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)

In 1986, the Soviet Union released Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined on spying charges. In 2000, Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.

In 2001, President George W. Bush condemned Afghanistanís Taliban rulers for harboring Osama bin Laden and his followers as the United States pressed its military and diplomatic campaign against terror. In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nationís 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

In 2006, U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages heíd sent to former House pages.

Ten years ago: Germany kept alive hopes that the 17-nation euro currency could survive the debt crisis as lawmakers in Europeís largest economy voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanding the powers of the eurozoneís bailout fund.