By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Monday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2021. There are 88 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlights in History:

On Oct. 4, 2002, ìAmerican Talibanî John Walker Lindh received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. (He was released from prison in May, 2019.) In a federal court in Boston, a laughing Richard Reid pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives in his shoes (the British citizen was later sentenced to life in prison).

On this date:

In 1814, French painter Jean-Francois Millet was born in Normandy.

In 1861, during the Civil War, the United States Navy authorized construction of the first ironclad ship, the USS Monitor.

In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps.

In 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.

In 1976, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over an obscene joke heíd made that was derogatory to Black people.

In 1990, for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers met in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germanyís parliament.

In 1991, 26 nations, including the United States, signed the Madrid Protocol, which imposed a 50-year ban on oil exploration and mining in Antarctica.

In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 70th home run to tie Mark McGwireís 1998 record in a 10-2 victory over the Houston Astros.

In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earthís atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, California, at age 77.

In 2019, Diahann Carroll died in Los Angeles at the age of 84 after a bout with breast cancer; sheíd been the first Black woman to star as a non-servant in her own television series ìJulia,î which ran from 1968 to 1973.

Ten years ago: Three U.S.-born scientists, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace. The NBA canceled the entire 114-game preseason schedule because a new collective bargaining agreement had not been reached with the National Basketball Players Association.

Five years ago: Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine repeatedly challenged Mike Pence during their vice presidential debate, attempting to tie the Indiana governor to some of Donald Trumpís most controversial statements about women, immigrants and foreign policy, while Trumpís running mate maintained a folksy, soft-spoken demeanor as he defended Trump.

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