The Almanac

Today is Monday, May 6, the 126th day of 2002 with 239 to follow.

The moon is waning, moving toward its new phase.

There are no morning stars.

The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1740; French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre in 1758; Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and Arctic explorer Robert Peary, both in 1856; silent screen star Rudolph Valentino in 1895; actor Stewart Granger in 1913; actor-director Orson Welles and author Theodore White, both in 1915; baseball player Willie Mays in 1931 (age 71); rock musician Bob Seger in 1945 (age 57); British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1953 (age 49); "Hollywood Squares" host Tom Bergeron in 1955 (age 47); and actors George Clooney ("ER") in 1961 (age 41) and Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel" in 1964 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1527, German troops sacked Rome, killing some 4,000 people and looting works of art and literature as part of a series of wars between the Hapsburg Empire and the French monarchy.

In 1863, Confederate forces commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee routed Union troops under Gen. Joseph Hooker at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.

In 1915, "Babe" Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit his first major league home run in a game against the New York Yankees in New York.

In 1935, in the depths of the Depression, the Works Progress Administration was established to provide work for the unemployed.

In 1937, the German dirigible Hindenburg burst into flames while docking in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 people.

In 1941, Josef Stalin became official leader of the Soviet government.

In 1975, President Ford broadcast an appeal to Americans to welcome the thousands of Vietnamese refugees pouring into the United States.

In 1987, former CIA Director William Casey, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, died of pneumonia after surgery for a brain tumor. He was 74.

In 1992, legendary actress Marlene Dietrich died at her Paris home at age 90.

In 1993, two postal workers, both apparently bitter over their treatment at work, allegedly shot co-workers in separate incidents in post offices in Michigan and California, leaving at least three dead and three wounded.

Also in 1993, an upcoming book on the famed father of Mickey Mouse said Walt Disney was a secret FBI spy for more than 25 years, keeping tabs on those in Hollywood suspected of political subversion.

In 1994, Paula Jones accused President Clinton with making an unwanted sexual advance during a meeting in a hotel room in 1991, when he was governor of Arkansas. It was believed to be the first lawsuit of its kind against a sitting president.

Also in 1994, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose a tougher trade embargo on Haiti if the nation's military rulers did not step down within two weeks.

And in 1994, the Channel Tunnel, a railway under the English Channel between Britain and France, was inaugurated.

In 1997, President Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon signed an agreement for a broader mutual effort to fight drug trafficking.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to enter a mosque -- the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.

A thought for the day: "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." George Bernard Shaw said that.